[GeoHiker]

Another high pressure system coming in so I wanted to find a base camp area that would allow me some multiple day options. My 4x4 truck is out of commision with a broken leaf spring, so I had to find something my Honda Civic could access. This report might give a few options if anyone is getting out tomorrow. Snow starts at Index and is about 12 inches in Skykomish. My thoughts were either Beckler River area, Miller River or the Foss River. All these roads get good winter travel early on, so I was keeping my fingers crossed I could get in aways. Driving by the turn off to Beckler River I could see the road wasn't plowed and was a knarly frozen rutted mess. About 100 yards up the road I was scraping and sliding all over. I backed up and bagged this road. Next option was the Miller River. This road has been plowed to the group camping ground (3 miles) and was in good shape with compact snow and ice. The road continued on and is doable with 4x4 or SUV. I had neither, so check this road off my list. Back down the road to the junction and up the road to Lk Elizebeth, Money Creek. Road is plowed to the first bridge and then gets all knarly frozen gunk from there on. Drove about 1/2 mile and called it quits. 4x4 or SUV with chains wouldn't have too much trouble. Foss River Rd 68 was my last option and I was thinking I might not find a place to camp for the night. The normal winter plowing goes to the turn around after the railroad tresle. There's a large turnaround and could see that someone had a large campfire. Snowmobles? I didn't really want to camp here with the train and traffic. The unplowed road that continued didn't look too bad, so I headed on up. Might as well go till I get stuck!...... Quite a bit of traffic on this road has the snow beat down fairly well, so I went as far as the junction with the Tonga Ridge Rd 6830. 12-16 inches of snow here. This is a popular staging area for snowmobiles, so the area was packed down well and there was a large fire pit off to the side. Perfect!...... I set up camp here and had 4 options and directions to hike. Tonga Ridge Rd and Mt Sawyer. Just up the road is the parking lot for Necklace Valley. Further up the road is winter closed Maloney Ridge and off on a side road the Foss Lakes trail head. Thursday I slept in way too late and by the time I was up and moving it was late morn. Sun was beaming through the gap in the trees so it was nice and warm at 10PM. I wanted to get some elevation and views with the clear blue skies. I walked up 6830 Rd and it looked well packed by the snowmobiles, so I went back to camp and put on my chains. Might as well give it a shot and see how far I could drive. I climbed and climbed and the snow got deeper and deeper. I kept going, but had no problem with the road. I knew that nobody was ahead of me as there was 1/2 inch of fresh snow from the day before. No way I would have ever got off the road if anyone would have been coming down. Snow was a good 2-3 ft deep at the 2,000 ft level. I passed several pull offs and kept thinking I should have pulled off there. Oh well one more switch back......I kept on and then I ran out of pull off options with 3 plus ft of snow!. I made it 5 miles to the 3200 ft level and finally decided to call it quits and turn around and park. I had my shovel, so a dug up spot looked good. I got about halfway turned around and high centered!....Let's see I'm an expert on getting stuck like this, so I wasn't too worried. I usually don't have chains on, so figured this would be a quick unstuck. Nope!......Messed around digging and had a good 15 ft swath cleared and was down to the gravel. Finally got turned around and parked right there. It was another 1/2 mile to the side spur to the first logged off area and t his would have been a great spot to turn around and park, so I was kicking myself for wasting 1.5 hrs.

Near where I parked on the Tonga Ridge Rd.

Hike up the road was a pleasure with snow bombs crashing down and sunny clear skies. My plan was to climb Mt Sawyer, but messing around getting stuck had me up there too late in the day, so I ran out of daylight. I didn't need my snowshoes till the side spur up to the Mt Sawyer TH. That rd junction is drivable with a 4x4 and chains or SUV. If anyone is coming down the road and can't get off you are SOL. 3 ft of snow on the sides. Quite a few 4x4's and xmas tree cutters have been up the side road. I had to look in amazement at some of the stuck spots that some got in to. Unless you have a lifted, locked and mean ass 4x4 with chains on all 4 wheels you will never get turned around. I decided to bag Mt Sawyer and check out the views off one of the side spurs. It was warm and sunny, so took in the views and headed on down about 3pm.

Skykomish Valley looking West.

View of Mt Sawyer.

Near 310 spur to Sawyer Mt TH

Next day was Trout Lake. Decided not to chance this road and was glad I didn't. It hasn't been run by any snowmoblies, so the center snow was 4-8 inches. No problem if you have a 4x4 or SUV. If you need to pull off for someone then you will have problems. Walking by the Necklace Valley parking area I saw a guy and his son and asked them how the trail was. They had hiked to the river crossing and he said the snow was ok, but spotty in areas. About 3 miles of road walking went by fast. I was surprised that few had been to the Trout Lake TH. Snow is about 2 ft deep and I could see several spots where people had been stuck. Someone left a nice xmas tree in the center of the parking lot. Only one set of tracks led off on the trail. Trail was buried in snow and vine maple pulled over in the heavy wet snow we had last week. Had to wade through and over quite a few spots and decided to put on my snowshoes after about 100 ft. Snowshoes really aren't required until the river, but might help with the slick nasty snow. Crossing the first log bridge was an adventure. That thing is going to come crashing down anytime now!.....It has about 2 ft of snow and when I made my way across I gave it a good bounce and could hear it crack. I sucked my breath in and made my way across as fast as I could muster. Falling 10 ft to the water below wasn't my idea of a fun time.... The next set of log bridges weren't much problem, but I did step into a void that almost dropped me into an abyss. Once across the river I got into some very deep nasty snow. 2-3 ft I know where the trail goes, but the vine maple and underbrush was all weighted down and I began to sink to my waste in rotten snow. I went 300 ft fighting my way through this hell and said to heck with this. Turned around and found a crossing that didn't require me to tight rope walk the logs further upstream. Saw where a otter came up out of the river and slid back down. Made it back down the road to my base camp right at dark. Good thing I turned around or I would have been hiking out with the head lamp. When I packed up this morning 3-4 groups of 4x4's went by, so the area was busy today. From Wed-Friday I only saw 3 vehicles, so it sure was a pleasure to camp in a normally very busy place. Driving back down the road today it was solid frozen slick ice. I almost slid off the road several times in the ruts. If I wouldn't have had my chains on I would have gone right off.