Tonga Ridge / Mount Sawyer — Wednesday, Jul. 25, 2001

Central Cascades > Stevens Pass - West

I started at the western-most trailhead for the Tonga Ridge trail and headed east along the trail. The trail is in good shape though slightly brushy in spots with only one small blowdown a short distance in hanging a few feet above the trail. I climbed to the top of Mt. Sawyer. The trail was much longer than I expected with broad switchbacks making the trip to the top time-consuming though not difficult. I actually encountered a very tiny patch of snow (3' across) on the trail just below the summit. I headed back down to the main trail and continued east toward Sawyer Pass. The trail is really much more shady than I expected. In the open areas the wildflowers are in bloom - images of lupine, paintbrush and tiger lilies stick in my mind. At Sawyer Pass I had to poke around a bit and ask some ladies camping nearby before I found the way to Fisher Lake. The trick is this: when you get to the west end of the pass, in a heavily trodden area, there is a tree to the south with two paths headed off. The one on the left is the main trail and heads down. Follow the one on the right for a short distance (couple hundred feet), turn left for a short distance (another couple hundred feet) looking for the trail to Fisher Lake on the right. It's really pretty obvious though unsigned. Once you're on the right trail you will start climbing steeply along a stream bed. From there on the trail to Fisher Lake is easily followed. A father and son were at the lake fishing, but complained all the fish they were catching were too small. I continued across the outlet of Fisher Lake and followed the rougher, more obscure way trail down to Lower Ptarmigan Lake. The fish here were jumping and the mosquitoes were evil. I started to wonder if lake trout could be trained to hang around the edges of lakes and leap into the air to snatch mosquitoes away before they could bite. I spent some time on this with little success. I did convince one of the brighter fish to roll over and beg. My hope for the day was to see I there was an easy route up Terrace Mountain from here. I wasn't quite sure if I was at upper or lower Ptarmigan at the time so I headed around the rocky southern shore of the lake to reach the east side and continued due south climbing up through the drainage between Terrace and 6075. The traveling is easy through open forest and some light huckleberry. I soon realized this was a bad way to approach the climb. I should have headed north east after crossing the lake and gone for the northwest approach. The area is a neat place to explore, however, and I worked my way up to the Terrace Lakes. I hit lower the lower Terrace Mosquito Hatchery at my turn around time. I stopped by Upper Ptarmigan Lake on the way back and went around the north shore which is the wrong way to go. Why does the traveling always look easier on the other side of the lake'