Tomcat's Outdoor Adventures: Backpacking the Sawtooth Wilderness

Located in a remote part of Idaho, the Sawtooth Wilderness first caught my attention in 2001. At that point I don't know if I had ever heard of the area. I was on a long road trip in the West to nowhere in particular, and found myself north of Sun Valley headed towards Stanley, ID.

I don't remember why I was headed that direction, but the stunning, jagged peaks of the Sawtooth definitely caught my eye. When I reached Stanley, I made an impromptu trip into the Wilderness for a hike. Armed with only a Forest Service map of the Wilderness I picked up in town, I decided to go for a hike.

The problem was it was May. May in the Sawtooths usually means lots of lingering snow. I hiked up from Iron Creek Trailhead toward Alpine Lake. I made it to the lake but encountered snow as I approached the lake. I planned to go off trail and climb a peak above the lake. I didn't have snow gear with me. I called it quits and turned around after I exhausted myself postholing in thigh-deep snow.

I knew one day I would be back. That day finally came in 2017. I was on another road trip in the West. Again it was May. I was passing through Idaho and decided to take chances and bring appropriate snow gear. Unfortunately the snow was even deeper than the previous trip and I didn't get any further. At least the scenery was as beautiful as I remembered. Once again I vowed to return, but without snow. With more than 217,000 acres of jagged peaks, I was longing to explore a larger section of the Sawtooth Wilderness. Here is my write up from that trip in 2017.

Fast forward to this summer. I planned a trip to backpack in the West. I decided to drive. Since I was already headed to Utah, it made sense to travel one state north to Idaho after my Uinta Highline Trip. Unlike the Uinta trip, I was solo.

I returned to Iron Creek Trailhead and put together a 72 mile loop that took me to numerous high passes and mountain lakes. I finished the Uinta Highline Trail around 320PM on August 23rd. After a quick stop to get a map in Stanley, I began my Sawtooth trip by 1020AM the next morning. Late August would finally provide me with a proper summer conditions.

Day 1

Iron Creek Trailhead to Alpine Lake (Southern of the two Alpine Lakes)

I was surprised by how full the Iron Creek Trailhead was on a nonholiday Monday. There were quite a few people starting and ending there trip while I prepared my pack for the hike. I followed the Iron Creek Trail about a mile to get to the start of my loop. I quickly crossed the Wilderness Boundary.

Entering the Wilderness

It didn't take long to get the first views of the surrounding peaks. I hiked another 1/2 mile or so and turned toward Alpine and Sawtooth Lakes. Although the trail was in the forest, I never hiked very far without a view of the jagged peaks.

My first peek at a peak

The views build quickly

You are in the backcountry pretty quickly

Even in the forest, there are frequent views

I'm only a couple miles into the hike

This is my first time here without snow

All the mountains are quite rugged

My first destination was Alpine Lake. I reached an unmarked trail to the lake, about four miles into my hike.. I was here before on my first trip to the area and the lake was hidden under ice and snow. This was my first time actually seeing the lake. The view of the rocky summits around the clear lake did not disappoint. Although 25 years had past since I was last here, the landscape looked familiar, even without the snow. I could see the route I traveled on that first visit.

Paintbrush

The views become bigger as I climbed

Alpine Lake

I love a good mountain reflection

I returned back to the main trail and began climbing toward Sawtooth Lake. The views continued to get better as I climbed. The trail travels only about a mile between Alpine and Sawtooth Lakes while gaining about 500'. The trail changes direction as it negotiates switchbacks, allowing for views in multiple directions. At times the travels through some pretty rocky stretches.

Climbing above Alpine Lake

Enroute to Sawtooth Lake

The trail can get rocky at times

These views came less than two hours into my trip

Lower elevations in the valley

Just after noon I reached Sawtooth Lake after about five miles and about 1,800 vertical feet of climbing. Sitting at over 8,400', Sawtooth Lake is considered the biggest high elevation lake in the Wilderness. The lake is nearly a mile long and surrounded by mountains. The rugged scenery is beautiful.

