Tonga Ridge

Pyracantha (I think)

Tonga Ridge - 1st week of September

6 miles
Elevation Gain: 1200 feet
Mt. Baker Snoqualmie National Forrest
Dog Friendly
Difficulty: Easy

My Mom, and later Chris' Mom and Step-Dad, visited us back in September and we took them on a few hikes. We mostly hiked with my Mom since she was here a bit longer. Our first stop was Tonga Ridge. 

Patriot Blueberry

Chris and I had been wanting to do this hike for a while. The hike starts out at a very high elevation, even though the elevation gain is 1200 ft, the highest point you reach is 5501 ft, so there isn't a lot of uphill, but you still get great payoff. Supposedly there are amazing 360 panoramas of the surrounding mountains as you walk along the ridge line. Since my Mom doesn't do a lot of hiking we figured that it would be a very good fit.

The weather had been lousy but was supposed to clear up that day. Which, in all fairness it did... right as we left. We got pretty soggy. That being said, it was still a lovely hike even if we didn't have the stunning alpine views I really wanted to share with my mom. 

Boletus Edulis

The hike itself starts off with a bit of a climb, but then it levels off nicely. You alternate between walking through forest and alpine meadows. Even with the lousy weather, sometimes because of it (above), we got some pretty lovely photos. I wish my camera was good enough to really capture the way the mist looked in those trees. 

Amanita Muscaria

We also saw a lot of incredible flora and fungi. Including a near perfect amanita muscaria (poisonous), otherwise known as the most stereotypical mushroom ever. There was also an ENORMOUS boletus edulis (edible). Seriously that SOB was huge, I should have photographed something next to it for scale. We ate several varietals of blue berries, including Patriot blueberries, which I think are very striking. We obviously did not eat these red berries, which I think are pyracantha but I'm not 100% sure. 

The real highlight of the day actually came as we were leaving. There's this beautiful rail bridge, and as we were standing there taking pictures a train passed!! Very cool, I got some pictures of the train, but I don't want to overload a hiking blog with train pictures. 

Overall, even with the weather it was a good hike. Misty and beautiful, Chris and I definitely plan on going back when the weather is more accommodating. Although be warned, according to several trail reviews and trail books I've read this trail can get pretty crowded.

For directions, additional trail reports and other details go here.