Tonga Ridge
Apr 10, 2010
by
wolfwoman
—
last modified
Apr 10, 2010 11:22 PM
- Type of Outing
- Snowshoe/XC Ski
- Read More in our Hiking Guide
- Hike: Tonga Ridge / Mount Sawyer
- Region: Central Cascades -- Stevens Pass - West
- Agency: Mount Baker Snoqualmie National Forest, Skykomish Ranger District
- Trails: Tonga Ridge (#1058)
- Avg Rating: 3.60
The gang for this trip included Blissman, Chippie and Mo. I didn't know how much snow was up there for certain having heard various conflicting reports, but that's probably because things are changing daily. My last report had snow in Skykomish. Not today. Still, we drove the Foss River Road planning to ski Sobieski Mt., but we encountered a tree down before we hit any snow. The snow level looked to be quite a ways up so, we backed up to try for Tonga Ridge. We drove as far as our passenger car wanted to go to about 2 miles past the junction of Foss River Road and FS Road #6830. Snow was skimpy at this point and we had to watch for rocks. SUV's and four wheel nut cases were driving beyond us at amazing speeds making us feel like wimps who could be hit at any moment by testosterone heavy bozos. To be fair though, they did slow down for us once they saw us, but they made an awful mess of the road churning up rocks and creating huge ruts. Not the usual ruts that trucks make, but these guys get through the deep stuff and their wheels make ruts 3 feet deep or worse. When they start to have difficulty getting traction, they just churn up more rocks and crud. So, the drivers may be polite, but the machines are rude! And scary. Our group determined to be cheerful none the less and onward we went knowing that this was not going to be an easy ski negotiating the ruts. The snow itself was very good. Powder with no crust. Dreamstuff really. So, we skied onward to the pass and junction that leads to the Tonga Ridge trailhead. After the junction of road 310 the road was free of ruts since the nasty machines decided to stop at the pass. Yippee! This was the best skiing of the trip. It's too bad that we had to ski for 4 1/2 miles to get to this 1 1/2 miles of good skiing! There was about four feet of snow at the trailhead. We had a very relaxing lunch with views to Sobieski in the warm sunshine, and enjoyed pleasant conversation and Godiva chocolate. Then, the trip down. It was fabulous in the unrutted part. A blast because the snow conditions were so great. The main road was a challenge, but we were saved some grief because some snowmobiles had been down the ruts smoothing them down a bit. Thanks, boys! Still, hardly the fun glide we'd have preferred. This was a tougher trip than I remembered. 12 miles round trip is a healthy distance, but the conditions made for little gliding on the trip up and lots of tromping slowing us down a lot. We took 4 hours up and 3 hours down. One of these days the forest service is going to have to address these big new machines that are getting up higher and higher in the deep snow. I'd been told in the past by the Forest Service that skiers only needed to wait until the snow was deep enough to prevent trucks from going further and then we'd have some nice truck free skiing. Well, the way they are building these machines, that's just not feasible anymore as a way of controlling their access. They can go anywhere. Snowmobiles are tolerable and sometimes helpful, but these trucks are just a disaster. Anyhow, dinner at Eddie's Bar and Grill in Monroe. Nothing to write home about, but decent beer and sweet potato fries.
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