In August, 2011 Christy and I visited Upper Mesa Falls and Lower Mesa Falls on our way to the southwestern corner of Yellowstone National Park. In July, 2021, we spent a full two weeks in Idaho. Most of the trip was spent backpacking in the Sawtooths and White Clouds. We started the trip with short visits to Thousand Springs State Park and the City of Rocks National Preserve. (Thousand Springs State Park Photos) and (City of Rocks Photos). The next day, we rented kayaks at Centennial Park in Twin Falls and paddled upstream on the Snake River to the base of Shoshone Falls. (Photos). We car camped that night at Alturas Lake. The next morning, we started our first backpacking trip - an overnighter into Ants Basin in the White Clouds. (Photos). Next up was a three day backpacking trip on the East side of the White Clouds. We backpacked from the Livingston Mill Trailhead to Sapphire Lake and climbed D.O. Lee Peak. (Photos). Afterwards, we took a day off to recover. We spent two nights at the Blind Creek campground, visited Sunbeam Hot Springs, and explored the ghost towns of Yankee Fork. (Photos). We finished our trip with 7 days of backpacking in the Sawtooths. Over the first four days we visited Alice Lake, Twin Lakes, and Toxaway Lake, crossed Sand Mountain Divide, and hiked through the alpine lakes in the headwaters of Benedict Creek. We camped at Twin Lakes, Vernon Lake, Rock Slide Lake, and Smith Falls. (Photos). We concluded the trip by hiking to Hidden Lake and Cramer Divide before backtracking to Virginia Lake and Sand Mountain Divide. We spent our last night at Edith Lake before returning to the Tin Cup Trailhead. (Photos)
