Bench Lakes Backpacking, Idaho

Bench Lakes, Sawtooth, Idaho

Total Mileage: 12-15 mile(half of the hike is off-trail)

Total elevation gain: 3,000 feet? (a lot of off-trail, I am not sure)

Scenery: 9
Solitude: 9
Difficulty: 8

Our itinerary: 1 night 2 days

Day1: Hike through 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, then camp at 5th Bench Lake
Day2: Hike Out

There are five bench lakes in Sawtooth. Let's do it all.

There is an official trail to the first bench lake from Redfish lake. Redfish lake is a pretty big lake and commercial boat service is run from one side to the other. On the day we hiked, obviously there was no boat service. Why were we sure about it? The reason was Ross Fork fire. It was not very close, but close enough to see smoke. In the middle of our Idaho hiking trip in Sawtooth, the Ross Fork fire started, and by the time we were hiking to Bench Lakes, it got bigger. We observed that two fire department planes were getting water from Redfish lake and headed for the fire every 15 minutes. It was really cool to see the plane touched the lake and went up to the sky again. The time for the planes to be on the lake was just 10 seconds. It was impressive that it is possible to collect water in such short time. I was able to take pictures of those moments.

getting water

Another great moment along Redfish lake was that we ran into an Idahoan couple we met at the top of Thompson peak on a previous day. They day hiked to Thompson and the next day they went to Bench lakes. We stayed at the lake overnight, and hiked out in the morning and started hiking toward Bench Lakes in the afternoon. When we were heading to Bench lakes they were on the way back from Bench lakes. It was a great meeting. They are very friendly, talkative, and nice. 

3rd Bench Lake

Among five Bench lakes, I liked 4th and 5th. Further hiked, the lake got more alpine-ish, and it was completely nobody after 4th. The left picture is the 3rd Bench Lake. Water was really clear and transparent blue. So peaceful. Mr.N went into lake as usual. I had snack and took pictures while his diving time as usual. 

4th to 5th Bench Lake was a little tricky, since it was off-trail. There was a used trail from the edge of 3rd lake to the 4th, but to find it we had to do some bush-whacking.

5th Bench Lake

 

5th Bench Lake was incredible. Nobody else, and we could get an awesome campsite along the lake. As you can see in the left picture, another great iconic sawtooth shaped mountains are standing tall behind the lake. Not many people reach the 5th lake, which made me feel the place really a hidden gem. 

We hiked so much in Sawtooth and absolutely loved Sawtooth mountains. 

Thompson Peak, Sawtooth, Idaho

Thompson Peak, Sawtooth, Idaho

Total Mileage: 12.3 mile

Total elevation gain: 4,000 feet

Scenery: 10
Solitude: 7
Difficulty: 7

Our itinerary: 1 night 2 days

Day1: Hike to unnamed lake, set a camp, summit Thompson peak
Day2: Hike Out

INCREDIBLE VIEW!

I loved the scenery: both the lake and from the summit.

I first learned about this hike on a random person's blog. Since we had decided to go to Sawtooth for summer adventure, I studied the area by books and internet. For books, I used "Backpacking Idaho" by Wilderness Press. The book is more focused on a long backpacking, mostly over 30 miles. For Thompson peak, although more than half is off-trail, the distance is 12 miles, so the book didn't cover it. On the blog I saw the Thompson peak looked really nice. Why not doing it?

Lake!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are two ways to do: a long day hike or overnight backpacking. We thought it would be great to spend a night at a lake. Half way to go to the lake is on the official trail, but after that technically not official, but used trail are there all the way to the lake. The lake is amazing. It is surrounded by Thompson peak and spire-like mountain. The water color is greenish blue reflecting sun. Beautiful. Some people hike to for the lake. Without summit, it is still worth coming to the lake. We set up a tent at the lake, then went off to the Thompson peak with a day pack. From here, it is officially off-trail. 

On the way to the top

This is probably a most popular off-trail hike in Sawtooth, so there are enough carins for us to navigate to the top. Basically it is not technical, just a lot of scrambling on talus. Tiring but doable if if you have stamina. Talus we climb is in the left picture. You can get an idea. 

 

 

Almost there

 

The last portion of climb was very steep: the next picture. Then the view was waiting after that. The lake we set up tent was now right under the summit. I had never seen the lake in that way. Almost like I was looking at the lake from just above it. It was unbelievable I was at the lake level several hours ago and now looking at the same lake in a totally different way. The same lake appears different from the top. Color was different, shape was different, size was different, although it IS a same thing.

