Sawtooths over July 4th weekend

I rented the Trap Creek Campground in the Sawtooths for the 4th of July weekend, and I set up a WMC car camp for 7/1 through 7/5. The weather was warm for the area, but the sky was clear and the views were great. We did 10-mile hikes on Thursday, Friday and Saturday and came back to camp happy and tired. Many thanks to Aaron, Jerry, Constance, Deirdre, Mohamed, Susan, Bob M, Stanley, June, Bob G and Greg for making this such a fun experience!

On Thursday, we hiked to the lake that sits in the cirque on the east side of the ridge between Thompson Peak and Williams Peak. It has no official name, so I called it Thompson Lake. To reach it, we hiked to the Alpine Way trail from Redfish Lake, then when we got close to Williams Peak, we took off on a (well-used) use trail high above the north fork of Fishhook Creek. This trail appears to have been created by highpointers tackling Thompson Peak, which is the highest summit in the Sawtooths. The trail contours upward to the shelf where the lake sits, hidden in a deep socket below Thompson Peak. The outlet stream drops very steeply into a series of spectacular waterfalls and cascades.

go to the Thompson Lake gallery

On Friday, we drove down the Salmon River canyon to Slate Creek, then hiked its tributary Livingston Creek up to Crater Lake in the White Cloud Mountains. The route follows an old road to the Crater Mine; the road probably hasn't been driven for 70 years, and currently it has lots of deadfall on it. The hike runs in shady forest until it reaches the shelf that the lake sits on, then the trail splits, with one fork climbing steeply up a gorge next to the creek, and the other fork swinging out on a switchback across a huge talus pile. The switchback route unexpectedly gave us a view north to the enormous Cyprus-Thompson open pit molybdenum mine in the Salmon River Mountains. Fortunately the view south to the 11,000+ foot Chinese Wall cliff was much more attractive! Some folks in our group circumnavigated the lake, visiting a waterfall dropping directly into the lake on the south end, and checking out remains of the camp where the Crater Mine once stood.

go to the Crater Lake gallery

Some folks on the trip had never been to Sawtooth Lake, one of the jewels of the Sawtooth Range. We sucked it up and hiked with the 4th-of-July crowds up spectacular Iron Creek and into the high basin that holds the lake. We got away from the teeming hordes by hiking a mile south along the east shore of the lake and then up a few hundred feet to a quiet pond below Mt Regan. Some of us decided after lunch to stroll south over a low saddle and down to a couple of unnamed lakes in the upper north fork of Baron Creek. For our efforts, we got a fine view of the rugged spires and spines on Baron Peak across the valley.

go to the Sawtooth Lake gallery

On our way home on Sunday, Jerry and I checked out the Stanley museum (closed), Alturas Lake, the ghost town of Sawtooth City (almost entirely gone now) and the old railroad town of Shoshone. We visited the Lincoln County Historical Society and Museum, where we got to see photos from Shoshone's heyday, including the impressive McFall Hotel (which is still standing).

go to the Shoshone and other sights gallery