Tonga Ridge

This was a "dog day" hike with Ace and her buddy Lucy, along with myself and hiking dog extraordinairre Tasha aka Huckleberry Hound. The temperatures had me a bit concerned about The Hound's ability to do much hiking today since she's getting up there in dog years, so we opted to make it a short day along Tonga Ridge and Mt. Sawyer. However, H. was like a pup today and she did just fine. There is a bit of snow on the steep track at the beginning of the hike, but no snow again until just below the summit of Sawyer. Good trail conditions and wonderful views. We only saw two other parties on the trail, but maybe six cars at the trailhead. Far short of a typical summer Sunday. The access road is good which surprised me a bit since I'd skied the road this past winter and it was fairly mangled. There was a nice display of lupine and phlox on the route up Sawyer and zillions and zillions of flowers on the huckleberries. It should be a good berry season this fall! The only downside of the trip: enough mosquitos to eat you for breakfast! Any inch unprotected with DEET was fair game to these ravenous nasties! So, slather up and enjoy!