Tonga Ridge / Mount Sawyer — Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2025

Found ourselves with a rare sunny day in a stretch of rain, so headed out to squeeze in a late season hike. We went probably 3.5 miles along the Tonga Ridge trail, then doubled back to do Mount Sawyer. The ground was frozen along most of the Tonga Ridge trail, which kept things from being too muddy. There was a thin layer of snow in portions. Mount Sawyer has a solid ~6" of snow at the very top, but it was firm and readily passable without postholing. We did use microspikes on the way back down, but only for a short stretch of steep-ish side hilling/bushwacking where the trail has disappeared under snow.