[wildernessed]

Location : Chelan Sawtooth Ridge Area Access : SR 153 > Gold Creek Rd. > FR 4340 > FR 200 Maps : GTM - Prince Creek Stats : 16-17 miles, 7600', 12 hr. r/t

Foggy Dew - Cooney Lake - Merchants Basin Loop

I was licking my wounds from a trip a few days earlier, but it was Sunday and Steve wanted to get out, and a day in the mountains is better than a day not. We had discussed this trip and decided to do it, when Justus was looking for a trip to join. So after a Saturday mega-trip he decided to drive over from Seattle and meet me at the Wenatchee Park and Ride at 0515 for more pain and pleasure, which he did. We called it our annual get together - dayhike / peakbag, they are usually quite involved. Steve, Justus, and I were on what use to be a TH, but now is not like anything we saw on the map. Two paths divided into two paths, so we just headed up through the fairly open forested ridge gaining 1500-2000' right off the start until we almost walked by the beginning of the now unmaintained Foggy Dew Ridge trail. The plan was to run the ridge, drop down to Cooney Lake, do Martin, then Switchback (Cooney) Peaks, descend into Merchants Basin, then work our way out via the Foggy Creek trail. The Foggy Dew Ridge trail looks to be losing ground from lack of use in many places, but is still trackable and does a pretty sustained gain up to a little over 7300' before dropping down into open meadowy slopes with gorgeous views. Justus spotted a bear in the tree, and Steve saw it, before it ran away. We dropped down to a saddle in the ridge at 6800', before gaining ground back up into Cooney Lake Basin at 7200'. The lake is clear with quite a few campsites, but one couple is all we saw there.

Steve and Justus meandering through the open slopes on and off the Foggy Dew Ridge trail.

SE view of Mt. Bigelow and it's E ridge.

Walking Foggy Dew ridge looking SW at Bryan Butte, N. Navarre, S. Navarre, and Uno Peaks.

Sunrise Mtn. and Sunrise Lake cirque ahead.

Justus taking in the wide open spaces.

S. Navarre and N. Navarre from Foggy Dew Ridge.

Where's the trail ?, who needs a trail out here.

Cooney Lake with Cooney Peak aka Switchback Peak and Switchback Pass to it's left.

Martin Peak 8375' from our lunch spot on Cooney Lake.

Closeup of Switchback Pass.

We ate at the edge of the lake and Steve decided to test the waters for trout, then hike up Switchback Pass and meet us on the summit of Switchback Mtn. He was slaying the monsters while we headed for the low spot on the ridge between both peaks, dropped our packs, scrambled Martin, then came back grabbed our gear and scrambled up Switchback. Above Cooney lake there is a large flat plateau that gives way to the rising ridgeline, views and the open space were sweet.

Switchback Peak 8321' from a high plateau above Cooney Lake.

Justus as we approach the ridgeline between Martin and Switchback Peaks.

Large basin from Martin's summit looking WNW with Skookum Puss, Finney, Cub Lake, Baldy, and Star Peaks .

Justus almost to Martin's summit.

Awesome basin with dominating Star, Oval, Bigelow, and Ravens Ridge.

Star Peak

Oval Peak

Cub Lake

Mt. Bigelow from the S.

Martin Lakes Basin

Our route to Switchback from Martin.

The exception being views of mountains farther out obscured by the wildfires along Lake Chelan, though we did see Daniel, Rainier, Clark, Pyramid, Emerald - Cardinal, Maude, 7FJ, Fernow, and Bonanza among others, just not very clearly.

Small Pass SW from Martin and the Domke Lake fire in the background.

The scrambles were nice class 2 and we were on Switchback in a timely manner, we had quite a way to go. I knew the mileage was going to be long on this, but I didn't trace out the elevation profile all the way, so I figured it would be 4-6k'. The stiff initial climb, route finding, and extra elevation made suffering the views a little more suffering. We had a short rest then headed down into Merchants Basin. What a treat with some summer flowers and falls changing colors, the basin is huge and diverse.

