Friday August 15, 17.1mi/27.5km

Decker Creek (186.5/7120ft) to Willow Creek CG (169.4/4810ft) (ID)

I slept in a little and didn’t get moving until 7am, and even then it was surprisingly cold when I started hiking.

The valley stayed in shade for a long time, and I loved watching the sunlight creep down the opposite hillside as I slowly made my way up the climb.

The 1800-ft climb took me a few hours, and near the top of the pass I finally warmed up in the sunlight.

Once I was at the top of the pass, I was immediately bathed in warm sunlight, which felt quite warm even at this high elevation of 8900 feet. This might be the highest point on the entire trail in Idaho, but the guidebook doesn’t say for sure. From the top of the pass, I spied a couple very large tents stealthily hidden way off trail under some trees.

The way they were set up seemed very suspicious, but I thought it safer not to go investigating strange tents. Instead, I enjoyed the view looking down the Willow Creek Valley, where I would be hiking all afternoon.

The little bushes in the meadow had started turning red, I guess that means Autumn is coming.

Yep, lots of descending to do.

At a trail junction, I even spied a rare Idaho Centennial Trail marker.

Alpine Meadows are always such a treat to walk through when there is a nice trail.

The initial descent was a little steep.

But soon I was down hiking near the creek, and the occasional forested section provided relief from the heat.

It’s amazing how quickly it went from 45° this morning to 85° in the afternoon. I hiked right by the Willow Creek Hot Springs, so of course I had to go check them out.

The water was insanely hot, so I did some light masonry work and rearranged some stones to bring in some cold creek water to mix in. That helped but since there was no shade, I didn’t stay long. I continued on another mile to the trailhead, where I met a nice couple from Boise, Cassie and Ryan. They gave me a nice cold Coors light while they went and watered their horses.

After they came back we chatted for quite awhile, I love talking about Idaho and hiking the trail, hopefully I didn’t scare them off, it’s not often I get to have an in-depth conversation with people. I continued on, and a quick mile and a half later I was at Willow Creek Campground.

Usually I don’t like to pay to sleep on the ground when I usually do that for free, but it had picnic tables and toilets, and it was only $3.

I spread out all my food on the table and organized it for the remaining 3.5 days until town, and then I continued with my book about the first woman to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail. A nice relaxing evening!

Thursday August 14, 18.7mi/30.1km

MF Boise River (204.2/6270ft) to Decker Creek (186.5/7120ft) (ID) + 1.0mi hot springs

The sunrise is happening noticeably later these days, as it didn’t wake me up until almost 6:30. I left camp just after 7am and had a nice stroll down the remainder of the valley next to Middle Fork Boise River.

Apparently a bear had been using the trail recently too.

I love being surrounded by the granite mountains.

It was really quite impressive how nice some of the trails in the Sawtooths were.

As I neared the little historic mining town of Atlanta, I left the Sawtooth Wilderness for the last time.

I checked out the permit registration box, to see if there was anybody I knew. Nope. Just the usual comments about Hayduke.

I passed by the powerplant campground, which meant I was back in the front country. I decided to go check out the Greylock Hot Springs, which were right next to the MF Boise River.

The pools were quite shallow so I didn’t spend very long soaking there. I hiked 10 minutes down the dirt road and found Atlanta hot springs, which were much nicer.

Someone had clearly spent some time constructing this, with stone cemented into a nice little patio, and pipes bringing in the hot water. After about an hour, I decided to check out the third and final Hot Spring in this area, Chattanooga Hot Spring. The trail to get there was a little vague, and it was the most remote of the three hot springs, but it was also the coolest one. It’s a hot spring fed by a waterfall!

I enjoyed a nice soak sitting in that hot spring, watching the river flow by. Eventually my stomach started rumbling and I realized it was after 12 noon and I was hungry. So I left and finished the road walk into Atlanta. It was a neat little historic mining town. They fixed up the old church into a library.

And this old gas station seemed to be some sort of museum, though it was closed today.

And finally at the far edge of town I came to the only public business, the Beaver Lodge.

