Fisher LakeRecent Trip Reports
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Fisher Lake
— Aug 06, 2010
— skye97
Day hike
Features:
Wildflowers blooming
Issues:
Blowdowns | Bugs
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Tonga Ridge is pretty but not spectacular, and honestly, I don't think it alone is worth the 2+ hour drive...
Tonga Ridge is pretty but not spectacular, and honestly, I don't think it alone is worth the 2+ hour drive from Seattle, especially with more than 10 miles of steep, narrow, winding gravel roads. Fisher Lake (great for swimming on a warm day like today!) and the meadows you pass through on the way, however, are beautiful and totally worth the effort. Also, huckleberries were not quite in season yet, but there were a lot of flowers blooming.
The hardest part is finding the trail to the lake. After about 3.5 miles there is a small clearing with a sign on a tree pointing to the left to Deception Creek. From this clearing there are 3 obvious trails - the trail to Deception Creek continues slightly to the left, and just past the clearing to the right are 2 evenly worn, unmarked trails. It turns out that both of these two end up going to Fisher lake (we went up the one on the left and came down the one on the right). The one on the right seems a bit more direct, and I believe it is the one described in the trip report on 9-23-09. To take this one, continue down the right-hand trail about 100 feet or so until you reach a T. I have no idea where the turn to the right goes, but turn left and go about 25 feet. Turn right onto another trail (I'm pretty sure that if you keep going straight here you will hit the left-hand trail, but we didn't check it out) and start heading uphill. This goes pretty much straight up for a mile or so, and can get a bit brushy and rocky at times, but is obvious and easy to follow. It'll be apparent when the climbing stops, as you'll come to a grassy depression and the beginning of the meadow. The trail continues through the meadow, up another steep but short slog, then drops down to the lake (which you can't really see until you're practically on top of it). If you want to try the trail to the left, be prepared to navigate several smaller side-trails and some mud, but once you get past these the main trail remains easy to follow (but steep!), despite a bit of brush and some blow downs. This trail veers east a bit, then once you're at the top of the climb (again it will be clear when it's over) passes a small pond and veers back west to meet up with the other trail at the grassy depression at the beginning of the meadows. This trail seems a bit longer and more out of the way, but the ground is more even and less rocky than the other trail, so it's a bit of a trade-off. Overall, the hardest part was figuring out which trail to choose...they were all in decent shape and easy to follow, and the lake is well worth the effort. Day hike
Features:
Ripe berries
Issues:
Blowdowns
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More blueberries per square foot than I've ever seen anywhere in the Cascades! The Foss River road is in...
More blueberries per square foot than I've ever seen anywhere in the Cascades! The Foss River road is in good shape right up to the junction to 6830 which is also in great shape right up to the Tonga Ridge trailhead. There is limited parking. The trail is well graded and drained but the bracken and brush are encroaching again. There are a few blowdowns that still have to be cleared. Nice views to the west of Malachite, Bald Eagle, and Silver Eagle peaks. Pass the stone steps that start up Mt. Sawyer at 2 miles from the trailhead. At 3 miles come to Sawyer Pass. There the blueberry abundance will ensnare most hikers and they will forget time and destination while feasting.
To go to Fisher Lake is tricky. Procede along the main path (there are many braided paths in the pass) to a sign pointing left for Deception Creek. Don't go there. Turn right and go 100 feet to another junction. Turn left and go 25 feet to another junction. Take the right fork and follow it through more blueberries until it starts climbing up a rocky, rooty washout that used to be a trail. At the top of the hill it levels out to beautiful meadows of blueberry bushes with bright red leaves and dark blue fruit. Climb a second small hill, note two ponds on the left and another broad meadow. The trail is clear and doglegs to the right, over an old tree trunk and then left for the final steep climb. From the top is an easy, if rooty trail down 1/2 mile to Fisher Lake. The lake itself is large, cool, and clear. A great place for lunch. Day hike
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For the Sunday hike we headed to the famous Tonga Ridge. In attendance Tengu Harald, Trooper Kathleen, Sandy...