From the top

We saw a nice couple from Idaho. They did Thompson as a day hike. They were really surprised that we came from all the way to Idaho from Mass! They are from Pocatello, 4 hours away from Sawtooth. They said that they were debating how many hours to drive for hiking, but they said that we totally beat them.

We took a lot of picture, ate a lot of food, and enjoyed the view a lot at the top!

Camp!

Spending a night at the lake was really pleasant. This is my favorite camping spot among the entire Idaho trip, although it was a little windy and due to that not Mr.N's favorite spot. Yes, indeed it is not a good place to pitch a tent if it is very windy, or there is a risk for thunderstorm. However, it was sunny day and no thunderstorm that day, so it was okay to do that. The view was incredible in the evening differently. The lake color became much more dark blue, the rock became much more dark brown. By sun setting gradually, the entire world color kept changing. How lucky eating dinner with seeing it. 

sunrise

This camping spot was awesome, because not only having the entire lake view by ourselves, but also having great view on the other side. We were able to see pretty pink color with alpen glow over the mountain range in the evening, then in the morning we were able to see a beautiful sunrise. It is nice to see White Cloud mountain range where we were backpacking a few days back. There is a distinctive white color mountain in the range and from Sawtooth the white mountain was really visible since that white is extremely different from surrounding mountains. It was really beautiful standing out like princess! After we enjoyed sunrise and breakfast entirely ourselves in peace, we hiked out. GREAT!

Pettit Lake Loop in Sawtooth , Idhao

Pettit Lake Loop, Sawtooth, Idaho

Total Mileage: 35.5 miles (including side-trips)

Total elevation gain: 7,200 feet

Scenery: 10
Solitude: 7
Difficulty: 7

Our itinerary: 2 nights 3 days

Day1: Tin Cup Trailhead --Imogene Lake through Alice Lake
Day2: Imogene Lake layover
Day3: Hike out

On the way to Pettit Lake Campground

A night before starting we camped at the car campground at the trailhead (Pettit Lake Campground). It was $17 with no supplies. No potable water is provided, the restroom was super far. I would never pay $17 for that! Anyway. On the way to Pettit Lake Campground from White Cloud Peaks range, we saw huge smoke in the distance, but not too far away. Also we saw a tiny smoke in the Sawtooth range which is near the hike we were going to do. When we saw the smoke as you see in he picture, we weren't even sure if the trail was open. The trail was open, and people were hiking there. We saw a fire ranger walking around the campground, so we asked if it was safe to hike the Pettit Lake loop. She said that the fire wouldn't come to Sawtooth based on geology. There are few mountain ranges between the fire and Sawtooth, and no way to come to the Sawtooth. She was confident. The small one in the Sawtooth was really small, but she suggested that hikers avoid the last part of the loop although technically it was open. 

Pettit Lake

Next morning, we started the loop by hiking along the Pettit Lake. Despite the name, Pettit Lake is quite big. Smoke was calmed down in the morning. McDonald Peak was reflecting on the calm Pettit Lake, which was very nice.

Next lake after Pettit Lake is Alice Lake. The way to Alice is continuous climb but gentle. Alice lake is one of the most popular destinations of day hikers. Indeed we saw 10+ day hikers heading to Alice Lake, but surprisingly at Alice, we didn't see anybody. The reason is probably because we were not only at the shore where trail was, but we explore some peninsula portions on the Alice. At the quiet area at Alice Lake, the view was gorgeous as you can see in the below picture. What an iconic "sawtooth-ish" mountains and attractive aqua blue lake reflecting sunlight!

It was a sunny warm day, so I dipped my leg into lake until knee-high. Even I entered the lake: of course Mr.N swam. I took pictures and chocolate while he did.

Alice Lake

 

After Alice Lake, the next attraction was Twin Lakes. As the name indicates, two lakes are next each other. It is beautiful enough to see along the shore of each lake, but even more amazing when twin lakes were seen from pass 9800. Even Alice Lake can been seen from the pass. Lakes are surrounded by magnificent mountains. How cool the view is. You can see the smoke is coming from fire over the mountain range in the picture. Luckily it didn't come to our side. 

