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
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| Twin Lakes and Alice Lake |
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
