Photo Friday: Backpacking the Sawtooths

 The third week of September this year I had a few days to spend as I pleased somewhere between Idaho and Colorado. I pleased to spend them backpacking the Alice Lake-Toxaway Lake loop in the Sawtooths, with a digression to add more scenery and an extra night (the basic loop is a pretty easy 2-night loop, but since I had 3 nights available...).

Day One: Pettit Lake TH to Twin Lakes

Unlike the previous backpack trip, this time I wanted an early start. Partly because it was a fairly long way in to my target for the night, but mostly because the trailhead parking fills up early and I didn't want to have to park a quarter mile down the road in the overflow. Since I'd spent the night in dispersed camping less than a mile from the TH, I was able to make my early start, though I ended up spreading a wet tent and fly around inside the car to dry while I was away!

Most of my (clockwise) route is on here. There is a trail up from Toxaway to the Edna Lake trail that I took going up.

 
I hit the trail at 8:20 a.m. and warmed up with an easy walk the length of Pettit Lake.

Morning calm on Pettit Lake, looking up where I'm going.

Beyond the end of the lake the trail climbed gently for a time up Pettit Creek, before beginning a LOT of switchbacks to reach the basin where Alice Lake makes a very popular camping spot (one reason I was going on beyond).

Ponds in the outlet stream offered nice reflections.

Farther up and farther in!

El Capitan. I guess it looks like the one in Yosemite from some angle?

Alice Lake itself was too large and breezy for reflections, and I continued on past to do a final climb, then 100' drop, to the Twin Lakes. Since I saw no one else there (later I found a couple camped there) I had my choice of campsites and looked hard for one with views, shelter from the wind, and at a legal distance from the lake--I'm sorry to say that many established sites in these mountains (and others) are far, far too close to the water. One to two hundred feet, folks!

My map annoyingly does not name the peak.

As usual, I found I had covered all the ground I cared to by mid-afternoon. That gave me time to set up camp, clean up, and have a slightly early dinner before going wandering for interesting photo ops in the late light. It wasn't optimal, but I enjoyed my ramble and got a few good shots.

Last light, looking across the isthmus that divides the twin lakes. I'm camped on the other lake.

Stats: just under 7 miles, 1250' climb.

Day Two: Twin Lakes to Vernon Lake via Sand Mountain Pass

The really good light came in the morning, as the weather grew a little unstable.

 

 

I have so many versions of this...

 

Eventually I got myself together (the sun got high enough for light to be less interesting) and hit the trail. My destination for the day was a little up in the air, as I had several possible lakes in mind. The first task was to get up and over the saddle that separates the Alice and Toxaway drainages, a 600' climb.

Looking back at the Twin Lakes.

The climb up the well-graded trail was also well-rewarded, and not painful at all.

 

Reached the top to find that the weather was even more unsettled in that direction.

As I dropped down around Toxaway Lake and up the trail on the other side, an occasional shower of rain or--at one point--hail--kept things interesting. 

Weather over a nameless pond.

Toxaway Lake from Sand Mtn Pass trail.

Topped up my second pass in time for second lunch, and a look at somewhat fairer weather.

With the wind still howling, I needed to find a sheltered camp by one of the lakes down there.

I first thought to stop at the lake pictured above, but found that the entire shore was lined with reeds and mud--access to water was nearly impossible. I ended up dropping another 600' to check out camps at Edna Lake, then settled on Vernon Lake.

Vernon Lake outlet

Catching up on my journal, enjoying my new camp chair (for use when trips are short and food is not heavy).

Stats: About 9 1/2 miles, 1600' up and 2000' down.

Day 3: Vernon Lake to Farley Lake

My plan for this 3rd day was a fairly short hike, so I began with a little extra exploration up to an unnamed lake a mile beyond Vernon Lake.

Morning light at Vernon Lake

Unnamed tarn in a really perfect setting.

A watcher in the woods.

 Back from my exploration, I broke camp and headed back up the pass I'd just descended the night before. The weather seemed somewhat less likely to produce rain, but the wind remained strong, and I didn't linger atop the pass.

I stopped long enough to set up a photo. You can tell by the hoodie that the wind is still blowing and it's not very warm.

Below that saddle I came on a spot I remembered from our 2007 backpack in this area--the two trips overlapped from Edna Lake to a little past this meadow. Working from memory, I replicated a16-year-old photo. 

Taking a break on the boardwalk.

So long ago I was still wearing shorts!

It had been my intention to camp at Edith Lake, a little below the meadow pictured above, clinging to some elevation and hopes of reflections and views.

Edith Lake

The lake was beautiful and promised a gorgeous morning, but there were two problems. First, many of the possible camp areas have been closed for revegetation, and though I found an apparently legal site it was fully exposed to the wind funneling down the canyon. It was also only a little after two in the afternoon, and was about 8 miles from the trailhead. Obviously, not a distance I couldn't do, but maybe one I didn't want to do before driving off in search of a burger and a shower the next day. Mostly driven by the wind, I chose to drop into the valley.

About 2 1/2 miles farther on--and 900' lower--I found a sheltered camp at Farley Lake. The wind continued through the rest of the afternoon, so that my shelter was consolation for the loss of the alpine views.

Stats: about 8 miles and 1300' up, 2000' down, including the morning pre-hike hike.

Day 4: Back to the car

The weather calmed overnight, providing an at least temporary calm in the morning, so I snapped a few photos, but the pull of the burger and salad was upon me, and I didn't linger. The temperatures were dropping, as well. It was the Fall Equinox, and the weather seemed to be making that tip into the colder and darker season.

Morning breezes just starting to disturb the glassy reflections as I climbed up from the lake and away.

My route out followed Yellowbelly Creek for quite a ways, dropping steadily through frosty meadows and past waterfalls and cascades.

Unnamed cascade in Yellowbelly Creek

When the trail approaches Yellowbelly Lake, the route to Pettit Lake splits off and climbs one last ridge. The climb felt a little gratuitous at the end of the day, but did offer some views before dropping to the lake and, at last, my trusty vehicle.

An early start (brr!) and steady pace got me out, not quite in time to get burgers for first lunch (I needed that shortly after reaching the car), but I got a burger for Second Lunch.

Stats: 5 1/4 miles, 400' up, 1200' down.

Since I'm not a winter camper, that was the end of backpacking for the 2023 season. Adventures are lining up for 2024, however, as I consider how to get even more trail nights.

©Rebecca M. Douglass, 2023
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