Twin Lakes and Alice Lake

From pass9500

Other side of the pass is amazing, too. Two unnamed lakes were visible and the further one is milky glacier-contained color. There is not much visible glaciers anymore in Sawtooth, so I was surprised that there is still a glacier lake. Hiked through those lakes, the next big lake was Toxaway lake. Toxaway lake is a quite big (a mile long) and of course Mr.N swam there. One option was that stopping early in the day and camping there. However, it was still 3 p.m., so we decided to go to the next lake, Imogene lake. 

Toxaway Lake

To go to Imogene lake from Toxaway lake, it is needed to go through two passes. When we finally arrived at the Imogene lake it was 6 p.m. It was a taxing day. 

Small fire was north of Imogene lake, and we saw a helicopter flying that area hanging something. We guess fire fighters were dropping anti-fire chemicals or something. North of Imogene lake had some firefighter activities going on, so the ranger at campground recommended not go further than Imogene lake. We did so.

Lake Lucille

Next day, we left a tent at Imogene lake and did two day hikes from there. Both are off-trail adventures! The first one was to go to Lake Lucille. This was recommended in the book "Backpacking in Idaho" Actually there is no official name for the lake, but locals call it Lake Lucille. After some gully climbing 1.5 mile, we saw Lake Lucille quietly sitting. It was really quiet. I felt like the lake welcoming only hikers who did some extra work via off-trail. The lake color was unique. I thought that it had something charismatic power in it. Lake Lucille is under two great peaks: Mount Cramer and the Arrowhead. 

Profile Lake

From here we continued more off-trail 800 feet climb to Profile lake which is the base of Mount Cramer and the Arrowhead. Profile lake was even more hidden and I appreciate its beauty. Again the lake color was mesmerizing. It was getting hot in the middle of day, so I decided to swim in the lake. Due to high elevation and snow was still remained along the shore, the water temperature was very cold! I dipped my body in there and 10 seconds was maximum I could stay. Phew. Mr.N was able to stay for a couple of minutes, but it was too cold even for him. After we enjoyed these two lakes, we came back to Imogene lake, then went off to another short day hike to lake 8700. This was great as well, but I preferred Lake Lucille and Profile lake. 

Farley Lake

The third day, we left Imogene lake, and hiked out from a different trail. There was another great lake: Farley Lake. 

This loop was absolutely amazing and I can tell why it is popular. It is Idaho standard popular, meaning much less people than New England, meaning I still enjoyed quiet hiking and wonderful scenery. 

White Cloud Peaks Loop

White Cloud Peaks Loop, Idaho

Total Mileage: 35 miles (approximate, including side-trips)

Total elevation gain: 7,500 feet (approximate)

Scenery: 10
Solitude: 8
Difficulty: 7

Our itinerary: 2 nights 3 days

Day1: Fourth of July Creek trailhead --Hammock Lake
Day2: Hammock Lake -- Upper Chamberlain Lake
Day3: Hike out

Another great place in Idaho. The white cloud range is probably the 2nd most popular backpacking places in Idaho (1st is in the Sawtooth). Although it is popular in Idaho, it is much much less hikers compared to California or New England. 

Ants Basin

First, we started at Fourth of July Lake trailhead, and then hiked up to the pass. From the pass, Ants Basin was seen. From the top, white-colored mountains were visible. I got it why the area is called White Clouds Peaks. It was a perfect sunny day without clouds. Only White Clouds in the scene and that was appealing its white color by reflecting shiny sunlight. The entire Ants Basin was warmly green in the sun. No humans at all except for us. It was very peaceful. Next moving stuff we saw was pika. Always pika is cute. 

Born Lakes

At 4.5 miles, we arrived Born Lakes. This lake is really beautiful and it is popular destination for an easy overnight backpacking. The lake looked sky blue at the first sight. Later, from other angle, it is mesmerizing emerald green. Born Lakes are really beautiful and enjoyable from all directions. 

 

 

Four Lakes Basin

To make a loop for this backpacking, off-trail starts from Born lake. First you climb scree up to 10,220 foot pass. This is an amazing view. You see Ants Basin and White Clouds Peak in the distance, then you see beautiful Four Lakes Basin below. There are quite pretty four lakes below and we descended into that. Whoa, this was quite steep! We checked out all four lakes. They are really hidden. I felt so lucky having an opportunity to look them. SO PRETTY!! For some reason, nice trail was there from the fourth lake to the next quite lake even though that was officially no trail area. It used to be a trail? Or it was a mountain goat path? However, once we reached the Quiet lake, complete off-trail adventure came back. 

