Sawtooth Trip in July

[Alex F]

Hi folks–I’m planning a trip to the Sawtooths with three friends in a couple weeks and was hoping for some feedback as none of us have been there before. We’ll be there for about 6 days and hope to break that up into two loops, with a night at one of the campgrounds in between. Can anybody familiar with the area weigh in as to the feasibility of this agenda/offer up any suggestions? Being unfamiliar with the trails out there, we weren’t sure if this was too ambitious or not.

• Day 1 –  Backpack from Grandjean Campground to Sawtooth Lake. Hope to check out Alpine peak while we’re there.
• Day 2 – Head back to Grandjean Camground via the trail past Observation peak. Would love to head up there along the way if possible.
• Day 3 – Drive to Pettit Lake Camground and spend the night there
• Day 4 – Head to Alice Lake to camp for the night
• Day 5 – From Alice Lake, head to Toxaway Lake and camp
• Day 6 – Head back to Pettit Lake Campground from Toxaway Lake.

Any thoughts or suggestions here would be awesome. Thanks again!

 

[Lester Moore]

Those are all moderate mileages and trails if your group is in decent shape carrying reasonably light packs. A few summers back in July we visited most of those areas on two different legs of the trip. Be prepared for some mountain weather if you’re new to the West – we had a mix of hot, sunny days at altitude and snow/freezing rain and temps in the high 20’s one night.

[Alexander S]

I wrote a report on the loop last year under “Sawtooth ID report”.

Maybe I’m spoiled from the northern Cascades but I would probably not hike such a badly maintained trail again. Many of the beautiful alpine regions require ridiculously long (10 + miles) and choking hot valley hikes to connect to the next three miles of alpine views.

Trail conditions in the valleys were so bad  that we were diving and pushing through bushes for entire stretches in which the trail was completely overgrown by large bushes, leaving us covered in lacerations and ticks. The steep ascend after the Grandjean TH had something like 40 blow downs to climb over and something tells me they are probably still there.

Maybe the Southern half is better but we left after half the loop, completely heat exhausted and cut to shreds. First time I’ve ever cut a longer trip short.

I’m really not trying to rain on your parade or discourage you but if I had to do it again and pack for 6 days, I’d pick a PCT section or the Winds or some other great region that keeps you in higher elevation and views.

From the topography I think I remember the lower section may not have those long valleys from the North so it may be much more enjoyable there.

[Lester Moore]

The Pettit – Alice – Toxaway – Pettit Lakes loop was well maintained with minimal brush when we did it a few years back. Unsure about trail conditions to Sawtooth Lake from the West, but from the East (Iron Creek), the trail is dry, open and hardly any vegetation. The West side of the range is likely wetter and therefore has more vegetation than the East side.

[Alex F]

Hi guys–thanks, I really appreciate the feedback. That’s too bad about the Grandjean loop–I’d read that Sawtooth Lake is worth a stop but if that particular loop is as dicey as it sounds maybe we’ll just do an out and back from the east and use the rest of the time to check out some other stuff. The Pettit-Alice-Toxaway loop seems like a good bet though, and hopefully won’t be too busy during the week. If you’ve got any suggested loops or day hikes around there feel free to let me know. Thanks again.

[Jay L]

I was in that area last year for the eclipse – Aug 20ish.  We entered at Petit Lk, and took the north side of the loop.  The trail was very well maintained and pretty busy. We hit the same section of trail coming out a week later and it was very busy then too.

We only hiked a bit of that loop before turning north to Edith Lk and beyond.  Edith Lk and the area immediately above it are very scenic. This would make a nice side trip or day hike.

Here is the GPX of our trek:   https://caltopo.com/m/MB5S

 

[Alex F]

Hi Jay–thanks for the info, really appreciate the link, that looks great. We’ll likely be doing the Pettit Alice loop during the middle of the week so hopefully shouldn’t be too busy, but we’re still planning things out as a group. Again appreciate the URL, super helpful.

[Eric Osburn]

What are the current Sawtooth conditions looking like? Specifically snow and bugs around goat lake and Thompson peak.

Thanks!

[Eric Osburn]

This is how the lake looked yesterday. Should be just about perfect by next weekend.

[Author]

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