They serve lunch and dinner 6 days a week, and had a very kitschy rustic decor inside.

After enjoying a nice nice fried chicken sandwich, garden salad, ice cream, and a Coors to wash it down, I got my resupply box from the bartender. It seems I packed a little too much food, as it’s only 4 days / 100 miles to the next town. The staff was nice enough to let me charge some things and update my maps over their Wi-Fi, and after a couple hours I had finished everything I needed to do and left to continue exploring the town.

I think that was an old miners cabin, there were lots of little notes scattering around explaining mining techniques. And the other building was definitely an old jail.

Leaving town was a slow process, as I hiked a hot sunny dirt road up 1500 ft.

After a couple of miles I got to the trailhead, and I saw the landscape was devoid of trees, so the trail would also be in the hot sun. I decided to rest in the shade of the few trees at the trailhead, and read my book for awhile. After an hour the sun had lowered in the sky and it felt cooler, so I continued on the sunny trail.

Every time the trail crossed a little stream, there was a small grove of aspens.

It was amazing how quickly the climate had changed, now this trail feels like hiking in Northern Nevada again, mostly sagebrush except for the aspens near water. These bushes also grew pretty thickly on the hillsides of an old burn area.

I had planned on camping next to Flint Creek, which the guidebook promised had a little camp spot. When that turned out to be untrue, I had to continue another 3 miles to camp next to Decker Creek, which was the first spot I found that was flat, and without standing dead trees. It seems to be a nice little camp spot, tucked in a copse of green pine trees.

Wednesday August 13, 21.6mi/34.8km

SF Payette River at Pinchot Creek (225.8/6150ft) to MF Boise River (204.2/6270ft) (ID)

My campsite was surprisingly comfortable and peaceful, I packed up and continued to follow the South Fork Payette River upstream. Even this far uphill, it was still a big river.

After hiking up hill for a little while, the trail flattened out in a meadow where the stream temporarily became in Alpine Lake. I think this one was Elk Lake.

The trail continued its gradual uphill climb, I could tell this was a popular trail, it was wide and well maintained.

Oh, hello mountain!

As I continued further and further up the valley, the stream shrunk in size, and flowed over these huge slabs of rock. It looked like a water slide!

As I sat there having a snack break, I was extremely surprised to see a large fluffy white goat just walk by. At first I thought someone’s dog was off leash, but it was a goat. They’re usually up in the Alpine, not down in the forest.

Eventually the stream ended in Benedict Lake, which looked beautiful but marshy so I couldn’t figure out a way to swim.

The next higher Alpine Lake, Rock Slide Lake, was perfect for swimming.

I had lunch on the nice warm rock slabs, and took a swim out to one of the little islands. Really a perfect lunch spot! After lunch I finished the uphill portion of the day, when I got to Ingeborg Lake. From there I descended to Spangle Lake, which I was planning to swim in, but for some reason it was much colder.

At this point I left the popular Sawtooth loop, and continued South. From here it was all downhill to the old mining town of Atlanta, along the Middle Fork Boise River.

Down….

Looking down the valley that I would be descending through all afternoon.

There wasn’t much forest or shade, for some reason this valley was mostly meadows.

But that meant I had more views to enjoy!

As I followed along the MF Boise River, across many of its tributaries. For some reason this little one was raging.

The trail did cross over the MF Boise River itself a few times, and while I managed to keep my feet dry for the first couple of crossings, eventually the river became too large and I had to ford it with wet feet. I decided to camp after the last ford of the river, so I could have dry feet for tomorrow’s hiking. I camped at a little trailside spot that the guidebook suggested, it’s right next to the loud river.

Tuesday August 12, 15.5mi/24.9km

Trail Creek Lakes (244.2/7990ft) to SF Payette River at Pinchot Creek (225.8/6150ft) (ID) -2.9mi Sawtooth Lodge drive

We were all awake at 6:30, and after a leisurely start to the morning, left camp around 8:30. The water in the lake was remarkably still and made some beautiful morning reflections.