Quiet Lake

Quiet lake (literally this name) is peaceful as you can imagine. Quiet lake was really deep dark blue, which was exceptional. Then we hike up meadow and scree more to the Scree Lake, then Shallow Lake, then came back to the official trail. Here we saw mountain goat in the distance. They were eating grass in the meadow near the lake. Their fur is fluffy! I could feel fluffy even though they were far. I had seen mountain goat but they were always on the cliff. In White Clouds, they were in the meadow. Mr.N said that they were lazy. I said, "It's OK, because they are cute"

campsite

We camped at Hourglass lake for the first night. The lake was completely ours. The campsite was awesome with lake and mountain view. 

Next day we went through a couple more lakes of Boulder chain lakes, then wen t down about 2000 feet. Then we again started ascending. A little before we reached the Castle Divide, we decided to do some off-trail portion to go to Castle Lake. The guide book "Backpacking Idaho" indicated that Castle Lake is beautiful, and the author had some tips where to leave the official trail to go there. Those descriptions were helpful usually, but this time it confused us more. First, the book indicated that leaving the trail after a junction with the trail along the Wickiup Creek, but that trail is obviously abandoned and there was not a single hint of used-to-be a trail. Second, the book said that there would be very tall carin when sketchy path starts, but clearly not. We eventually found the sketchy path to the lake: I believe that is a mountain goat path, because it is so narrow on the edge of steep talus. Also , the book said mountain goat is frequently spotted at Castle Lake. The path was really scary, but the worst part was short. The Castle lake is really beautiful and it was worth wondering off-trail for a while. Nobody was at the lake of course, and Mr.N jumped into the lake. Then we came back to an official trail and hiked up to the pass, then we went to the side trail to go to upper Chamberlain lake. We camped there. There was a big horse campsite with a fire ring. Previously at Sawtooth, fire needs to be on the special fire mat, but we didn't bring it. Here in White Clouds, it is allowed to have a fire in the existing fire ring. I was so happy to have fire finally! While Mr.N was in the lake, I started fire :) 

Mountain Goat

Next morning when we hiked out from upper Chamberlain lake, Mr.N saw something and said, "Oh something there. Is that a dog?"  Since dogs are allowed in National Forest there, he thought so. The white small thing moving was actually mountain goat kid! After the small one, three adult mountain goat came to the meadow. It was precious to have a time to observe them. 

Until hiking to Washington Lake, there was no humans, but we saw at least 10+ day hikers at Washington Lake which is a couple of miles from the trailhead. 

White Cloud has outstanding scenery, wonderful wildlife. I really had a great time.

Central Lemhi Range Loop, Idaho

 Central Lemhi Range Loop, Idaho

Total Mileage: 50 miles (approximate, including side-trips)

Total elevation gain: 11,500 feet (approximate)

Scenery: 6
Solitude: 8
Difficulty: 7

Our itinerary: 4 nights 5 days

Day1: South Fork Big Creek trailhead --Big Eightmile Creek area
Day2: Big Eighmile Creek area --Squirrel Creek
Day3: Squirrel Creek -- Iron Creek
Day4: Iron Creek Point (side trip) -- South Fork Big Creek
Day5: Hike out

Central Lemhi Range Loop! This loop highlights solitude and a lot of wildlife. How many people know Lemhi range? Not many. This makes this area really remote. Lemhi range is hidden behind already remote Lost River range. Also, the road to the trailhead is rough, although a sedan can make it. Indeed during our 5-day backpacking, we only saw 3 backpackers (2 in a group, and a solo backpacker). We talked with a solo backpacker who is from Boise, Idaho. When he found out that we came from Mass, he was surprised. He said that we reminded him of geese: sometimes he saw a goose why landed on a weird place despite all other places. He looked us like that way. He might have been surprised if I had said I am from Japan. I might be the first Japanese person who hiked in the Lemhi range actually! It is remote in terms of hikers, but half of this loop the trail is open to motorcycles. This was disappointing, but not too bad. We only saw 3 motorcycles over 5 days. 