For the Sunday hike we headed to the famous Tonga Ridge. In attendance Tengu Harald, Trooper Kathleen, Sandy the Trail Pooch, and myself. Tonga Ridge is mostly famous for having a trailhead at 4400 feet, thereby saving a lot of sweat and tears to get on an alpine ridge. Therefore you see people that should not be on an alpine ridge, but that's the price you pay. It is kind of mediocre as ridges go but in good years is also famous for lots of huckleberries. Not so much this time.
So after the Dukes of Hazard dirt road drifting on the fine Road 6830 and 310 to the trailhead we arrived to find a half dozen cars, we loaded up and were off at about 10:20. We had full stomachs of hash and pancakes from the Sultan Bakery, which kind of slows you down a little at first but pays off later. The trail starts in thick woods, a very old clearcut, then into the wilderness woods. It climbs about 500 feet in the first mile of trees along the ridgeline, and finally starting to open up into some small clearings affording views of Iron Cap Peak and Mt Hinman to the south up the Foss River. At about 1 mile there is small clearing on the ridge to the north and you can walk up there about 50 feet for a fine view of Alpine Baldy, Mt. Formidable, Monte Cristo, Sloan and Glacier Peak. Continuing on a slight up and down traverse along the ridge there are open areas of berries and flowers, views to the south, glimpses of Mt Daniel and such. At two miles you come to a somewhat flat open area below a ridge saddle there you can look up at the Tonga Ridge summit and contemplate the scramble up. About 100 yards past the clearings a trail takes off on the left for the ridgeline and Mt Sawyer, it is currently marked with an orange tape. We didn't go as we were thinking Fisher Lake where the trailhead sign said the fish were "active". In this area are some of the best huckleberries, there was enough for a pie if you wanted to work a little. You can wander up the hill and pick to your hearts content. Strolling along you come to the flat wide area of Sawyer Pass at 3 miles. Lots of miniature 6" blueberry bushes all over, some fairly loaded with berries if you want to get on your knees and pick. Mt Sawyer is up to the left if you want to frolic up, or to the right the "trail" to Fisher Lake. It is not that easy to spot, but is there going off to the right, then a quick left turn onto another path, then between a couple bushes marked with pink tape it starts off through the berries towards the ridge. In about 200 yards it reaches the ridge and does what fishermen paths do. It goes straight up the ridge. No switchbacks, no messing around. It is steep, rocky, rooty, muddy in spots. Not fun. But it gets the job done quick, and in nothing flat you are up almost level with the top of Mt Sawyer and up about 300 feet. Then you wander a little meadow with a pond for a ways until you come to another ridge, and you go straight up that one too. But it is only about 150 feet and not as steep. Then another meadow for a couple hundred yards, then up the last 100 feet of ridge and you are at the top with a glorious view. Sit in the heather and berries and take a break. Then it is down the much easier little glades on the other side and down 200 feet to the nice lake. Here we ate, fished, and swam. The fishing I will leave for you to find out. The swim was cold but refreshing and that's all that mattered there. The hike out was fine, a little tough and slippery on the steep part of the frolic, but we got down with a few spills, no injuries. The afternoon light made the fall colors quite beautiful and all was good. We made good time and got to the rigs at 4:45. Then it was downhill Dukes of Hazard to the Highway and straight to Zeke's drive in for Blueberry shakes, onion rings and fries, and a cheeseburger deluxe for me. A mighty fine day for sure!
Fisher Lake #1058,Tonga Ridge #1058
— Aug 19, 2006
— Hike-of-the-Week Club
Day hike
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After a several week layoff, the Hike-of-the-Week Club sprang back into action with a jaunt along Tonga Ridge to Fisher...
After a several week layoff, the Hike-of-the-Week Club sprang back into action with a jaunt along Tonga Ridge to Fisher Lake. Some huckleberries are ready for picking, but the blueberries aren't quite ready yet. Fisher Lake was great, with at least four separate parties enjoying the water. Glorious views of Daniel, Hinman and the rest of the Foss River basin on the way in. Day hike
Issues:
Blowdowns | Water on trail | Snow on trail | Bugs
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Sadie has friends visiting. Arrived on Wednesday from Austin, TX - kid home from college (UT). They wanted to go...
