Sawtooths 2017, Day 1

Sawtooth Lake and Beyond

November 13, 2017

Previous: Sawtooths 2017 Planning

Next: Sawtooths 2017 Day 2

Our first day destination was a small lake south of Sawtooth Lake known only as Lake 8271. After an early morning 3 hour drive from Boise Darrell, Steve and I met up with David and Vince who had roughed it in a rogue campsite near Stanley Idaho instead of enjoying a final night in a nice hotel bed. The first stop was to have breakfast at the Stanley Baking Company and Cafe before hitting the trail. Our 9am arrival put us at the beginning of the morning rush and we managed to get through breakfast fairly timely and were at the Iron Creek trailhead a bit before 11am. The plan for the day was to hike to Sawtooth lake and then take the trail south to Lake 8271 (it turns out that many lakes and peaks in the Sawtooths are known only by their elevation).

Day one map with mileage and elevation, created using Ride With GPS (ridewithgps.com)

Our first look at the Sawtooths as we approached Stanley from Boise on highway 21

As you can tell it was nice and clear this Sunday morning. The forecast had been for unhealthy air conditions due to smoke from the many forest fires that were burning in the western states. We had seen the forecast, but decided to stay with our plan and adjust if we found the conditions too bad. Luckily we did not have to deal with any smoke for the whole week. We did have clouds and rain later during the day on Sunday into Monday morning.

The Iron Creek trailhead was not as crowded for a Sunday morning as I had anticipated, we were able to find some parking on the north side of the road just before the trailhead parking lot. The parking lot was full when we got there but by the time we got packed and organized there were some empty slots. Our plan was a simple in and out spending only a single night. We decided that maybe we should pack two nights worth of food in case we really liked the Sawtooth Lake area and wanted to wander around and spend another night there. It seemed that everybody got the updated plan except Vince who only packed a single night of food. After getting our food arranged and the packs set we filled out the required wilderness permit. Lastly we took a group photo at the trailhead, and as you can see our group was basically four old farts and a young stud.

Packed and ready to head out from the Iron Creek trailhead (photo by Vince Stefanetti)

The trail for the first few miles was a gradual uphill climb through a fairly thick forest which usually blocked our view of the mountains ahead. We passed many people heading down to the trailhead after a weekend in the wilderness. You enter into the Sawtooth Wilderness not far from the trailhead.

A fairly typical view as the trail heads up Iron Creek

Steve entering the Sawtooth Wilderness from the Iron Creek trailhead

1.75 Miles in, the trail junction to Stanley Lake, some of the many people headed out.

After the junction with the Stanley Lake trail, we started to climb a bit more up the canyon and were able to enjoy some scenic views including the first of many meadows with wildflowers we encountered on the trip.

Darrel and Vince headed up the trail after the junction.

First wildflower meadow of the trip, you can notice the overcast conditions.

On the way up the canyon, Steve and I had been talking that it looked and felt like rain was coming. Just after we went through this meadow and started the climb up to Alpine Lake raindrops began to fall. Every time we thought about stopping to put on our ponchos the rain would let up and we continued on. It always amazed me that we would pass day hikers who had no day pack and very minimal clothing on. Seems many people do not think about being prepared for what the mountains can throw at you. At about mile 3, the trails starts to climb up to Alpine lake in a series of switchbacks. As we found out, the trails in the Sawtooths usually have very nice switchbacks and are not near as strenuous as the John Muir Trail. It was during this climb that David decided he needed his poncho and stopped to put it on, giving us a long rest break at Alpine Lake while we waited for him.

David decided the off and on rain on the climb up to Alpine Lake needed a poncho.

The trail from Alpine Lake to near Sawtooth Lake was probably the hardest trail of the trip. It had less switchbacks and more step like rocks. If one had vertigo, the sharp drop off on the side of the trail would be problematic. I would not want to travel this section of the trail in rain. One thing the picture below reminded me of was that you are supposed to wear the permit tag on your pack. With the wind that day it was very annoying having it at the top of my pack, and shortly after this picture I moved it down to my hip belt.

Starting back after our extended “rest break” waiting for David (photo by Vince Stefanetti)

The trail up past and view of Alpine Lake on the way to Sawtooth Lake (bottom photo by Vince Stefanetti)

I wonder why they are called the Sawtooths?

Still smiling after cresting the hill into Sawtooth Lake basin.

