Backpacking the Sawtooths, Idaho
July 25 - 28, 2005
Scenes from THE BEST BACKPACKING TRIP EVER: our 4-day trip through Idaho's Sawtooth mountains.
Warning: Excessive number of vista shots ahead. But really, with an area this beautiful, it is simply too hard to choose.
Middle Cramer Lake and surrounding mountains in the evening light. Middle Cramer was the site of our campsite for the first night in the backcountry of the Sawtooth Wilderness Area. Pretty good start, I'd say.
Near the waterfall Jill dangles her toes out over the lake and contemplates taking a plunge.
On our second day of hiking, Eric pauses along the trail on the way up a high pass.
A ridge we named the Knife Edge, for obvious reasons. Later we climbed one of the points along the ridge, a feat that looks more difficult than it is.
From the top of Knife Edge, Jill peers down below.
On more solid ground, a view of the moutains to the northeast.
At our second campsite, an un-named lake on top of an 8,800 foot high pass, Jill gets a little too comfortable on a warm granite slab. Sweet dreams.
Eric drinks his tea on morning of the third day.
First thing in the morning on the third day, we scrambled up a ridge from our campsite. Here Eric shows off his highly technical rock-climbing skills.
From the top of the ridge that we scrambled, a view of Glens Peak and the Ten Lake Basin.
Looking down on Toxaway Lake from the top of Sand Mountain Pass.
Along the trail down to Toxaway Lake, Jill pauses beneath a large pine to show off her bandito scarf.
On the fourth day of the hike, a view of Twin Lakes from the 9,500 foot pass above our remote campsite.
From the pass, we scrambled up an un-named peak that topped out a little above 10,000 feet. This is our obligatory summit photo. We didn't see many human tracks, but there were goat tracks galore--but no goats unfortunately.
The view from the top of the un-named peak.
On the way back down to the trail, Eric pauses with a nice view of Snowyside Peak behind him.
A view looking down at yet more arrestingly beautiful mountain lakes.
A view along the trail on our last day.
The view from the trail alongside Alice Lake.
Almost done with the hike, Jill crosses an ad hoc bridge over a creek.
On the way back down to the car at Petit Lake the landscape opens up, revealing views of the Stanley Basin to the east.
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