Young bull

First we started hiking up along North Fork Big Creek. It was a hot day over 90F. When we arrived at the trailhead a day before, the thermometer in the car hit 100F (OMG). Our rental car was black, so inside was even hotter! Lemhi range seems geologically very hot. Later I looked again the Idaho backpacking book and this loop is stated best in June. Anyhow I don't regret. As I mentioned above about abundant wildlife, only 1 hour later we started hiking, we saw a moose bull. His antlers were still covered with velvet. Compared to the bull we saw in September in Alaska, he was smaller, but *still* big animal. He seemed surprised by presence of hikers and went deep in the forest. Then 10 minutes later we saw another young bull! The area must have very good food for moose. 

Devil's Basin

 After 10 mile of hiking, we arrived at Devil's Basin where we planned to camp. The meadow was really pretty. Green grass and surrounding high granite mountains are nice, however, there was a big problem: mosquitoes. SOOOO many mosquitoes, probably because there is a river in the middle of the meadow. I am extremely popular among mosquitoes. Thus I had to move on to the next camping area. (FYI: in Florida, I got 198 mosquito bites while Mr.N got 2 bites. This is the real numbers. I literally counted the bites.)

Looking down Devil's Basin

We left the basin and ascended the trail. In the left picture, you can see Devil's basin's green meadow below. There is no sign at the pass but we knew that is the junction by Idaho backpacking book. We took a little side trip to enjoy the ridge line to see remote Lehmi range. Despite such a great remoteness, the trail seemed rerouted and sometimes old trails were seen from new trail. We wondered why such remote area needs new trail.

1st night campsite

Then we descended to another beautiful basin and camped. In the evening one motorcycle passed the trail. Other than that, it was really quiet and solitude night.

For this trip we had one pack freeze-dried food (2 servings/pack) and Idahoan (dried mashed potatoes) or instant rice for 2 people dinner. Most people eat freeze-dried food 2 servings for 1 person. Usually 1 serving is not enough after all-day backpacking for one person. So we added Idahoan or rice to it. We were in Idaho, so Idahoan is the right thing to eat isn't it?

Yellow Lake from the 10,200 pass

Next morning, we climbed up to the 10,200-foot Yellow pass. From the pass, pretty Yellow lake was seen. Also the undulating mountains in Lehmi. It is very peaceful. Nobody else. At the top, I ate Japanese Melon Pan. I bought it at Japanese store in Salt Lake city. Then we descended to Yellow Lake and enjoyed it by the lake. After the Yellow lake, there were two choices. We could either stay on the official trail, or go down to the Middle Fork Lake by off-trail (mostly via mountain goat sketchy path). We looked down the lake from top. The lake was pretty, but after the lake we would need to stay in the forest. So we decided to stay on the official trail which is all the way above tree line on the ridge.

Meadow in the evening

For the 2nd night campsite, we chose the meadow near Squirrel Creek. Evening light hit the meadow, and it became orange. That was really beautiful. A bonus about this campsite is a chair! In this area horse camping are allowed. We found an established big campsite that was obviously used by a big party came with mules and horses. The reason we thought so was that a camping chair was left, and a styrofoam target was left. It was lucky to be able to sit on a chair while backpacking super remote.  

Elk

Next day we did a side trip to Iron Creek Point, which is 10,736 foot high. This was incredible, because we saw elk. Those elk is definitely one of the highlights of the entire Idaho trip. Usually we saw wildlife early in the morning or evening. We saw the elk around 8 a.m. on the talus. The trail is rarely used and nobody else on that day, too. Elk walking sounds on the talus made us notice the existence of them. Wow! A bull and several females and their kids. Females called with high-pitch voice to warn that there are humans.

Elk

 

It was funny that males ran away first when they noticed us, then females and kids were monitoring us as you see in the left picture. Adult mothers put small ones in the middle to protect them. 3 adults and 3 kids. Those small ones have white dots. 

 

 

Iron Creek Point

The view from Iron Creek Point was wonderful. This is the southwest side of Lehmi range. At the summit, there was collapsed lookout. We saw very old coffee metal can and fish can under. The package looked like 1950 or earlier even. The person in charge of lookout lived and watched wildfire I guess. 

Old lookout

Lehmi range is quite a unique place. It is isolated and solitude is promised. Many wildlife sighting is expected as well. This was another memorable backpacking.