Once you crest the hill into the Sawtooth Lake basin you see a small pond that is below Sawtooth Lake. If you want to camp at Sawtooth Lake the campsites around the north side of the lake are your best bet. I had read that there were some good sites on the south side of the lake, but that turned out to be false. We had talked to a man and his wife near Alpine Lake who were heading down after getting caught in some rain. He mentioned that he did not know what the big deal was about Sawtooth Lake as he thought it was pretty small and unspectacular. I am betting that they got to the small pond below Sawtooth Lake and thought that was it!

The small pond before you get to Sawtooth Lake that one hiker thought was Sawtooth Lake.

After hiking around the pond, we encountered our first creek crossing just before the trailhead and north side of Sawtooth Lake.

Making sure David makes it over the first water crossing..

Tailhead at the outlet of Sawtooth Lake, we headed south down the west side of the lake towards the north fork of Baron Creek.

At the trailhead we went south towards the north fork of Baron Creek along the west side of Sawtooth Lake. You have to cross the creek we just crossed a few hundred feet before and you have to wonder why? Just as we started down the trail from here a pretty intense rain started and it got considerably colder. Steve and I stopped to put on some rain gear and by the time we had it on the rain was stopping. We did see a group of younger hikers that had parked next to us at the Iron Creek trailhead, and they only had a couple of small blankets and the girl on had only a small top and shorts on. They were headed back pretty quickly. I asked them if they had any rain gear and they said no, of course I knew the answer before I asked. Again it is amazing that people do not come prepared, especially since it looked like rain when we left the parking lot a few minutes after they had.

Hiking the west side of Sawtooth Lake just after a cloud burst of rain.

The trail along the lake is beautiful, but you have to watch your step as the trail gets fairly narrow with a steep drop off down to the lake. Other than that it is a pleasant hike. As we hit the south end of the lake, the meadow had many wildflowers.

Wildflowers on the south side of Sawtooth Lake with a bit of my poncho showing.

Little lake above the south end of Sawtooth Lake, there was a small campsite in the trees to the left but not big enough for the 5 of us. Really nothing to the right.

After exploring our campsite options on the south side of Sawtooth Lake we decided to take a chance and continue on over the gap and down to Lake 8271. The guidebook mentioned that there we some good campsites there. We encountered our first snow of the trip crossing a small snow field. I like the picture of Darrell headed over the field towards the mountains above Baron Creek canyon. The trail beyond Sawtooth Lake to the south gets quite rocky and uneven as you maneuver through rock slides.

Darrell headed over the first snowfield of the trip towards some impressive mountains.

The view from the gap (8520 feet) down to Lake 8271. Little did we know that it might be the best view we would get as the clouds thickened and we had rain that evening.

From the gap it looked like there would be some decent campsites along the lake so we ventured down to the lake loosing a couple hundred feet of elevation that we would have to climb back up in the morning. On the north side of the lake there was really nothing in the way of campsites so we continued to the peninsula you see in the middle the the picture above. There were some small campsites that were marginal, but it seemed fires and avalanches had covered many potential tent sites with dead trees.

Approaching Lake 8271 looking for a potential campsite, the spot to the left was very marginal but might have done if we did not find anything better. (photo by Vince Stefanetti)

On the peninsula of Lake 8271, downed trees had covered up many tent sites.

We searched around but could not find a suitable campsite for the five of us so Vince volunteered to hike further down to see if there were any campsites we could use. Vince did find a nice campsite on the creek flowing out of Lake 8271 and we decided to put the packs on and wander down. Although the existing tent pads were a bit closer to the creek than 100 feet we decided enough was enough and camped there. Being that we were not having a fire, would head up the hill a long ways when nature called, and the tent sites were pretty well established we set up camp. It was a beautiful setting and made for a nice place to sleep with the creek flowing among the many rain showers we had off and on over the night.

Heading down further to the campsite Vince had scouted for us.

It turned out to be a wonderful setting and everybody was in good spirits after our first day despite the drizzle and later rain.

All in all a wonderful first day, a bit challenging getting up to Sawtooth Lake with no day to acclimatize but with only a little over 6 miles of distance it was not too bad. The rain and clouds managed to hold off until the evening so we were treated to some beautiful views. The first evening had some pretty windy and rainy periods, but everybody slept well with no tent problems.

Previous: Sawtooths 2017 Planning

Next: Sawtooths 2017 Day 2

keywords:Sawtooth Mountains, Sawtooth Lake, Stanley Idaho, Backpacking, Hiking, North Baron Creek

description: Day one of our backpacking trip to the Sawtooth Mountains of Idaho, Sawtooth Lake