• Access: drove our little hatchback up to Foggy Dew trailhead; this is a pretty tame gravel road that any type of car could navigate. Some large rocks and potholes to avoid but very doable.
• Route: We took the Foggy Dew Creek trail up to Sunrise Lake, stayed overnight, then hiked up past Cooney Lake the next day before rejoining the Foggy Dew Creek trail via Martin Creek Trail. 
• People: three other cars at the trailhead on a Saturday in August (pleasantly deserted compared to other trails!) We passed two hikers on our way up to Sunrise Lake and there were two other parties camping at the lake. Shared the trail on day two with a few dirt bike parties. 
• Bugs: not much of an issue, even at the trailhead
• Trail: Had to navigate 3 big deadfalls but other than that the trail was dry & pristine. Very well maintained and marked, beautifully built. 
• Wildlife: Only encountered the usual various forest rodents (chipmunks, marmots etc.). One of the people we spoke to up at Sunrise Lake said he had seen two bears eating berries by Foggy Dew falls two weeks prior. 
• Campsite: There were 3-4 established tent spots on the outflow end of the lake, with plenty more space available at the other end, although less established. We settled in a spot right above the log jam/outflow. There was a firepit and log seating built up; unfortunately it looked like someone had recently had a fire in the pit. 

Overall this was a gorgeous outing! Will certainly return to this trail system to explore further. 

This was a stunning overnight alpine scramble/backpacking trip in the Chelan/Sawtooth Wilderness! Our original objective was the Sawtooth Slam - Bigelow, Martin, and Switchback (aka Cooney) peaks back to back, but due to time constraints we ended up only summiting Switchback. 

We started hiking West from the Crater Creek trailhead around noon on Friday the 3rd, then took the Upper Eagle Lake trail over Horse Head Pass to Boiling Lake, where we made camp. The Upper Eagle Lake trail was beautifully maintained, no snow, very clear signage, and lovely bridges over several creeks. A few friendly motocross parties too. The campground was mostly dry, with only a few old patches of snow and marshy areas by the water. Aside from ~2 other parties, there were tons of marmots, an osprey fishing the lake's rainbow trout, pikas, wildflowers, and a couple inquisitive deer for neighbors. 

After setting up camp we made an attempt up Bigelow, but got off route into some horrible loose scrambling and decided to bail and beat dusk. 

Total mileage Friday: ~11 miles.

Saturday, with blue skies, we headed West on the Cub Lake trail for a bit before turning South on trail 1259, then branching SE on the trail towards Angel's Staircase and Switchback/Cooney mountain. Once again, a beautifully maintained trail with stunning views of the Okanogan wilderness. Fewer bridges along the trails on the West side of the Sawtooth range made for some fun stream crossings as well. 

From the top of Angel's Staircase we dropped our packs and then it was a super fun scramble up solid boulders to the top of Switchback/Cooney mountain. With ~10 miles still in front of us and trying to make it back to Seattle before midnight, we decided to skip the additional ~2 miles of scrambling in order to traverse the ridge North to Martin peak and back, and instead headed directly down to the East and towards Martin Creek. The East side of Switchback still had a substantial amount of snow to cross, often covering the trail. Microspikes and a hiking pole/ice ax were nice to have but were not absolutely necessary, though a decent amount of route finding and plunge stepping was still needed.

Total mileage Saturday: ~15 miles. 

  Hiked up to Cooney Lake for an overnight, via part of Eagle Lakes trail and Martin Creek trail.  The trail is mostly in good shape, with a few downed trees before the Martin Lakes turnoff, and a few after that.  Patchy snow started around 5800', became pretty continuous on the climb after crossing the stream draining Martin Lakes.  Cooney Lake is frozen over, and surroundings completely snow covered.  We found an almost bare spot to camp on by the horse camp a little before the lake.  Snow was pretty variable; soft with postholing in sunny or shallow snowpack areas, fairly firm in the woods, and quite hard in the open areas around the lake after a sub-freezing night.  We used poles throughout, and ice axes in the early morning on a short steeper slope.  I climbed up to the saddle west of the lake (south of Martin Peak) in the morning and an ice axe was very helpful, crampons could have been handy early in the morning before the sun softened things up, but I was OK with boots and pole and ice axe.  The Eagle Lakes creek crossing was only a bit above the ankles, but long (30'?) and cold.

  I hadn't realized (or even entertained the possibility) that these trails were used by motorcycles, so the tire tracks were a bit of a surprise!  The trail was definitely rutted by them, and many water bars filled with eroded sand.  But they may have cleared a number of the downed trees up to about 6000'.  And luckily we had the trail to ourselves for the most part - roaring motorcycles would be quite a different experience.  Only saw 2 people, one day hiker low down on the first day, and a peak bagger low down on the second day.

  There were very nice flowers on the lower part of the trail (~2 miles), with lots blooming on the exposed rocky stretches.  Various mustards, penstemons, Lomatiums, paintbrush, saxifrages, larkspurs etc.  Just a couple of a large number of Lewisias were starting to bloom on a glaciated rock outcrop beyond the Crater Creek junction.  Spring beauties and yellow Erythronium lilies blooming all over between the snow patches in the basin below Martin Peak.  Didn't see much wildlife at all, and it was pretty quiet throughout.  Did see one large pile of bear poop that appeared overnight around 6100', and a fair number of fresh deer and some elk prints.

Started out at Fogy Dew Trailhead at 6:40am. Started to encounter fresh snow at around 3 miles in but it was never more than a dusting. Made it to the first big junction at 5 miles at 9am and hung a right to head up Martin Creek Trail toward Cooney Lake. At around 2 miles up this trail I entered the realm of larches. In 3 more miles I came to a junction and went left toward Cooney Lake. From here on motorized bikes are prohibited but mountain bikes are still allowed. I hiked through a golden forest and arrived at the lake at around 10:45. The lake was incredible, surrounded by the larches with the cliffy Switchback Mountain rising above. I hiked along the south shore for a bit and then cut up to regain the trail. From here the trail gets pretty steep as it climbs over 400 feet in 1/3 of a mile up to a 7900' saddle on the SE side of Switchcback Mountain. I ascended up the SE slopes of the mountain, which is fairly straightforward over talus and dirt to the 8321' Bulger List summit (#97 in the state). I returned back down to the saddle and descended down the trail into Merchants Basin, which is a vast open parkland. About 1 mile down from the saddle is a junction with the trail to Sunrise Lake on the right. I continued straight down back to Foggy Dew Trail, staying left at the junction with Navarre Trail. Returned to the trailhead at 4:10, 9.5 hours total for 17 miles and 5k feet of gain.