Grand Sawtooth Loop, Idaho

 Grand Sawtooth Loop, Idaho

Total Mileage: 80 miles (including side-trips)

Total elevation gain: 15,000 feet (approximate)

Scenery: 10
Solitude: 7
Difficulty: 5

Our itinerary: 6 nights 7 days (due to small wildfire, trail closure/open occurred during the trip: that made us hike an unusual loop of grand sawtooth loop)

Day1: Grandjean traihead -- North Baron Creek 
Day2: North Baron Creek --Alpine Lake
Day3: Alpine Lake --Lake 8861 (side trip)
Day4: Lake 8861--10 Lakes Basin (side trip, off-trail) --Three island Lake (side trip)
Day5: Three Island Lake--a mile before Grandjean trailhead
Day6: a mile before Grandjean trailhead --Grandjean trailhead --Sawtooth Lake

Day7: Hike out

2022 summer, we chose Idaho for our adventure destination. Not many people go to Idaho for backpacking by flying, but we knew it would be beautiful. We have a "Backpacking Idaho" book, and we searched and dreamed for a while to go to Idaho for backpacking. One of our main backpackings we wanted to do was Grand Sawtooth Loop. This is 70 mile loop in the Sawtooth mountain range and go through a lot of lakes. I got interested in this hike, because 1) I like loop hikes, 2) I like backpacking relatively long (more than overnight but less than 2 weeks), 3) I love lakes, 4) I love hiking above a tree line, 5) I like hiking with solitude.

When we arrived at Grandjean trailhead, we saw a sign put by Sawtooth National Forest service. It indicated that a part of a loop was closed due to wildfire in the area. Luckily most of the loop was still open, and the sky was not smokey at all. So we started hiking. Since we hit the trail at 4 p.m., we only hiked 3 miles on the first day. Besides, we heard thunders in the distance, so it was better not to climb too much and we camped in the trees. Although it was just 3 miles, we saw a black bear!!! The bear was on the trail. As we approached, the bear stood up and checked what was coming. Then as soon as the bear saw humans he ran away. Idaho bears are very scared of humans, probably due to hunting and they knew they were not protected like ones in the National Parks. 

Next day we started hiking at 5 a.m. (and every day at 5 a.m.) The first lake of the loop was Baron Lake. Oh my goodness. The Baron lake is super beautiful. The mountain over the lake is very spiky, "the Sawtooth", which I hadn't never really seen the shape before. Very cool.  The mountain shapes were mirroring on the lake. It was so pretty and to spend some time at the lake we had an early long lunch break there. Gorgeous!

Baron Lake

It was hard to leave the Baron lake, but we headed for the upper Baron Lake next. Upper Baron Lake is a little above the first Baron Lake. Upper one is slightly smaller than lower one, but this was equally attractive blue color. Then the trail goes up to Baron Divide. On the way up to the pass, two lower and upper Baron Lakes can be seen below. The two lake surrounding by massive mountains was such a wowing view. There are many ways to admire the beauty of lakes. Being at the same level as lake at the shore is great, and looking below lake's blueness is another way to enjoy them. When multiple lakes can be seen below, it is extra gorgeous.

Baron Lakes

Alpine Lake

Upper Crammer Lake

At Baron Divide, we had snack. I ate anpan (Japanese bread, red bean paste inside) as my mountain top snack as usual. Food is always more delicious in the mountain. Then we descended to the other valley. We wanted to camp by lake above a tree line, so we stopped a little early in the afternoon at Alpine lake. Alpine lake is another beautiful lake and glad we had a great campsite. Mr.N as usual swam in the lake, and even I did, because it was a hot afternoon probably over 85F. In Idaho summer in the dry climate at high altitude, it gets hot after sun comes out but it is chilly in the morning. Two not-so-good things about this campsite was related to the fact that day hikers have access here. Due to that, chipmunks got close to human and expected to be fed. I am sure that they got food from human before. They came again and again so I had to scare them. Also when I scare them I noticed they always ran and hid in the dead tree. So I had to block the entry to the tree. Then those brat chipmunks had to run uphill to run away. They were very fat: they need to run more. Another OK thing was that campers were not only us, actually at least 4 parties were camping along Alpine Lake. Far enough not to see humans, but one party was chatting loud until 9 p.m. We went to sleeping bag at 8 p.m., so they bothered me for an hour. Other than that it was really nice. Those people were I guess just overnighters. Next day we went down to the tree area then again climbed up above tree line. The first lake of the day was Crammer Lakes (lower, then upper). Especially upper Crammer lake was pretty. The water was extremely clear. We filtered water here for the upcoming climbing to the pass. 

