MJK Thrills N Spills: Backpacking in the Sawtooths

Mike and I and our friend, Dave, went to the Sawtooths in Idaho again this year for another backpacking trip just before Mike and Dave and another friend, Lane, that was going to meet up with them later left to packraft the Selway River in Idaho. We did a loop trail from the Pettit Lake Trailhead and headed straight to Toxaway Lake first and then over to Twin and Alice Lakes and back to our car.

We arrived very late in the night on Thursday night so rather than look for a car camping site, we just started our hike at 12:30 at night! We hiked only about a mile in and then set up our tents and were in bed by 2:00 AM. The trail up to Toxaway was probably the perfect one to climb up on because it was a fairly easy grade. We set up camp by a little river and waterfall that was super beautiful! Oh and it was so hot this weekend that we were jumping in all the lakes and rivers all along the way. Our first camp site was full of tiny little gnat looking bugs that we think ended up being No'See'Ums which bit Mike and Dave mercilessly! They had angry-looking, red bites all over their arms and legs. I only got one bite on the back of my left arm.

Then we hiked over the pass to Twin and Alice Lakes. On the way we saw fields of wildflowers and the most amazing waterfall over granite slabs. I rocked that pass!! I felt so so good as I hiked over it. I think it was the fastest I've ever hiked over a pass. We decided to try to find a camp site down past Alice Lake some, along the river again, but we discovered that the trail up to Alice Lake wasn't as flat as the one to Toxaway - it was quite a narrow canyon! So that meant that we did not find a suitable camp site until fairly late in the evening and within 2 miles of our car. Ha! So our hike out to our car the next morning was pretty short. But overall, the hike between Alice Lake and our car was much more scenic and beautiful than the one to Toxaway.

After we made it back to our car, we went into Stanley to kill some time and pick up a few supplies and then we went to Redfish Lake to wait for Lane to show up - where we played on the beach of the lake. Then I took off for home arriving that evening. And Mike and his buddies stayed in Idaho to packraft the Selway.