A sawtooth ridge in the Sawtooths

Fireweed

First glance at Sawtooth Lake

I think these are alpine sunflowers

Mt Regan and Peak 9403

Mt Regan

The trail travels along the length of lake. At times the trail gets pretty rocky. I saw quite a few people, both backpackers and day hikers, near the lake. I'm guessing a lot of the vehicles as the trailhead were making the trip to Sawtooth Lake.

There are lots of great vantage points along the lake

The trail above the lake

Closeup of Mt Regan

Looking back over the lake

Nice stretch of the trail

A good look back at the lake

Looking to the north side of the lake

Leaving Sawtooth Lake, the trail begins a long descent down into the drainage of the North Fork of Baron Creek. At first the descent is gradual as the trail passes through rocky terrain. Before the steeper descent, I passed a string of smaller lakes that were unnamed on the map. With little tree cover over 8,000, the scenery was continuous with beautiful views from the lakes.

Rocky terrain south of Sawtooth Lake

Unnamed lake south of Sawtooth Lake

Along the shore of the unnamed lake

Craggy peaks above the lake

Pretty impressive views for some unnamed

body of water

Beyond the unnamed lakes, the descent becomes much steeper as the trail descends into the drainage. Although I passed through stretches of forest, the trail crosses numerous clearings. Every clearing opens to grandstand views of the craggy peaks in the Wilderness. The Sawtooths are sometimes referred to as the "Poor Man's Tetons." Traveling deep into the Wilderness, it's easy to see why they get this distinction.

Looking south

Baron Peak

Creek crossing at a waterfall

The trail drops almost 3,000' over about 6.5 miles from Sawtooth Lake to it's crossing of the North Fork of Baron Creek. At times the trail passes brushy meadows. I saw the occasional wildflower through here. I also saw a lot of berries. With sections of brushy trail and abundant berries, I was almost afraid that I would sneak up on a bear. In late summer, they most likely would be starting to fatten up for the winter. I saw some sections with charred trees from previous fires through here as well.

Descending the North Fork of Baron
Creek drainage

The view are continuous on this descent

More sawtooth ridges in the Sawtooth Wilderness

I enjoyed this descent

Hiking through sage

Looking back

Paintbrush

Lots of berries along this trail

Charred trees from an old burn

Other than a few short sections, the descent never seemed too steep. If it was steep, I probably didn't notice. I was admiring the jagged terrain that I was passing through and enjoying the moment.

Grandjean Peak in the distance

Zoomed in view of Grandjean Peak

Another look back up the drainage

Eventually, the trail crossed the creek at just below 6,000' in elevation. This was my lowest point on the trip. I had a short ford in water about half way to my knees. A couple waterfalls cascaded by the crossing and the water was somewhat fast moving. I left the North Fork of Baron Creek Drainage and started hiking up the drainage of the main fork of Baron Creek along the Redfish Creek-Baron Creek Trail.

Small waterfall at the creek crossing

More natural bear food

As I was descending, I noticed the sky became more hazier as the day went on. I figured this was smoke from wildfires. A few weeks earlier an outbreak of wildfires in the Northwest blanketed the region with heavy smoke. The air quality was pretty bad for a while. Checking the reports before I headed out, I didn't see many recent mentions of smoke problems in the area. I figured maybe the wind maybe shifted and more smoke started to blow in over the Sawtooths while I was hiking.

Looking a little smokier toward Grandjean Peak

Closeup shot of Grandjean Peak

The sky gets smokier by the minute

Aster

Even in the forest there are plenty of views

At the time I wasn't sure if that was
a plume of smoke or building clouds

Less than a month earlier, heavy rains passed through the area. This caused a devastating mudslide in a large burn scar that severely damaged Grandjean Campground and nearby trails just north of where I was hiking. This led to a large closure in the Wilderness just north of the drainage that I descended. I wasn't in the closure area, but the same rains washed out portions of the Baron Creek drainage. I hiked through some of this damage. I encountered a few spots where the trail disappeared under landslides. By now most of these sections were trampled down enough to see the route. A few spots still took a little route finding to follow the trail through the damage.

