August in Idaho: Sawtooths-White Clouds
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Finally getting around to a TR for our August trip.
Overview:
Glen and I left Seattle Friday around 11am and drove to Boise where Nate and Mark had flown in from Phoenix. Once we found them dug in at the Payette Brewery we hit the road and headed to Lowman for the night where we had a place booked at the Sourdough Lodge.The plan was to wake up early Saturday morning and do 4 nights in the Sawtooths starting at Redfish Lake and ending at Alpine Creek TH at Alturas Lake. About 70% of this was off trail.
Once we got out to Alpine Creek, our friend Jon was driving down from Spokane to pick us up with our resupplies and would drive us across the valley to Fourth of July Lake TH and join the group for 3 nights in the White Clouds.
Sawtooths Day 1:
Caught the boat shuttle around 7:30am at Redfish Resort and headed up lake. We made our way up the trail to Alpine Lake. There were at least 5 groups camped at the lake. Past the lake, a the first big switchback, we headed off trail and headed up toward Warbonnet Pass. The way is steep but pretty straight forward.
We descended down to Warbonnet and Feather Lakes and then made our way down to Blue Rock Lake and over to Oreamnos Lake for the night.
The next morning we woke up and headed from Oreamnos Lake to Packrat Lake. From Packrat Lake we made our way up and over Packrat Pass. This is a pretty sketchy pass. Lots of really loose scree and really steep.
On the other side of Packrat we dropped down to Lake Kathryn and the Upper Redfish Lakes. We then descended a thick bushwack down until we caught the Cramer Lakes trail. We headed up Cramer trail and made camp at Middle Cramer Lake.
The next morning we headed out. We went up and over Cramer Divide, down past Virginia, Edna, and Vernon lakes and up to Lake 8462. From there we left the trail again and headed up and in to Tenlake Basin.
The plan for the next day was to head out of Tenlake Basin up and in to Flytrip Basin and through the Flytrip Lakes and up and over and around Snowyside Peak and in to Upper Alpine Creek Lakes. The way was pretty straight forward and the views as usual were fantastic. A lot of bear sign in Flytrip Basin.
The last morning in the Sawtooths we headed down the Upper Alpine Creek drainage until we hit the trail and followed it out to the trailhead. Right as we walked out to the parking lot we heard an engine coming up the road. It was Jon with our resupply, a bag of Doritos and a cooler of cold beer.
We hopped in the truck and headed out toward the Fourth of July Lake TH in the White Clouds. When we got to the parking lot, we changed in to fresh clothes, packed our resupplies and hit the trail. We headed up to the very upper Born Lake for the night. That evening we heard Elk buggling right down below us while we ate dinner. All along the lake there were wolf tracks everywhere!
The next morning we headed up from Born Lakes in to Four Lakes Basin. Such a cool basin!
We headed down to Quiet Lake. We found a great campsite and used that as camp for the next 2 nights before heading home. From there we explored Noisy Lake, Shallow Lake, Scree Lake, and the Big Boulder Lakes. One of the nights, laying in bed we heard elk buggling followed by wolves howling just down the lake from us.
Headed out the last morning and dropped the fellas off at their hotel in Boise and made the long drive back that same day.
This was an awesome trip. There aren’t crazy numbers of people, tons of off trail options, great weather, great fishing, opportunities for wildlife and within driving distance of home!
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