Sawtooth Mountains High Traverse

[bobb169]

Sawtooth TR Slideshow:

http://s17.photobucket.com/albums/b5...view=slideshow


Day 1 – Started in from Iron Creek TH. Passed a few people coming out from Goat Lakearea, certainly more popular than it used to be. Defined trail all the way to the lakenow. At Goat Lake the trail ends, wenton around the lake as we needed to be fairly high for day two which was goingto be a tough one. Fish in most all thelakes we passed to our first camp. Climbed about 2300 ft up in about 5 miles.

Day 2 – Headed out early as we had to complete ThompsonPass (10,400 ft) and Stephens Lakes pass (10,000 ft) today, the highest wewould be. With Thompson Pass in view we knew it was going to be tough. Unusal snow has the entire saddle snowed in,and it was steep. We had to work our wayup the side on loose rock slopes exceeding 60 degrees, quite exhilarating….withfull packs! Then back down and back upStephens Pass and back down to one of the Stephens Lakes for a total of 1300 ftup and 1100 ft down in about 3 ¼ miles……took about 8 hrs! This is by far the toughest hike section wehave done, anywhere. The reward wasworth it, the view from Thompson Pass is second to none and the fishing wasgreat at Stephens Lake, cuts averaging 14”.

Day 3 – Headed out for what we hoped would be a night atWarbonnet Lake but after Day 2 we figured it would be a little out of reachbecause we were about 1 ½ mile behind. We decided hiking off trail in the Sawtooths needs to be measured byhours, not miles….extremes of up and downs, loose scree and cliffs. Had about 3 ¼ miles before we hit a trailafter 500 ft down, then 500 ft up, then 900 ft down. On trail at Baron lakes we revised our routeto go over the Alice Lake access to Warbonnet Pass instead of up the BaronLakes cirque so we had another 1100 ft up and 400 ft down to our camp….a lakewith no fish.

Day 4 – Another tough off trail day. First thing, headedup to Warbonnet Pass, 1,000 ft up in a mile. A very interesting 8” wide (sheep trail) section across the steep, looserock, top of Baron cirque. Great viewsfrom the Pass. Then a very steep 1,400ft descent thru the Warbonnet Lake basin, ending at Bluerock Lake. Caughtdecent 12 “ cuts there. There is goodfishing through here but we had to push on to try to make up some time. Wepretty much contoured around to Oreamus Lake. A short stop at McWillards Lakebrought some big fish, cuts about 14”. With no decent camping we had to push on to Oreamus Lake. Really nicecampsite, great fishing….if you like to catch a 6” cut on every cast. After Bluerock Lake the rock looks more likethe Sierras, very glaciated. We wereback on schedule, late in the day…. Another 3 ½ miles in 8 hours!

Day 5 – What looked to be another long off trail day toget over Packrat Pass, a 1700 ft climb. A beautiful hike in scattered timber to Packrat Lake. This was a desired fishing spot so we alloweda hour for a stop....three of us and 80 cuts later, most all 14” to 18” we hadto leave. The last part up Packrat Passis very steep! Great view at the top andwe could see Thompson Pass in the distance where we came over the secondday. It looked like one of those ‘no waycan you get there from here’ views. Fromthe Pass it was 1,000 ft down to Upper Redfish Lake, past Lake Kathryn (I thinkit’s the prettiest lake we saw) Therewere big trout in the crystal clear water but with no time we couldn’t stop. Wemade camp between the two Upper Redfish Lakes a little later. After some time we managed to catch enoughlarge bows for dinner. We did a littlebetter 3 miles in 6 hours.

Day 6 – After 1,000 ft down we were at Redfish Creek andhad to start a 2,000 ft climb up to get over Cramer Lake Pass. Then 900 ft down to camp at Hidden Lake. At least it was all on trail! A lot of small brookies here.

Day 7 – A full day on trail! Our feet would thankus! We went past many beautiful lakes,Edna, Ardeth, Spangle Lakes. After a daywith 1,700 ft up and 1,100 ft down we camped on the peninsula at IngleborgLake. Caught the biggest trout here….Four bows at 20”!! .... a half dozen at16” that evening.

Day 8 – Another mostly on trail day (5 ¼ miles out of 7 ¾miles). Headed for the 3 Island LakePass to drop over to Timpa Lake and the North Fork Boise River trail. 3 Island Lake is very scenic and has big bows(14”), caught four in less than a hour. This was supposed to be night 7 but we were still behind. (sigh) Verynice pass, dropping past Confusion and Surprise Lake. Confusion Lake looked to have some small fishand Surprise proved to be a surprise….pulled some more 20” bows out in about 30minutes…..but had to go, we needed to push some miles today as it was alldownhill to the NF Boise. With onlyclimbing 300 ft and now dropping 2700 ft. Very good, nicely forested, hardly used trail from Timpa Lake to ournights camp at the NF Boise River.

Day 9 – Another all trail day. Managed to get out a little early as we wantedto get more miles, so the last day wasn’t so long. The River trail dropped another 500 ft beforeturning up Mattingly Creek to climb up 2,300 ft to where we finallystopped. Mattingly Creek canyon was verybeautiful, lots of changing colors. Thiscamp was also the coldest….woke up with ice on the tent.

Day 10 – Last day of a hard trip. The short up of 500 ftseemed easy, then it was 1700 ft down to the Alturas Lake TH and thetruck. Pretty uneventful and seeminglyfast end to a great trip!

A very good trip! Atotal of 60 miles ….. and I don’t even want to know how much elevation gain andloss. The first section is not for the faint of heart. Great scenery, great fishing. We actually missed most of the typical thicksmokey Idaho summer that occurs around Stanley.

[jb]

Very nice effort. Cross-country travel in the Sawtooths is one of life's exquisite joys.

[goofball]

very cool, beautiful range. the sawtooths was the place that got me seriously interested in playing outside nearly 20 years ago. thanks for the pics.

[powderglut]

Sweet Trip!!!! I love fishing in super clear water. Very visual takes on dry flies. Gorgeous scenery!

[Jammer]

Good stuff! I was there way back when I was in high school, and after seeing your report (and pics) I'm hoping to go back sometime soon! Thanks.

- Jamal