unnamed heart shape lake

This pass, Crammer Pass.....I really really loved it. On the way to the pass there are many unnamed lakes. In Sawtooth, many lakes are gem even without names! First lovely one on the way to the Crammer pass was a shape of heart. What a color and what an amazing mountains around. Magnificent. 

pika

Climbing more and more from there, more talus field appeared. Cute residents in the talus at high altitude? Pika! One pika appeared from big rock at the top of hill and said, "Peeee!" for four times. He shouted towards below talus field. I was very impressed how big their voices considering their body sizes. I love seeing pika.

The most impressive thing at the pass was that the shape of mountain as below! This is really cool needles and I couldn't stop staring at them. We sat at the top of the pass with view of these and had a long lunch. What a gorgeous place to have a meal. I again had anpan and Japanese bars (I only eat Japanese bars. I can't bear with American chewy bars. They stick to teeth too much).

Crammer Pass

 

unnamed lake

After the pass we descended into another valley and saw more unnamed lakes and named lakes. The first unnamed lake after the pass is in the left picture. Very deep greenish blue. Each lake has its own unique color and each is mesmerizing.

 

 

 

Hidden Lake

Then We descended to Hidden Lake. Beautiful. I was wondering why it is named hidden. Very big lake and obvious. One thing I can think of is access. From any trailheads, it takes at least 2 days to reach here, meaning 4 day trip at least to come to Hidden lake and go back. Maybe that's why it is called Hidden lake. Mr.N jumped into the lake and I took pictures and had snack here. A guy was fishing here. Some lakes have trouts in Sawtooth.

 

Edna Lake

Next lake was Edna lake. You can tell by now we went to so-many-lakes. It was a dream backpacking route visiting lake after lake and all are amazing. Edna lake was a good option to camp of the day, but it was crowded. We saw at least 4 tents already set up when we arrived around 3 p.m. there. 

 

lake8861

We love solitude, so we went to a side trail and a little bit of off-trail to camp at lake 8861. Some lakes don't have official names and they are called at their altitude. This lake is at 8861 feet. We chose that lake, because backpacking in Idaho book by Wilderness Press indicates that lake 8861 is deserted and very beautiful and worth doing a side trip there. Despite of the off-trail portion to reach to lake 8861, there was a couple already set up camp at the lake. We went to the other side of them and set up a tent. Later one other guy came on the other side to camp. I was a bit disappointed to see three parties, because my expectation was "deserted" as written in the book. Anyhow, the lake was pretty, especially mountains mirroring on the lake in the evening and morning. Another interesting thing at this campsite was that we found that deer was sleeping very close to our tent. When we got up at 5 a.m. and got out of tent, deer ran out near the tent. There was a spot grass was very flat: obviously the deer was sleeping there (and actually we heard noise to make bed when we went to bed, it was deer).

Ardeth Lake

Next morning we came back to Edna lake from side trip, then continued the loop. Next lake after Edna lake was Vernon Lake. We heard a horse crying (sounded like complaining) there. Then the next was Ardeth Lake, which is Mr.N's favorite lake during Grand Sawtooth Loop. 

10 Lake Basin

Here we were ahead of schedule, so we decided to do off-trail adventure around Ardeth Lake. As you can see in the picture of Ardeth Lake above, there is a basin above Ardeth Lake. Map shows "10 Lakes Basin"with many lakes (about 10). The left picture is the first lake we reached on the 10 Lake Basin. If you compare Ardeth Lake picture and left picture, you can tell we went up the hill. Mr.N swam here. There was absolutely nobody in the 10 lake basin, therefore Mr.N jumped into the lake naked. After we enjoyed the first lake, we decided to explore more lakes. These below pictures are more lakes on the 10 Lakes Basin. This basin was soooooooo pretty. 

10 Lake Basin

10 Lakes Basin

10 Lakes Basin

 After half a day we explored the 10 Lakes Basin where there is nobody else, we got back to an official trail and continued trekking.  Now going up to the pass. It was really nice to see below Ardeth lake and multiple lakes on the 10 Lake Basin from the pass. 

