Sawtooths 2017, Day 5

Toxaway Lake to Imogene Lake

April 17, 2018

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Day five brought another fairly easy hike of 5ish miles over one pass. No issues on the trail this day, but we did lose two of our participants as Dave and Vince headed towards the trailhead. Vince’s knee was swelling up from all the up and down pounding and he felt that there was not two more passes left in his knee. The plan was for Dave and Vince to stop and camp at Farley Lake that night and then either stay there and meet back up with us when we were scheduled to camp at Farley Lake the following day, or they would head out to the trailhead a day ahead of us and meet up with us in Boise. Somehow(?) they missed Farley lake and ended up going all the way to the trailhead that day. In the end Vince’s knee looked pretty marginal and the fact that we had both cars at the trailhead allowed things to work out for the best. Vince ended up heading home a day early so we were not able to celebrate with him on Saturday night in Boise.

Our route to Imogene Lake over Imogene Divide. Steve and I added an extra mile taking a walk down to the outlet of the lake. (created with ridewithgps.com)

Another beautiful and clear day greeted us and we were up and ready to go fairly early.

Early morning at Toxaway Lake, everybody was in pretty good spirits (especially Steve!). As always I had to spend time getting my feet taped up for the day while Steve packed up the tent 😊.

The first 1.5 miles took us along Toxaway Lake and down the valley past Lake 8165, which is a pretty setting with some nice campsites. The trail is fairly flat through meadows and follows Yellow Belly Creek down the canyon until you hit the trailhead for the trail up to Edith Lake and Imogene Divide.

The trail passes through some nice meadows below Toxaway Lake, then along Yellow Belly Creek, and along the shore of Lake 8165. A couple of nice views up the canyon towards the Toxaway Lake basin.

After the junction there is some serious climbing and the trail crosses back and forth over the outlet creek from Edith Lake. We did not have any issues getting over the creek, but I could imagine a few weeks earlier it would have been more swollen with run off. The trail is pretty steep in spots and Steve and I commented that we were not looking forward to coming back down. There are a few good views, but mostly you are in the trees until you hit Edith Lake where you are treated to a wonderful view. We encountered a fairly large group that had camped at one of the few campsites at the outlet of Edith Lake. They were headed back over to Edna Lake and beyond for the eclipse.

The creek from Edith Lake which we crossed over three times climbing to Edith Lake, and the view from the outlet area of Edith Lake. We were headed to Imogene Divide which is the gap on the right.

Once you cross over the outlet of Edith Lake the trail immediately starts to climb up through an impressive rock slide area. After crossing the rock slide area things flatten out a bit as you go through a very nice meadow area with many wild flowers and a flowing creek. There are great views and the best is of Peak 9955 which is to the left of Imogene Divide as you hike up the meadow. We talked to a couple that had camped somewhere along this meadow area and it did look like you could although it would have to be for a small group. At the trail junction near mile 3 we headed right towards Imogene Divide. We had considered dropping our packs and heading to the left to get a view over into the Edna Lake area but decided we did not feel like the extra climb and hike.

Heading up out of Edith Lake through a massive rock slide area. Once through the rock slide area we enjoy a meadow area with wild flowers and great views of the surrounding peaks.

From the trailhead Imogene Divide does not look all that formidable, but as you get closer the steepness is apparent. Luckily the trail is well switchbacked and the climb is not too bad. What is a bit unnerving is looking down and seeing just how steep it is. We made the summit pretty quickly and were treated to some amazing views and a nice cool (almost cold) breeze. I was able to get a marginal cell phone signal (3G at best) and sent out a few text messages to my wife, and even a low res image via text.

The view of Imogene Divide from the trailhead. Once you climb a few switchbacks looking down can be a bit unnerving. Peak 9955 just north of the pass and Steve at the top of the divide getting some choice photos of the great view looking back towards the Toxaway Lake area.

Since it was getting cold, we headed down the steep slope on the Imogene Lake side of the divide. Again the trail is well switchbacked and the descent was not too bad on the knees. One does have to be careful with the rocky trail and the competing temptation to soak in the incredible view.

Looking over to our destination, Imogene Lake and the switchbacks down the slope. Great views on the way down and the meadow above Imogene Lake.

After losing all the elevation we had gained going over Imogene Divide we came to a nice meadow above Imogene Lake. We hiked about halfway around the south side of the lake on the main trail where we found a nice secluded group campsite nestled off the trail a bit. After having some lunch, Steve and I headed off to the outlet of the lake to take a look and get some nice pictures of the lake and the mountains behind it. Darrell headed to the lake for some fishing and had a very successful day catching many larger trout.

Some shots of Imogene lake. First looking towards to the outlet then back from the outlet towards the mountains above the lake. The last picture is looking across a bay at our nice secluded campsite.

Darrell enjoyed success fishing at Imogene Lake and these are a couple of the nice fish he caught. A few found their way into the frying pan for dinner.

After a fairly easy hike it was nice to relax and enjoy the day. We saw quite a bit of wildlife and even had an older deer wander around our campsite that evening. It came quite close to us and we concluded that it might be blind or very close to it.

Some of the wildlife we enjoy that day. The deer came well within 10 feet of us and seemed like it could not see very well.

Although it was a bit of a bummer to lose Dave and Vince this was another beautiful day in the Sawtooths. Glad we took the effort to climb over to Imogene Lake. The lake itself was amazing with very clear water and deep drop offs.

Previous: Sawtooths 2017 Day 4

Next: Sawtooths 2017 Day 6

Photo credits: Richard Moore and Darrell Moore

keywords: Sawtooth Mountains, Imogene Lake, Toxaway Lake, Imogene Pass, Backpacking, Hiking

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