Sawtooths

I've been wanting to wander my way through Idaho's Sawtooths since I saw them on the drive to the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness last year. The two National Forests are really only seperated by the state hwy. While I absolutely loved the Frank Church, and the fishing there is without a doubt better, the landscape in the tooths is much more dramatic. I plotted out a fairly ambitious route that would spend a couple days off trail climbing to the base of the highest peak in the range and scrambling in and out of basins and around peaks before stretching through the heart of the wilderness. Might have been a bit crazy (probably should have worn a helmet for a lot of it) but was well worth it.

We started at the Redfish Lake trailhead. I was hoping to get several miles up trail on the first afternoon and camp at the base of Thompson Peak (the highest peak in the range) but we were severely delayed getting out of Boise and didn't hit the trail until 6pm. Had to be content getting up on the ridgeline a couple miles in.

Headed over the top of that ridge in the morning!

Found a decent spot to camp with good trees to hang our bear bag from. Had a nice clear morning for breakfast too.

From here we really started climbing. Eventually leaving the trail and just working our way up the mountain. We also got our first glimpse of the main goal for the day, Thompson Peak (one on the right). 

 

Still climbing...





We stopped at this Alpine Lake for a quick rest and to refill water bottles for the last push. I was fairly certain there would be water at the top but went ahead and filled my spare platypus too just in case. Unfortunately this meant my pack was maxed out on weight before the final climb to the base of Thompson. Just makes me stronger right?



The first part of the next section was a gorgeous climb through cascading water and scattered alpine meadows. It quickly got more technical as it opened up into boulder fields, talus, and scree slopes. Firm footing became scarce and precious.

Finally hit the saddle below Thompson, and just in time for lunch. There was plenty of water on top too.

We turned south and elected not to summit Thompson since we lost half a day yesterday.

We crossed below Thompson, across a couple snow drifts and back up another saddle before finally we could see the full range in front of us. Including the smoke.

We were actually surrounded by wildfires. The biggest of which was one less then 30 miles to the north in the Frank Church which would swell to over 100,000 acres while we were backpacking. These first few days would be by far our clearest.

Still in the talus and scree we worked our way off the ridge and into the headwaters of Redfish creek.



I should have taken more pictures in here, it was spectacular.

I was within 100 feet of mountain goats twice in thise section and spooked them both times before I could get a good picture. They were females with young so they were pretty skiddish. This ended up being my only picture of them. At least you can get an idea of their climbing ability. They went from being 50 feet from me to up on that face in about 4 minutes.

There were a handful of dicey drops and bear scat to negotiate, but we made it to the confluence with Fish Hook Creek and started working up stream. After a long day, we pushed to hit a small pond away from the creek on the hill side and called it.