[Randy]

This one starts at the Tonga Ridge trailhead and proceeds as if heading towards Deception Lakes and the PCT. Spark Plug comes in at a whopping number 66 on the Back Court List. This was a return trip for Mike and Craig who had first attempted Spark Plug via its long north ridge, but had come up short as the ridge is a little more involved than it looks. We finally left the trailhead at about 0830 and made our way down about 600' to Deception Creek where we headed right, up the valley. The trail goes up a bit then back down to a convenient log crossing complete with hand rail. After making the easy crossing we put in a another 2 miles of easy trail up to the cut-off trail that leads to the PCT. We then "waded" our way up through 8" of snow for another 600' of vertical up to the PCT. At this intersection we went left (north) for a short bit until we ran into the lowest of the Deception Lakes at about 5000' - roughly 12" of snow around the lake. We made our way around the lower lake and then on up to the middle lake where the trail exits the lake basin to the north. Shortly thereafter we went left at an intersection which put us on a nice stretch of trail along the west slopes of Surprise Mountain. The way is fairly open and yields great views over to Terrace Mountain, Dip Top, Cathedral Rock and of course Mount Daniel. We followed this trail on up to about 5900' to a subtle pass just above the SW corner of Glacier Lake where we still only had to contend with a foot or so of light powdery snow. Here we finally left the trail and made our way along the irregular south ridge of Spark Plug. We made our way along the ridge (just west of the crest), over a couple minor bumps and then up the final couple hundred feet of class 2 snow-heather to the true summit. We had the usual good Back Court views from the top as well as good looks out to Baring, Sloan, Shuksan, etc. After 30 minutes on top we were frozen enough to want to leave, so after Craig deposited a Spark Plug in the summit register we headed out. We continued back along the south ridge until about half way back to the trail we came in on. This put us directly above the small creek (shown on the quad) that drains west into Deception Creek. Here we simply went straight down the hill careful to stay to the south of this creek to ensure that we didn't overshoot our handy log crossing of Deception Creek. Things worked out just about perfectly as once back down in the valley we only had to walk a few hundred yards of trail before we crossed the creek. Another half hour of trail walking put us back at Craig's truck at 1530.

Spark Plug

[Oldtimer]

I assume you weren't trying to get to Sparkplug Lake. If you were, there is a much more direct route, up Deception Creek. You sure that ridge trail you were on is a Pack trail? An old CCC trail used to go along the ridge, and dead ended at a cliff not too far from Spark Plug Mtn. We were within about 10 feet of some goats between the cliff and mtn top. Don't get too excited; that was 1967. Was quite a 1st trip; later trips were much more efficient--and shorter. - Oldtimer

[Randy]

Nope, we were not trying to get to the lake. The term "Pack Trail" comes with the quad thats not my doing - however - it did look like it connected lower down to NE.

[Randy]

Pictures!

Spark Plug Lake

Summit

Spark Plug

South Ridge

PCT