Mount Sawyer with a Sawyer

Summit #20 of 70--August 4, 2023

Not a sawyer with a saw, but a good friend with a perfect surname for the little adventure we had in mind. Mr. Sawyer noted that the name harks back to the bygone sawyers of England. But what of Mount Sawyer? Noun or pronoun?

A quick bit of research reveals the mountain is named for George Sawyer, an early-1900s Skykomish District Ranger whose specialties included watching for and responding to all-too-frequent forest fires, including a big one that burned on Mount Sawyer in 1914. In the early days of mining and logging, the fires were often human-caused, which helped inspire the construction of hundreds of fire lookouts throughout the mountains.

Ranger Sawyer’s career also included tending a nursery in Silverton, which may have been the Forest Service’s first attempt at growing tree seedlings by the thousands to be planted across the areas that had burned. When Sawyer passed in 1930, his memory was preserved with the naming of this significant high point on Tonga Ridge within the Alpine Lakes Wilderness.

Near Sawyer’s summit

Our mighty team of three met up the night before at the Beckler River Campground, peaceful as heck for the time we were there. Enjoyable conversation eased the long drive to the Sawyer trailhead. As did the antics of a mouse that suddenly emerged from the base of the windshield and scurried across the hood of the truck looking for an escape from a bumpy, unplanned ride. Finding none, s/he darted back to the safe space below the wipers.

Sawyer’s four-mile hike up with just a 1,300-foot gain doesn’t require much description, other than to say it’s briefly steep, then mellow a while where we entered the Alpine Lakes Wilderness, then steepish again as the meadow openings toward the summit brought widening views. Mount Daniel and Chimney Rock beckoned to the south, while Mount Rainier peeked at us coyly from over a ridge to the southwest. Glacier Peak and the Monte Cristo peaks were prominent to the north.

From my 20th summit perch of the year, I wondered about the prospects of actually getting to 70 in the few months remaining before my self-imposed deadline. I’m feeling plenty fit for the task, so it’s more a question of making time to hike like crazy through the rest of summer and fall, while still checking off the to-do list of more responsible things having nothing to do with peakbagging. So I wondered, but I’m not worried, yet anyway.

It was so pleasant on top that we lounged, lunched and chatted for an hour and a half before finally starting down. A highpoint (in addition to our high point) was enjoying our first sweet blueberries of the year!

The other esteemed Mr. Sawyer