Washed out section of trail and debris

Even with the smoke its still impressive scenery

Old Smoothie is the distant peak

Rock slide across the trail

As I made my way up the Baron Creek drainage, the stunning scenery continued. Unfortunately the smoke grew increasingly thick. The air smelled strongly of smoke as well. The visibility decreased pretty quickly. I have been in areas of pretty bad air quality before from wildfires. I also lived pretty close to active wildfires in Colorado. The smoke situation was pretty bad here. Since the terrain blocked my view, I couldn't tell if the plumes ahead were smoke or building storms.

I think Tohibit Peak is the prominent
peak on the near right

Rothorn Spire

So many peaks I had a hard time
identifying them

The smoke is getting quite thick

Poor Man's Tetons

The smoke smelled bad enough that I was starting to wonder if there was a nearby fire flaring up in the next drainage. What ended up being building storm clouds over the next drainage looked eerily like a smoke plume. I hadn't seen anybody since Sawtooth Lake to ask about local fires and I didn't have service to check.

The smoke smelled pretty strong

Not a bad skyline

Apparently there are bears

I continued hiking up into the Baron Creek drainage. Although now obscured by smoke, I still passed by an endless sea of jagged peaks. I also could see Baron Creek Falls tumbling down a cliff face. The falls drops about 275' over two separate drops. It's hard to get a a good photo, but it looks and sounds quite impressive in person even though you can't really get that close to it.

Baron Creek Falls plunging off the mountain

I was a little nervous as the smoke kept getting worse

I can see why the area is compared to the Tetons

The main Sawtooth Crest

The views are nearly nonstop

As I climbed higher, I passed a couple smaller falls on Baron Creek. While not nearly as dramatic as the main Baron Creek Falls, they were still pretty. I could also get close to them unlike Baron Creek Falls.

Smaller trailside waterfall

After six miles of steady climbing through the Baron Creek drainage, I reached the first Baron Lake. I saw the first people I had seen since Sawtooth Lake, more than 13 miles back. I asked two women camped by the lake if they knew about the source of the smoke. They filled me in about a large, uncontained wildfire well outside of the Wilderness, but close enough to cause the poor conditions. Apparently the wind shifted the day before and funneled the smoke into the Wilderness. The view across the lake was pretty smoky. The women told me it actually improved in the past couple hours. I was a relieved there wasn't any danger but not excited at the possibility of multiple days of smoky conditions on my trip.

This might be El Pima

Smoky view over the main Baron Lake

Another look across Baron Lake

Monte Verita across the lake

El Pima

There are plenty of places to camp along Baron Lake. It was just after 6PM and I had hiked 18 miles by this point. I still had at least two hours of daylight left and wasn't quite ready to call it a day. However, while I was talking with the women, we started to hear some distant rumbles of thunder. With the smoky skies, it was hard to distinguish between smoke and clouds earlier. I realize they were building storm clouds now. I still had about 700' and a mile and a half of climbing ahead of me over the Baron Divide before losing elevation. Although the thunder seemed to be moving away, against my better judgement i decided to take my chances that the weather was moving away.

Upper Baron Lake

I hiked past Upper Baron Lake and began making the climb toward Baron Divide. Although it didn't thunder anymore, it started to rain. While a drizzle at first, it picked up to a steady rain that was driven by some wind. I put on my poncho and continued up to Baron Divide. The rain never got too heavy and let up to a drizzle by the time I reached the 9,100' Baron Divide. While the views were still quite impressive, even obscured by rain and smoke, I was eager to get to lower elevation before more weather moved in.

Baron Lakes from Baron Divide

Red Sentinel and Le Bec D'aigle (Eagle's Beak)

Obscured view from both smoke and showers

From the Divide, I dropped about 800' over roughly a mile and a half enroute to the second Alpine Lake of the day. Other than a few light showers, the rain mostly moved on. I reached Alpine Lake, my home for the night, around 730PM after about 21 miles on the day. Over the 21 miles, I gained nearly 5,700' of climbing on the day. Despite the mileage and elevation gain, I felt pretty good. I think the views, as well as the smoke and rain, distracted me from the physicality of the day.

