Rejoice happy hikers, the road to Tonga Ridge has been repaired and if you are lucky you might be able to get a hike in here before the FS closes it down to thwart Christmas tree poachers. This is what they told me in Skykomish. Go figure. Anyhow, the road is in excellent shape and so is the trail. Nobody out to join Alan and me on a nice hike to Fisher Lake. No snow. The trail to Fisher is pretty pleasureable except for the initial climb which is rutted and slick. While I headed up to Mount Sawyer-good tread-just a little brushy-Alan greeted a black bear. There are lots of them out right now. They've had this entire area to themselves for almost a year now.

Trail is closed due to winter storms, does not appear as if it will be opening soon. Check with Ranger station before heading out there.

Two high school pals and I decided to take a drive to the West Fork Foss River trail and inspect the damage from last November's flooding.

It was impressive. The trailhead, once a verdant pathway into the wilderness, was now essentially a scoured riverbottom. (see attached photos)

The flooding removed all the soil and duff from the trail and left a rock and boulder strewn pathway, that while passable, would be a real ankle turner for the unready.

I walked in for about 1/4 mile and encountered a number of blow downs accross the trail. Finally, the trail just daylighted from the top of a fresh escarpment carved by the river.

I returned to the car and drove up the Tonga Ridge road for 1.5 miles to where the Forest Service had blocked the road with ecology blocks. The road is partially been washed out at at gully by what appears to have been a culvert failure. The damage doesn't appear too significant, but with the budget the FS has to repair such things, it may be quite a while before this road is opened to automobile traffic.

I certainly hope that somehow the West Fork Foss River trail can be repaired or relocated by next year. I am planning to hike into Big Heart Lake in August or September 2008 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of my first hike into this georgeous piece of wilderness.

Road report: Road is in good shape for first four miles. Crew was installing a culvert there so I could not go further today, but the crew leader said the road was clear to the Foss Lakes trailhead. Another hiker to got in and out before the culvert operation reported that the last bit of road is really potholed and lots of trees down, but nothing blocking.