Sunday August 10, 5.0mi/8.0km

Marshall Lake (x/7720ft) to Sawtooth Lake (x/8450ft) (ID)

We had a relaxed morning at camp, departing around 8am starting the day with a chill walk downhill.

Eventually the Alpine Way Trail wrapped around the mountain and started climbing up again.

Pretty amazing views all morning, even a massive waterfall which was unexpected.

It was a pretty entertaining morning, lots of joking around, I started taking pictures of people who were taking pictures, of people taking pictures.

Later in the afternoon, I was getting weird muscle cramps, and slowly plodded my way up towards Alpine Lake.

From there it wasn’t much further to our destination at Sawtooth Lake, though the time felt like it dragged since I was definitely in some pain. Good company and good views though!

My only focus was getting to camp so I could lay down, so I was slightly ahead of the group and able to get some nice photos from a higher switchback.

We arrived at Sawtooth Lake and there were plenty of other hikers up there, it’s definitely a popular destination. There were plenty of wildflowers too.

We found a spot that wasn’t already occupied and set up our tents.

Technically it wasn’t occupied by humans, but the local squirrel population had certainly claimed it. I laid down for half an hour and started to feel better, and then went for a quick dip in the freezing cold lake. It was a nice evening of snacking, good conversation, and defending our tents against squirrels.