A few other groups were camped nearby. I could hear groups camped on other parts of the lake as well. By dark, everyone was quiet and it was a peaceful night. There are nice views over the lake and I enjoyed my dinner from the shore.

Unnamed lake before Alpine Lake

I had one brief sprinkle before I turned in for the night. I woke up around 1230AM to the patter of rain on my tent had to close the rainfly. The rain wasn't much more than a sprinkle and didn't last too long.

Alpine Lake

Another view across Alpine Lake

While I hiked a longer route into Alpine Lake, it's about 5-6 miles from Redfish Lake. I'm guessing the people camped closest to me hiked in from there based on their bulky gear. One of the guys in that group had a full sized, wooden sword. He was practicing sword maneuvers while he was hanging around in camp in the evening and the next morning. I'm guessing the guy was in his 30s. To each his own and hike your own hike, but I found it amusing to see a grown guy in the backcountry pretending, or maybe practicing, to fight with a full sized wooden sword quite amusing. It wasn't the entertainment I was expecting in the backcountry, but it was interesting nonetheless.

Deer watching me near my campsite before dark

Day 2

Alpine Lake to Hell Roaring Lake

I woke up to beautiful blue skies without the slightest hint of smoke. Maybe the showers yesterday caused a shift in wind direction. After watching more sword practice while packing up my camp, I hit the trail about 730AM.

Morning on Alpine Lake

From Alpine Lake, I descended to Redfish Lake Creek at Flatrock Junction, with a few good looks at the Sawtooth Crest along the way. At the junction, I turned onto the Mt Cramer Trail. Redfish Lake Creek required an easy ford that was barely ankle deep. Crossing the creek marked the beginning of a 2,100' climb over the next six miles or so.

The views come quickly leaving Alpine Lake

Happy to see the smoke is gone

Easy ford

I started to see several groups as I climbed along the Mt. Cramer Trail. Apparently the Cramer Lakes are a popular overnight destination from Redfish Lake and I was seeing the people headed back to Redfish Lake.

The first highlight headed south on the Mt Cramer Trail are the Cramer Lakes. Sitting around 8,400', the three lakes all have nice views to the south. The area is a popular backcountry camping destination. Perhaps the most interesting part of the area is the waterfall that plunges into Middle Cramer Lake.

Lower Cramer Lake

Another view by Lower Cramer Lake

Middle Cramer Lake

Waterfall draining into Middle Cramer Lake

Another look across Middle Cramer Lake

Another shot of the waterfall

Upper Cramer Lake

Leaving Upper Cramer Lake, I climbed about 1,100' over the next two miles. The trail winds through rocky terrain above treeline as it climbs to the Cramer Divide. At 9,500', this was the highest point of my trip.

Spires on the climb above Upper Cramer Lake

Unnamed lake enroute to Cramer Divide

Rocky trail climbing Cramer Divide

It was rocky all the way to the Divide

The trail through the rocks

View near the Divide

On Cramer Divide

I dropped off of the Cramer Divide and continued to head south. At times the trail got steep. And as expected, great scenery continued. I lost about 1,000' over the next mile. I descended to Hidden Lake with some nice views to the lake below. I took an extended lunch break at the south end of Hidden Lake.

South side of Cramer Divide

More nice views dropping off Cramer Divide

Small unnamed lake below the trail

Peaks rising over the trail

Hidden Lake

The trail had some rough sections approaching
Hidden Lake

Lunch spot at Hidden Lake

I dropped to about 8,200' at the crossing of the South Fork of the Payette River. After some gradual climbing, I reached two more scenic alpine lakes. First I reachedVirginia Lake and a couple minutes late Edna Lake. Like all the backcountry lakes, both of these lakes had great views of surrounding mountains.