From the ridgeline between Martin and Switchback a view across the high plateau above Cooney Lake with Bryan Butte and Navarres in the background.

Cooney Lake and Foggy Dew Ridge from Switchback's summit.

Looking across a section of Merchants Basin at Sunrise Lake in it's rocky cirque.

Sunrise Mtn. 8002' and Sunrise Lake

Steve and Justus on Switchbacks summit.

Golite Jam, nice daypack.

Switchback Pass as it heads down to Merchants Basin.

Merchants Basin

Merchants Basin

Merchants Basin

Merchants Basin

We all just enjoyed the area, and we had it all to ourselves on Labor Day. Sunrise Mtn. / Lake / cirque was gorgeous, but all to soon we were on our way out via the Foggy Dew Creek trail. The trail is in good shape, but seemed really long. It has been rerouted so doesn't really jive with the GTM or TOPO maps. Justus who was rather motivated, took one for the group and hiked ahead at a fast pace to the TH, then down the road a mile or so and picked up the car driving it back to us. Can't beat that, he will come in handy on those car to car hikes with one vehicle. A great long day though in the mountains, again with two great friends.

Color change along the Foggy Dew Creek trail.

[summitseeker]

Great stuff! I love that area too. That's a big day -- but then, it seems to be 'normal' for you.

[Dayhike Mike]

Nice work, guys!

[wildernessed]

Cooney Lake

[Spotly]

[Nisquaww]

Wrecking it as usual!

[Sir Hikes-A-Lot]

Nice TR and Pics. I'm all nostalgic now about my trip there last year.

[Justus S.]

Wow, this was a great trip, well worth the drive over. Wildernessed, nice write up! It was great to get out again with you. It was also nice to meet and hike with you Steve. Looking forward to next time, hopefully, minus the walk to the car. Anyway, some additional pictures of this fine day.

Taking a brief rest on the way up

Big Tree

Nice meadows on ridge

The final scramble to the summit of Martin

Heading up to Switchback, Martin in the distance

Wildernessed and Steve on the summit of Switchback

Looking down Merchants Basin

Wildernessed all smiles in Merchants Basin, even with seven miles left

Foggy Dew Falls

[wildernessed]

Nice shot of the falls, we were standing above them, were going to go down the trail and get a shot, but started talking about Ensure, Ben Gay, and Depends completely forgetting about the pic.

[Perry]

This is a little off topic. I was just looking at the Wenatchee – Okanogan proposed Methow Valley – south ORV travel map and see that they plan to change the Foggy Dew Ridge trail to allow motorcycle travel.

[Sabahsboy]

I sure hope the ORV plan for inclusion of motorized travel on the ridge is a mistake. ORV use in the area, including now wilderness, has been controversial since inception of the Wilderness inclusion for Sawtooth Ridge. The area has such drought that any use brings up clouds of dust; and, any rain allows ruts to form. My long ago backpack trips up there included several of the trips to summits shown in this thread. Wonderful to see these photos. Many thanks from this lover of that ridge and the many treats that are encountered along the trails up thar. Did Foggy Dew to Sunrise Lake on an October day. I parked and slept in the pickup so I could head up the trail early. The temp was 12 F. when I crawled out of the sleeping bag. The canopy was icy from condensate. The larch were nearly finished with the color show...I am glad to see the several shots of the lake from a new perspective. Lots of Whitebark pine along those trails. The species is having a hard time in many areas and may be suffering the feared fate of global warming....stressing the trees and allowing invasive insects to burrow. It would be a terrible loss if the species died out...they are among the most photogenic trees anywhere! The seeds support a huge ecosystem of life at the high elevations.

[wildernessed]

That would be a shame as far as noise pollution and other environmental threats related to ORV use. The trail (Foggy Dew Ridge) is being retaken by the land in many places. The Foggy Dew Creek trail is well worn. The forest service sucks at anything, but preservation of resources for future commercial interest and most of the trails in the area are in great shape because of decreased traffic overall, and the efforts of private organizations and groups (to include ORV's, horse clubs etc...).