For hikers who just want to summit...

Add Heading Here

We hiked to the summit of Hagues from the Lawn Lake trailhead yesterday. GPS showed 18.9 miles round trip and 5,400' gross elevation gain, though the latter seems a little high (there is not much up-and-down). Took us about 5.5 hours to the summit and 5 hours down. I sometimes enjoy a little scrambling but on this day there was a bit of hail-remnants and wet rocks/shoes slowed us down quite a bit on the way up. We only realized after summitting that staying on the flattish terrain, on the north side of the ridge and perhaps 50-100 vertical feet below, is the easiest route to the summit (and how we descended). If you are just seeking to summit and want to minimize difficulty, follow this easier terrain, and actually continue a little past the summit (which is visible due to an antenna), then walk southeast for a hundred feet up the easiest part of the ridge. The route almost looks like a road. If you initially gain the ridge toward Mummy, this walkable bit will not be visible until you've traversed west for a while (on fairly easy talus), but it can be reached more directly by turning northwest earlier on the way up. There are some threaded gravelly trail segments that can help you find the way. Most importantly, though, once the flattish terrain shows itself, go down to it and stay off the ridge - it progressively gets more difficult and you'll end up going up and down to stay at Class 2+. That is, if the 9+ miles and 5,200' vertical was sufficient challenge.