Virginia Lake

The trail along Virginia Lake

Edna Lake

Leaving Edna Lake, I began my next climb, working my up to Sand Mountain Divide. The climb travels through some rocky terrain with increasing switchbacks as it nears the pass. The pass tops out just over 9,300'. Clouds started build by the time I reached the pass. Although not immediately threatening, it looked like rain might move in.

An unnamed pond below Payette Peak

A sea of summits

Looking back enroute to Sand Mountain Divide

First view of Toxaway Lake

Snowyside Peak

Even though I was near the southern end of my loop, I decided to drop down to Toxaway Lake. I could see the lake form the pass. It sat beneath a string of craggy peaks and looked pretty. It's also part of a popular backpacking trip called the Toxaway Alice Lake Loop. The twenty or so mile loop is one of the most popular in the Sawtooths. I wanted to see the lake, so I decided to add a few miles and drop to the lake.

Parks Peak

Peak 10,052 with Perfect Peak in the distance

Good view over Toxaway Lake

Visiting the lake meant an extra thousand feet of elevation loss that I would quickly have to reclimb. Clouds continued to build as I dropped to the lake. The descent itself wasn't too bad. I turned north on the Yellowbelly Trail. Unfortunately the trail doesn't travel too close to the shore. Since the area is part of a more popular loop, I saw quite a few people camping closer to the lake. Most of the access to the lake was via herd paths that I'm guessing passed through these campsites. I skirted near the north end of Toxaway Lake, but it was rather marshy there and I couldn't really get to the shoreline. I found the best views of the lake were during the descent from above.

Snowyside Peak in the middle

Hiking through a clearing with view toward Snowyside

Typical trail descending toward Toxaway

Snowyside and Peak 10,205

Looking toward the north end of Toxaway

The trail past Toxaway Lake started to get muddy at times. The building clouds decided to finally drop some rain. It never got too heavy, but I finally relented and put on my poncho after it lingered longer than I liked. Within a couple minutes after I put on my poncho, the rain stopped.

This chipmunk hung out while I was putting on my poncho

I passed a couple more small marshy lakes just beyond Toxaway. I stopped by Bowknot Lake to take in the views from the shoreline. Just past Bowknot Lake, I would turn onto the Edith Lake Trail and regain the elevation I lost as I headed back up toward the Sand Mountain Divide, just a mile from where I left divide.

Parks Peak over Bowknot Lake

Bowknot Lake

Pretty for such a tiny lake

I initially missed the turn for the Edith Lake Trail. The end of the trail was not obvious and I missed the sign. When you backpack and hike enough, you get a fairly good sense of distances. I knew this turn was coming up. I could tell I was veering further east and felt I should of reached the junction already. I checked my map, and sure enough, I had missed the turn. Luckily, I trusted my judgement quickly and I don't think I went much more than a 1/4 too far.

The Edith Lake Trail climbs about 1,100' over a distance of about a mile and a half. The trail passes by a nice tumbling stream and eventually crosses the outlet of Edith Lake on a log and rock hop. It then climbs through scree above the lake to the Alice Lake- Redfish Lake Trail.

Edith Lake

Climbing above Edith Lake

The Alice Lake- Redfish Trail climbs quite steeply here for about .6 miles. The start of the climb isn't too bad. The second half of the climb cuts through steep switchbacks over loose talus and scree. The trail tops out around 9,300' in a narrow pass between two unnamed 9,900' peaks. I didn't see any name for this pass, but it's the most dramatic pass of my entire loop.

Along the Alice Lake-Redfish Lake Trail

The trail goes through the notch ahead

Just a bit of rock to negotiate

As I made my way toward the pass, the clouds began to thicken again. It started to thunder as I climbed. Although the storm producing the thunder looked to be on the other side of Toxaway Lake and not moving my direction, the thunder got louder as I climbed. I hurried my pace, trying to get over the pass and begin descending. Although I wasn't seeing lightning near by, I didn't want to test my luck.

From the top of the pass, I had a view over Imogene Lake to the north. I began a rapid descent over endless switchback through a vast field of talus and scree. With gravity on my side, I descended much quicker than I had climbed. About halfway through the rock field, I felt a few sprinkles. The thunder seemed to be moving away from me at this point too. It ended at a few sprinkles before the clouds moved on.