Sadie has friends visiting. Arrived on Wednesday from Austin, TX - kid home from college (UT). They wanted to go on a hike - see the mountains and find a lake. Sadie had the perfect hike - one of her favorites - Tonga Ridge: Fisher Lake and Mt. Sawyer. Reports said that the snow was melting fast. Hiker Jim said that he wanted to tag along - he'd never done(!) Sawyer or Fisher. Imagine that. A first for HJ. So, we headed out a little after 7:00 a.m. - wanted an early start because it was supposed to be warm today. Got to the trailhead about 9:00 a.m. - about 4 other cars there, likely overnight folks. The kid was excited about joining the driver and Sadie. We headed up the trail. Snow right at the start, but in about 100' the snow was gone and we were in the forest. We ran into a solo guy coming down - he was topless - don't know how far he got. Already it was warm. Found the view spot in about 3/4 mile and stopped for a view to the north. It looks so different without snow covering oall of the underbrush. On we forged towards Sawyer. Passed the meadows to the north of the trail - no snow in sight. Managed to miss the trail to Sawyer on our way east so kept on going to Sawyer Pass - there is some snow here, but not much at all. It will be gone soon. Found the orange trail marker for the trail to Fisher Lake - that's the easy part. There was lots of snow, so following a trail was a little challenging. However, there were some footprints - probably within the past 24 hours. We poked around and found our route - head for the stream (if it's still running. When I did this trip with B last August, it was dry). Basically, you just following the creek up to the meadow which is all snow. Go east about 150' and look to your right and you should see a trail that goes up steeply, but very short. That brings you to a little pond - which when we got there today, it was snow covered, but likely won't be for long. The trail was snow covered today, but easy to follow along the west side of the pond and it takes you to a wide meadow that you head west on for about 200' then make a sharp left (south) turn up a steep hill (would have been a fun glissade, but we did a different route back) - up the last bump. From here, it was downhill on a fairly easy to follow trail to Fisher Lake. We had a lovely lunch at the lake. Tony (friend of kid who drove all the way from Austin!) decided to do a brisk swim in Fisher - completely melted out. Sadie loved the company. We headed east along the lake to head towards Ptarmigan. We found two tents near the lake and their packs farther down the trail. Maybe they were out exploring the wilds. On the way, we had to duck under a huge tree that was over the trail. The trail meanders along the lake until it gets to the outlet stream. There is a nice log bridge crossing the outlet stream to the trail on the other side. Some folks don't like the orange flags that mark the trail here and there - but they saved our bacon in finding the trail down to Ptarmigan. Steep little trail, but worth doing. Another lovely Alpine Lake that we had to ourselves. Took a few pics and enjoyed the beauty. Headed back up the hill (love those orange flags) - got back to the outlet stream for a few pics of the lovely little waterfall from the outlet and then on out back towards Fisher. Similar to when B and I did this trip in August, today we did a little trail detour and ended up skirting around Bump #3 and ending up on a trail that took us back to the pond that still had snow on it. Time out for a little snowball fight by the kids - Sadie had to join in the fun. On down the creek bed and back to Sawyer Pass. Tony, Hiker Jim, Sadie and the driver decided to scramble up a slope to head up to Sawyer. The kid went on back to the car. Up about 1/2 on the slope, we ran into the regular trail up to Sawyer and followed it up to the summit. Oh, Hiker Jim, Sadie and the driver will be back in mid-August - we can't let this bumper crop of huckleberries go unpicked! Beautiful views from the summit. There was still several feet of snow on top of Sawyer. But on the south slope, there was none. A family with several kids also was enjoying the summit. We headed back down - on the right trail - and joined the Tonga Ridge trail to head out and back to the car. Stats: 7 1/2 hours car to car. 2000' elevation gain(?); 11 1/2 miles. Bugs - but they didn't bother us. No snakes. Not a lot of flowers yet - but lupine, marsh marigolds, shooting stars, mountain ash and a few others. Only boots and poles - didn't even need our gaiters! Beautiful day. Youth decided the old folks weren't in too bad of shape. Sadie had the best of everything - swimming, snow, scrambling - what more can a dog ask for?! |
Fisher Lake. Photo by Mike C.
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