Ruth Mountain WA
May 17th, 2026
Hi, we're the Mountain Goat (Terrence and Nathan), and today I (Terrence) climbed Ruth Mountain with my buddy Abe. Given the mediocre weather, we decided to stay close to home and chose Ruth Mountain. We left Bellingham at 6:30 am and got to the trailhead just before 8 am.
We left the parking lot behind as we followed the trail through a stunning valley surrounded by jagged North Cascadian Peaks. This trail was unique in the sense that the second we left the trailhead, we found ourselves surrounded by a stunning alpine wilderness; probably due to the fact that the trail starts at 3,200'.
Soon, we left the valley floor behind as we began to ascend along the North side of the valley; Mount Sefrit and other unnamed peaks along the Nooksack Ridge dominated the skyline to the South. The clouds were very low, so the views were few and far between. At around 4,200 feet, snow began to appear along the trail as we began to approach Hannigan Camp.
The trail down below
Just over 3.5 miles in, we reached Hannigan Camp (4,600'). At this point, the snowpack was fairly constant, so I switched from my approach shoes to my boots. From here, we followed the trail up to Hannigan Pass before hopping on the Ruth Arm Trail. At this point, the amount of recent powder was starting to get a bit concerning; we didn't bring snowshoes. After dropping a few hundred feet into a miny basin, we found ourselves looking up at a steep snow slope. Here, we ran into a group that turned around because of the powdery snow (they didn't bring snowshoes either). We followed their tracks until they stopped around 5300', from here I kicked steps into the powdery snow, often sinking to my knees. Progress was slow.
Snow around 5,300’
At 5,600', we broke out above the tree line and continued to head Southeast as the terrain began to flatten. There was a ton of avalanche debris from some rocky outcrops above, so we hurried through this section. We met a mini ski-track highway as the route turned southwest, greeting us with stunning views of Ruth Mountain and the whole ridgeline.
Mount Ruth from 5,800’
We continued to traverse towards Ruth Mountain, post-holing the whole way. At around 5,800, we began to zigzag up the ridgeline towards Ruth Mountain. The post-holing here was very hit-or-miss; some sections were almost icy, and others were so powdery we sank to our knees. At 6,600', we hopped on the glacier; due to the sheer amount of fresh snow, we didn't even notice. Once on the glacier, the slopes flattened as we followed the summit ridge to the top of Ruth Mountain.
Getting on the upper slopes
Abe at 6,000’.
We had no views or visibility from the summit. It definitely still felt like winter up top, cutting our summit time short. On our descent, however, the clouds parted, and we got sprawling views of the valleys below. The soft snow was perfect for plunge stepping, and we flew down the upper section. It wasn't all fun; however, we still had to post-hole our way across the traverse section. We made it back to the trailhead at 5:30, 9.5 hours after leaving.
On the summit
Overall, this was a great day even without snowshoes. I ended up only using my poles and boots, as the upper slopes were quite tame. The whole hike offered stunning views of the nearby mountains and valleys, making this one a must-do. I just wish I got some summit views. As always, Happy Hiking and Stay Safe.
Views really began to open up