Imogene Lake below a long talus/scree field

Nice view from the pass

All the surrounding terrain is full of talus and scree

Leopard's Bane

Meadow Penstemon

I covered the nearly two miles from the pass to Imogene Lake pretty quickly. I reached the lake around 5PM. By this point I had hiked about 21 miles on the day. I thought about camping at the lake. Since I had more than three hours of light left, I decided to continue to the next lake, Hell Roaring Lake.

South end of Imogene Lake

Island on the lake

Nice view across the lake

I started to second guess my decision to move on. Imogene Lake is a large, beautiful lake surrounded by mountains. There were even some islands in the lake. It would have made a great campsite. Although well dispersed, there were quite a few groups camped along the lake. I'm sure I would have been happy here, but the 3.5 miles to Hell Roaring Lake were mostly downhill and only dropped another 1,000'

South over the lake

Cliffs along Imogene Lake

Imogene Lake outlet stream

The hike from Imogene Lake was relatively easy. Apart from a few views near an unnamed marshy pond, much of the time I was in the forest. There were a few steeper sections with switchbacks as I approached Hell Roaring Lake, but overall it wasn't a bad hike.

Nice view over a marshy area

I reached Hell Roaring Lake a little before 7PM. I still had plenty of light to set up, cook, and enjoy an evening along the lake. I didn't see any good spots to camp along the first half of the lake. I passed an inlet stream a little over half way along the lake with grassy spots. Just beyond the creek, I found a better site along the lake. Nobody else was on the lake tonight. I had a great view across the lake at a string of rugged mountains, including a pointy spire called The Finger of Fate. Although cloudy, the sky didn't look too ominous.

Hell Roaring Lake

Zoomed in view

I enjoyed my evening. I ate my dinner on a rock along the lakeshore. After dinner I sat on my rock and enjoyed the view. It was incredibly peaceful. It was my first night alone in a campsite since my backpacking trip on the Massanutten Loop in May. Those campsites in Virginia looked nothing like this. I really enjoyed the beauty, solitude, and peacefulness and felt incredibly lucky to be the only person in the world on this night to have this experience here. After an hour or so, the light wind died, leaving the lake a sheet of glass. The scene before me reflected in the lake making a special moment even more magical. I no longer second guessed my decision to move on from Imogene Lake.

Nice reflection in the glassy water

I hiked close to 25 miles with 4,650' of elevation gain on the day. While tired, I still felt pretty good. Immersed in the beauty of the Sawtooths, in endless world class scenery, I don't notice the mileage as much and focus on the beauty that surrounds me, and maybe a little bit about avoiding storms.

I had a mostly uneventful night. At one point in the middle of the night, I woke up. I was on my back and the bright moon illuminated my tent. I could see the silhouette of a mouse walking across the mesh. on the top of my tent. It scurried when I moved. As I closed my eyes, I heard what sounded like a mouse sliding off the rain fly. I didn't have any more problems or mouse damage. It was pretty obvious that the campsite was used by horsepackers the night before. Perhaps they left some crumbs that attracted the mouse.

Day 3

Hell Roaring Lake to Iron Creek Trailhead

I woke up to the same gorgeous view over the lake. As I broke camp and got ready to hike for the day around 725AM, the sun started to hit the peaks across the lake. In the golden hour, the light illuminated the view and reflection. With the solitude and scenery, I can't help but rate this as one of the best campsites in the backcountry that I have ever camped at. With the warm glow of the sun on the peaks and the reflection on the glassy lake, the view was unbelievable. It looked like a painting. The photos don't do the actual scene any justice. I usually don't linger in the morning, but I couldn't walk away from this sight. Slowly the sun angle shifted and the scene lost its initial glow and I finally started hiking for the day.

Not a bad view to wake up to

Closeup of The Finger of Fate

I enjoyed the view from a few different angles as I made my way to the end of the lake. I continued my way north on the Alice Lake- Redfish Lake Trail. I was a little nervous about the next eight mile stretch of trail enroute to Redfish Lake.

