Foggy Dew Creek — Saturday, Jul. 18, 2020

Stayed at Foggy Dew Campground for the weekend and tried this great trail. This trail is multi-use for the first 5 miles, shared by horses, dirt bikes, mountain bikes and hikers. There is a pit toilet at the trailhead that was well stocked. Not much to report on for the first 5 miles- pretty gradual gain with a few waterfalls at 1.6ish and 3 miles. Because you hike along the water, it got pretty buggy in this first part. At 5 miles the trail splits in three, with the far left trail going to Sawtooth Ridge/Merchants Basin. After a short jaunt through heavy forest, you start to switchback up with views of a valley opening up behind you. 3-4 blowdowns across this area (between miles 5-6) that require navigating over. There is a short part that's pretty rocky (with soo many beautiful wildflowers!) but just past this it opens up to Merchants Basin (at around 6 miles). BEAUTIFUL! So many wildflowers and marmots whistling. There's another fork to the left that takes you to Sunrise Lake, but we kept to the right to make it up to Sawtooth Ridge. The last 1/2-1 mile up to the ridge is a pretty good climb, but worth it! Beautiful views looking out over Cooney and Sunrise Lakes and the Chelan-Sawtooth wilderness. Saw a few backpackers coming to camp at the basin, and it looks like this could be made into a longer loop checking out all the lakes in the area. Very few people on this trail and everyone was good about stepping aside to allow others to pass. Happy hiking!