Our morning was an easy 5 mile descent down to Grandjean Campground and Sawtooth Lodge. We followed Trail Creek downhill all morning.

Lots of fun discussions ensued on the easy hike down the valley, gonna miss these people when they depart later today.

Looking down the valley:

At 11:30 we crossed the bridge into the campground, and I promptly hiked to the closest privy.

After the four of us regrouped, Randi drove us a mile down the road to the Sawtooth Lodge.

It was actually perfect timing as we got there at noon, as they only serve food from noon to 2 pm. We each ordered a sandwich and drink, and while I was waiting for my fancy turkey sandwich to be made, I browsed the small selection of goods for sale.

I was surprised to see the fuel canisters, that’s a really key item for most hikers. It was a delicious lunch and I topped it off with a Butterfinger milkshake.

After lunch we drove a further half mile down the road to the free Sacajawea Hot Springs.

There were a bunch of rock pools on the riverside, and hot water flowed down from the hill, mixing with the cold water from the river. It was quite a unique experience, and unlike any other hot spring I’ve visited on this trail yet. After almost an hour there, the four of us went back to the trailhead, where we set our goodbyes. I would be continuing South through the Sawtooths, while the three of them went into Stanley. I’ll miss hiking with my friends, that was a fun and relaxing 4 days. I packed up, filled out a permit, and retraced my steps across the bridge. I didn’t get very far when I ran across David and his dog, who are hiking a couple day loop in the Sawtooths.

He was a super interesting guy from Boise, knew all about the Idaho Centennial Trail, and is looking into hiking the Nez Perce Trail. Before we parted ways, he gave me an ice cold Mountain Dew. I don’t usually drink caffeine, but the cold fizzy beverage was very nice. Finally across the bridge, I continued South towards Baron Creek.

The trail started off very nice and I soon re-entered the Wilderness.

Most of this area had burned recently, and despite that, the trail was in fantastic shape.

It was hot down at this elevation of 5,000 ft, but I enjoyed the views of the Payette River valley.

It was easy flat hiking for a couple of hours, mostly on a benched trail above the valley, but occasionally next to the river.

Further up the valley, the trail started to climb, which coincided with the end of the burn area, so fortunately I had shade during the climb uphill. There were also these nice little boardwalks over the wet muddy areas.

My original plan was to make it to Elk Lake, but instead I stopped a couple miles shy at a trailside campsite near Pinchot Creek.

It’s not a beautiful lakeside campsite like the last few nights, but it sure was convenient.

Monday August 11, 15.8mi/25.4km

Sawtooth Lake (x/8450ft) to Stanley Lake Creek (254.0/6560ft) to Trail Creek Lakes (244.2/7990ft) (ID)
-2.5mi skip Obs peak, +5.1mi retrace, +3.4mi Sawtooth Lake

The group had planned a shorter day today, while I would be doing a few more miles to connect my footsteps to the spot I left off at last Saturday. Despite being at 8,500 ft, it was a warm night, and an even warmer morning. We departed Sawtooth Lake and all of its wildflowers.

The lake was much bigger than I realized, apparently we had camped on a small bay, where the entire lake wasn’t visible.

When we got to the spot where the morning sunlight was reflecting off the lake, it was very warm indeed.

We crossed over a small pass and descended through a large burn area, with lots of little Alpine ponds.

Photos of people taking photos!

Pretty quickly we arrived at a trail junction, where the group temporarily split. I made a right turn, towards Stanley Lake, to reconnect my footsteps. Tory and Chelsea decided to do a side quest, and hike up Observation Peak, the highest hikeable mountain in the Sawtooths (the other mountains are too technical for hiking). Randi relaxing at the junction.

My quest to reconnect my steps would be 4.5 miles each way, so 9 extra miles in total today. As expected, the trail was burned over in this area.

I descended 1000ft. and the lower valley was much more burned.

Since it was all downhill, I arrived at my turnaround point pretty quickly, and then started back uphill. It was hot in the shadeless meadows.

Higher up, the meadows were still hot but the nearby creek seemed to help keep the area cool.