The views continued as I worked my
way along the lake

The outlet of Hell Roaring Lake

Once last view from the lake's outlet

On this trip, I wanted to see a large swath of the Sawtooth Wilderness. Due to the remote nature of the area, it was important for me that my hike was a loop, with as little overlap as possible. To close the east side of my loop, I had to hike a less-popular stretch of trail enroute to Redfish Lake. Recent trip reports showed this stretch of my loop was full of hundreds of blowdowns causing rough travel. Some of the reports made the section nearly impassable. I decided to take my chances.

Though less frequent, I still got views
of the mountains as I left Hell Roaring Lake

The views on this stretch weren't as expansive

The trail climbs another 8,700' divide. At times the trail becomes quite steep. I encountered some blowdowns about an hour into the day before reaching Decker Creek. The blowdowns became more frequent as I went on. An overwhelming majority of the blowdowns were easy stepovers that didn't even break my stride. Only a few of them required any work to get over.

One of the few blowdowns you
couldn't step over

The views along this stretch were much less frequent. I could occasionally see across valley to the higher but less dramatic summits in the White Cloud Wilderness to the east. The jagged peaks of the Sawtooth Wilderness were usually hidden behind trees and the terrain. Quite a few clouds moved in over the morning. I encountered a few sprinkles that moved on quickly before the clouds passed by.

A view to the east of the Wilderness

I reached one section that actually had excessive blowdowns. I had to climb over and pick my way through a big snarl of trees. Fortunately, this rough section only lasted a 1/4 mile at most. It wasn't that much of a headache and didn't really cost me much time. Overall, the trip reports mentioning the blowdowns were highly exaggerated. Yes there may have been a couple hundred blowdowns, but I barely noticed most of them apart from the rough 1/4 mile stretch. The overwhelming majority were easy to step over without slowing down.

Messier stretch of blowdowns

Eventually I left the ridge and began a 2,000' descent over 3.5 miles enroute to Redfish Lake. I left the Sawtooth Wilderness here before I started the descent. Though steep at times, the descent wasn't too bad. I caught an occasional view of the lake, but generally the trail travels through dense forest. The trail drops down to about 6,500' at lake level.

Mount Heyburn

Redfish Lake

As I approached the lake, I could occasionally see and hear power boats on the lake. The trail wraps around the south end of the lake. There is a ferry service that shuttles people to a trailhead on here with a day use area with picnic tables and even bathrooms. I saw a few groups of people here waiting for the shuttle and a couple starting their backcountry trips. I took advantage of the picnic tables to sit down have some snacks.

View from the south end of Redfish Lake

I began climbing along the west side of the lake on the Grand Mogul Trail. From the switchbacks, I caught some nice views back into the Wilderness. At the top of ridge I joined the Redfish Creek- Baron Trail, which travels along the top of the ridge, the length of the lake.

Nice view as I started to climb above the lake

Another look at the lake from a meadow

View to the south

Grand Mogul

There some nice view over the lake along this stretch. I saw quite a few day hikers here as well as a few mountain bikers. The trail never climbs above 7,500' along the trail here, which is much lower than most of my route. At the relatively low elevation, it was fairly hot. A long stretch of this area hiked through a burn scar with less tree cover. This added to the heat.

Views of the lake were pretty common

There were a few views into the Wilderness

View to the north end of the lake

Mickey's Spire, Thompson Peak, and Williams Peak

I left the ridge above Redfish Lake, losing most of the elevation I had gained above the lake. I hiked a series of short trails through a mix sage and aspen before joining the Alpine Way Trail. I would hike the Alpine Way Trail for the next ten miles.

Section of sage in the lower elevations

The start of the Alpine Way Trail is fairly open as it slowly climbs through sage. I was welcomed with more big views at the beginning of the Alpine Way Trail. I reentered the Wilderness not too far along the Alpine Way.