Looking 10 Lakes Basin Below

 

 

Spangle Lake

After the pass a chain of lakes still continues. After Edna Lake, it will take more than 2 days from any trailhead,
so it was quite quiet. We passed Spangle Lake, Lake Ingeborg, Rock Slide Lake. Every single lake is pretty. Then we took another side trip to Three Island Lake. Just 1 mile side trip and it is easy: on trail. 

Three Island Lake

Three Island Lake is named so, because there are three rock islands on the lake. We camped here at the lake. Nobody was there; complete solitude. First night at Alpine lake, and second night at lake 8861 were both not only us at the lakes camping, thus this campsite was extra great due to solitude. What a wonderful experience having beautiful lake in alpine only for us. As usual, Mr.N dove in the lake and I took pictures of the lake. Then we had dinner. 

Fern Falls

The next morning was a little sad, because we had to leave the high alpine lake area and needed to descend the valley to complete the loop. Oh well we had more backpacking to come in the trip, so it was okay. It was a long descend: this day we covered 17 miles. There were two options to camp. One is a car campground at the trailhead, or backcounty camp a mile before the trailhead. We saw a flat space when we started this loop a mile after trailhead. Since car campground is not free (we love free), we decided to camp a mile before trailhead. The plan was finish early in the morning and head for the next backpacking. Although I wrote the 17 mile was boring, it is actually scenic, especially Fern Falls was pretty.

 

First Trail Creek Lake

The next early morning we came back to the trailhead: we thought we did all the grand loop open that time. Then I looked around and noticed that partial trail closure sign was gone!!! Oh WOW. Probably the closure was due to a very small fire and I guessed it was totally contained. We then decided to do the missed part. We sorted out the food and started backpacking within an hour. After 5 miles of uphill, we came back to the alpine lake area again. Happy. The first lake we reached on this day was Trail Creek Lakes. An official trail goes to the first Trail Creek Lake of several. The color of lake is deep greenish blue. Really pretty. The lake color changes depending on what time of the day. We arrived there before sun hit the water, so it was deep blue. I loved it. 

 

Upper Trail Creek Lakes

Then we decided to explore the other Trail Creek Lake, which requires off-trail portions. One of the reasons is that first Trail Creek Lake is 5 mile away from the trailhead, so some day hikers were at the lake (for them 10 mile out and back day hike). Dayhikers were crammed at the end of official trail and no hint going off-trail to upper lakes. We wanted some solitude at the lake, so we explored other Trail Creek Lakes. We walked around at least two more upper Trail Creek Lakes. It is very beautiful and I am glad we did that. Also it was nice to see look down the first Trail Creek Lake: another angle is nice too. It was hard to leave Trail Creek Lakes, but we moved on. 

 

On the way to Observation Peak

Next we did a side trip to hike up to Observation Peak. An official trail exists to go to the top of Observation Peak, but obviously not many people go there, since this is a side trip in addition to the standard grand Sawtooth loop. On the way to Observation Peak, we saw in the distance Trail Creek Lakes (lower and upper) as you can see in the left picture. Whoa. Another beautiful scenery. 

 

Observation Peak

As you can see in the left and above pictures, there was wildfire somewhere. The sky was smokey. If there was no smoke, it would have been even better, but I was still happy to see such mountain range.
From the top, 360 view of the Sawtooth. This is the reason the mountain range is called Sawtooth indeed. Unique and beautiful. Then, we headed for another lake. 

 

McGown Lake

Because Trail Creek Lakes and Observation Peak are both side trips, when we arrived at McGown Lake, it was already 6 p.m. It is a very pretty lake and nobody there, so we thought about camping there, but the campsite had a burnt leaning tree that looked like it could fall on the campsite. After we discussed, we decided to climb 200 feet more to go to Sawtooth Lake. 

I liked the decision. I really loved the Sawtooth lake. Very big lake!

Sawtooth Lake

 

 

Sawtooth Lake in the morning

It is one of the most beautiful lakes I have ever seen. If I had to choose the favorite lake of this backpacking, Baron lake and Sawtooth lake. It was really lucky to spend by a favorite lake. The next day, the color was even more amazing. Sooooo blue. Azure blue. 

 

For this Grand Sawtooth loop, we saw 40 lakes at least I remember now. Some are big with name, some are no names. I think this is the most lake filled backpacking course I have ever done. I love lakes so much. Also this loop includes a lot of mountains. Mountains are indeed sawtooth-ish. Priceless.