I passed a random Leave No Trace sign, this was sign #6, I never saw the other five so I assume they burned in the fire.

In mid-afternoon I arrived back at the pass where I had left my friends this morning. Of course they were long gone and at the campsite by now, and I enjoyed some downhill miles.

From there, it didn’t take me long to get to our campsite at Trail Creek Lake, though the final little uphill was a little brutal. I got to camp early enough to enjoy a swim, it was only 4 pm. The others had already been swimming.

It was a relaxing afternoon of swimming, reading, and snacking. We setup our tents in one of the few spots we could find that wasn’t at risk of falling dead trees, which was right next to the lake.

After dinner I went down to the shore to watch the sunset over the water.

Even though we’re at 8,000 ft elevation, and the sun has gone down, it’s not that cold. As I write this, some furry dehumidifier-sized creature (sorry, no banana for scale) is prowling around the camping area, hopefully it leaves us alone tonight.

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.

Saturday August 9, 5.0mi/8.0km

Redfish Lake Trailhead (x/6570ft) to Marshall Lake (x/7720ft) (ID)

I woke up early in the motel room to finish packing and make sure I had all my food for the next 6 days.

We drove back into the town of Hailey and met Randi at the grocery store, all of us getting a few last minute items. On the drive up to Stanley, there were plenty of mountain ranges to ogle at, we stopped at a viewpoint and took a few photos.

Funny sticker!

We arrived at Redfish Lake in late morning, I stayed at the lakeshore with Tory while the other two shuttled the second car to the Grandjean trailhead.

I relaxed by the lake for a couple of hours reading my book and watching a very excited dog retrieve a stick dozens of times.

The spot we had chosen to wait was apparently reserved for use by a wedding, so we moved over to a pavilion area where they were having a birthday party for Smokey the Bear.

By mid-afternoon we were all reunited and hit the trail around 3pm, enjoying the nice tourist-grade hiking trail.

Her destination for the evening was Marshall Lake.

Cheesing it up for the camera.

Another beautiful day in the Sawtooth mountains.

We entered the Sawtooth Wilderness!

It was a pretty chill hike up to Marshall Lake, we saw other people camping there on the Southern shore, but had no idea how to get over there. But we actually found a better spot nestled in a nice little forest, it was so fun to be camping with friends and enjoying dinner together.

Tomorrow is a longer day, 11 miles up to Sawtooth Lake, we plan to be up early at 6:30.

Sunday August 3, to Friday August 8 0mi/0km

We drove to a campground a couple hours away, it was windy and near a reservoir, with people playing music late into the night. It definitely didn’t feel like wilderness camping anymore! Despite that, I was energetic the next day and excited to be rock climbing again.

We spent a couple of days at City of Rocks, camping at a nearby paid campground with showers, which somehow was only $15 per site, so $5 each person. Amazing. On Tuesday we departed City of Rocks, and stopped for breakfast/ ice cream on our way to Bear Lake, Utah.

We spent Tuesday and Wednesday crashing my friend Mark’s family reunion in Bear Lake. You couldn’t gather a nicer group of people if you tried.

Amazing dinners too.

We departed early Thursday morning to go climbing at “The Fins”, a small rock climbing area an hour south of Hailey ID.

We camped at a nice little free spot on Forest service land. There had been a windstorm while we were gone during the day, so all of our tents were covered in a thick layer of dust which took a while to clean. The sunset made up for it a little bit.

The next morning I discovered some friends had joined our campground.

We climbed for a couple of hours Friday morning, and then departed for Hailey to meet our friend Randi, who is visiting Idaho from the East Coast. On the way I mailed away my bear canister, I’m so happy I don’t have to carry that heavy thing anymore.

We had a nice dinner with Randi’s friends in Hailey, and then went out for a little more food and drinks.

Last dinner in civilization for a while! Starting tomorrow, the four of us will hike through part of the Sawtooths together for 4 days, with each of us exiting the Wilderness at different places/days.