The beginning of the Alpine Way Trail
had good scenery

Lupine

Looking into the heart of the Wilderness

Mt Heyburn is the jagged peak in the distance

The trail eventually heads back into the forest. There are still some good views across clearings. The trail just barely climbs over 8,000' on this section. I was surprised to hike through several clearings of sage, even a little higher up.

A view through a meadow

Looking back on the Alpine Way Trail

Sage meadow near the high point of this stretch

From the height of the land, I dropped another 1,000'. I reached the outlet creek of Marshall Lake. I stopped at the creek to filter some water and refuel my body. A few sprinkles fell while I ate, but didn't last more than a few minutes. I hiked down the side trail to Marshall Lake to check it out. At a lower elevation than the other lakes I had visited, this was not an alpine lake. It was more of a marshy pond in the forest.

View from Marshall Lake area

When I set off for the day, I considered camping at Marshall Lake. It was only 230PM when I reached the lake even though I had already hiked over 18 miles for the day. There may have been nice areas on the opposite side of lake, but with the marshy and brushy area around the lake, I'm glad I wasn't camping here. At this point, I figured I could hike to the end my loop well before dark since it wasn't even 3PM yet.

This stretch of trail also had some trip reports about abundant blowdowns. Much like the previous section with the blowdowns, the reports were greatly exaggerated. There were a few snarls of downed trees that required climbing over or around, but most were barely noticeable.

Scrubby vegetation along the trail

I had one more short but steep climb. This was on the approach to Goat Lake. I didn't make the steep side trip to Goat Lake. Goat Lake Falls tumbles as much as 650' down the cliffs below the lake. You can see and hear the falls from a distance. It looks quite impressive. There are several campsites where the trails crosses Goat Creek that looked much nicer than the potential camping near Marshall Lake.

You can just barely see Goat Lake Falls on the right

Goat Lake Falls

Giant blowdown over the trail

From the Goat Lake Trail, only about three miles were left on my trip. The trail mostly descends the rest of the way to the Iron Creek Trailhead. A few spots were a little steep, but generally the trail is a gentle downhill cruise. I started to get more frequent views of craggy peaks over the last couple miles.

Mystery Mountain in the distance

Hiking beneath some jagged terrain

Enjoying some of my final views into the Wilderness

Another view of Mystery Mountain in the distance

By 520PM I reached the end of my loop. I was back at the junction for the Iron Creek Trailhead. From here I had less than 1.5 to the end of my hike. I finished my day around 540PM having hiked around 27 miles for the day with nearly 5,600' of climbing.

Just over a mile to the trailhead

My loop totaled around 72 miles with a punchy 15,800' of elevation gain. 25 years passed since I first stepped foot in the Sawtooth Wilderness. I waited a long time for this trip. I had extremely high expectations for this trip. I absolutely was not let down. My trek through the Sawtooth Wilderness was every bit as glorious as I had hoped, maybe even better than I could have imaged.

I finished up an amazing 110 mile trip on the Uinta Highline Trail less than 24 hours before the start of this trip. I mentioned in the writeup for that trip that it was one of the best backpacking trisp I had ever hiked. Well this trip just might have surpassed the grandeur of that trip.

I mentioned earlier that the Sawtooths are sometimes referred to as the "Poor Man's Tetons." Maybe the Teton's should be called the "Rich Man's Sawtooths." I have traveled and hiked in most mountainous regions in the lower 48 (including the Tetons). I never lived anywhere near the Sawtooth Wilderness and it isn't exactly the easiest place to get to, but it has brought me back three times. Not many places have that kind of power over me. Even though I have backpacked plenty of longer trips, this one was really something special. It should go without saying, I highly recommend any trip in the beautiful area.

Hard to beat a trip with views like this

After my hike I, hike I headed Wyoming for another backpacking trip that I will post about in the future. The night I finished my hike, I headed north and camped at a free campsite along the Salmon River. I literally slept in a van by the river. Honestly I can't complain about staying in my van down by the river. The scenery along the river from the campsite was pretty nice. The campsite had an interesting privy with neat murals painted inside of the local wildlife. Check back to the website to read about my next trip in the Cloud Peak Wilderness in Wyoming.