Saturday August 2, 14.8mi/23.8km

Nip and Tuck hilltop (268.8/6450ft) to Stanley Lake Creek (254.0/6560ft) (ID)

It was very cold where I woke up on my little hilltop campsite, probably 35°F. But an excellent view of the valley and the Sawtooths!

I hiked the quick mile down to town, crossing a hot springs river along the way, which was steaming in the cold morning.

I got to the diner just as they opened at 7am and ordered a couple of breakfasts.

I have been seeing bears all week in the wilderness, and I even saw one today in the diner. Weirdly, this one had a saddle on it.

Stanley is a cool but tiny town, I walked a couple of blocks to the bakery to get some cinnamon rolls and tea, but the line was ridiculously long so I just left.

I’m meeting some friends for a couple of days off trail, so I decided to knock out some of the roadwalking miles leaving town.

Walking toward the Sawtooths is always pretty exciting, pretty soon the road shrank and I was in the forest again.

The road ended at the Iron Creek Trailhead, which was ridiculously crowded with probably 50 cars.

I entered the serenity of the Wilderness, on an extremely nice tourist grade trail.

There were a ton of people for the first couple of miles, and I kept leapfrogging with several different groups. Finally, I turned off the main trail on my route and all the crowds disappeared.

The section of trail was extremely burned. I think the fire was very recent, just last October.

But at least I had beautiful views of the mountains through the thinned out dead Forest.

It must have been a very hot fire. This is one of the most blackened forests I’d ever seen.

Finally, I exited the burn zone and entered a little meadow.

When I got to Stanley Lake, where my friends were picking me up, I got a little delayed by the lack of a bridge, apparently the entire bridge had burned.

Tory and Chelsea met me at the Stanley Lake Trailhead and fed me delicious foods. They are on a roadtrip honeymoon around the West, and the three of us drove down towards City of Rocks, to go rock climbing together for a few days.

A nice little break from the trail!

Friday August 1, 22.2mi/35.7km

Marsh Creek Camp (291.0/6480ft) to Nip and Tuck hilltop (268.8/6450ft) (ID)

Because I got to camp so early yesterday, I actually fell asleep at sunset and got like 10 hours of sleep. It was a quiet little camp spot and it rained a little bit overnight.

Within a half mile I passed the big orange sign that meant I was leaving the Frank Church Wilderness.

The massive Frank Church Wilderness is like 2.3 million acres, and despite its reputation for being difficult, I thought it wasn’t that bad. And definitely easier than the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness. The rest of the morning was on the same Forest service Road.

I passed by the very upper part of Marsh Creek, it’s tiny up here by the headwaters.

For a mile I hiked a private ranch, with this cool zigzag fence.

About halfway through the morning I got my first look at the Sawtooth mountains!

Even through the morning haze/ mist, they looked pretty impressive and rocky. And there were more little markers today for the Idaho Centennial Trail. It’s kinda funny that I only see them on roads.

Eventually the forest service road ended and I had to hike on a paved highway for about half a mile, which had a little roadside interpretive sign for the Sawtooth National Recreation area.

There is also a Sawtooth Wilderness, which is not the same as the National Recreation area, though they are contiguous. All day was walking on dirt roads, farm tracks, and gravel roads.

Eventually the haze cleared and I got a better view of the Sawtooths.

They really are huge mountains, I can’t wait to get in there and go explore. It was an easy day of hiking, flat and fast, but I was still thankful for the clouds. Much of the hiking was through farm pastures which would be shadeless and hot otherwise.

That’s probably the best portrait that horse will ever have.

There was nothing super special about today, just pleasant scenery and easy hiking.

Just a couple miles before the end of the day, I got my best view of the Sawtooths yet.

As I got closer to the town of Stanley, some of the dirt roads became larger, and they started naming them. The last one was called Nip and Tuck Road, ha! I followed that road for a couple of miles, and just before leaving it, grabbed some water from the nearby creek. Then it was a quick half mile up a small hill to my camp spot overlooking town.

It was a surprisingly scenic camp spot for being only a mile from a town. Tomorrow I’ll get up at my usual 6am and be in town in time for 7am breakfast.