TIN
CUP ALICE
We
broke camp early on Sunday morning, finished packing, and stopped at Sunbeam
Village for second coffee. Then we drove
into Stanley to get some final supplies.
There, I attempted to book an Uber / Lift ride. Our first choice for our Sawtooths
backpacking trip was a one-way hike from Redfish Lake to the Tin Cup Trailhead
at Pettit Lake. That would require a
shuttle. I didn’t have any luck finding
a reasonable shuttle option ahead of time.
I did find one guy that was willing to do it for $175. He would have to drive up from Ketchum and
back, so it wasn’t really worth it for him to do it
for less. Doing a shuttle hike wasn’t
worth that much money to us.
I
didn’t have any luck booking a ride on either Uber or Lift. Apparently there
were very few drivers in the area, and none of them were available. We gave up on that idea and went with plan B,
which was a figure-8 loop from the Tin Cup Trailhead. We would hike up to Alice Lake and Twin Lakes
on the first day. On day 2, we would
climb over a pass and descend to Toxaway Lake.
That afternoon, we would climb over Sand Mountain Divide before
descending to Edna Lake. From there, we
would start the second loop, heading to Vernon Lake, Ardeth
Lake, Spangle Lake, Rockslide Lake, and finally Benedict Lake. We’d continue down to Smith Falls, before
heading upstream along the South Fork of the Payette River. Then we’d take a side trip over Cramer Divide
to the Cramer Lakes. We’d finish up by
hiking back over Cramer Divide to Virginia Lake, then back over Sand Mountain
Divide to Edith Lake and Farley Lake, and back to the Tin Cup Trailhead.
We
made the quick drive down to the Tin Cup Trailhead. A sign stated that the parking lot was full,
but we found an empty spot. We hit the
trail late that morning under smoky skies.
It had been very smoky for a few days, but we were hopeful that
conditions would improve.
We
hiked along Pettit Lake, and then continued upstream along the inlet
stream. This stretch of trail is famous
for its views of the surrounding cliffs, but the smoke was so bad we couldn’t
see much. We stopped along the creek for
lunch before resuming the hike. We
passed many, many groups heading out on Sunday afternoon, but there were quite
a few people heading in as well. Alice
Lake is one of the most popular backcountry destinations in Idaho, and I had
hoped that it wouldn’t be too crowded on a Sunday evening. I was mistaken. There were people everywhere when we arrived
that afternoon.
It
made more sense for us to continue to Twin Lakes anyway, so we pushed on. The wind had really picked up that afternoon,
and apparently it blew a lot of the smoke out of the basin. This was an encouraging sign! One final climb led to a junction with the
spur trail down to the lakes. We headed
that way and descended to the peninsula separating the two lakes. Christy waited there, while I scouted for a
possible campsite. I hiked to the south
end of the lower lake, but all of the vacant campsites
were close to an occupied campsite. I
rejoined Christy, and we decided to take a small spot on the peninsula in a
stand of trees ideal for hammocking. This
spot was near another group, too, but at least they were out of sight. We enjoyed a relaxing evening on the
lakeshore before heading to bed early.
THE OTHER LAKE TOXAWAY
We
got an early start the next morning, as we had a big day ahead of us. We returned to the trail and began a steady
climb towards the Alice / Toxaway Divide.
It was a mostly smoke-free morning, and the views of Twin Lakes and the
surrounding mountains were fantastic.
The great scenery continued all the way to the pass, and beyond. We took a break at the pass, before beginning
the long, steep, rocky descent towards Toxaway Lake. We passed a pretty tarn along the way, before
reaching the southwest end of Toxaway Lake.
We continued around the north side of the lake. At the junction with the trail to Sand
Mountain Divide, we followed a spur trail down to the lake. We found a fantastic campsite there, and stopped for lunch. We were very tempted to change our plans and
spend the night there, but ultimately we decided to
continue on.
The
climb to Sand Mountain Divide was long and steady, but not steep. It featured great views of Toxaway Lake that
improved as we climbed. Unfortunately the smoke was still thick in the Sawtooth
valley, obscuring the long distance views across to the White Clouds.
We
took another break at Sand Mountain Divide before beginning the long, rocky
descent towards Edna Lake. The views in
that direction were smoky – all we could do was hope that conditions would
improve. The descent from Sand Mountain
Divide seemed longer and harder than the climb.
We followed the trail on a contour above Edna Lake. We were hoping to make it to Ardeth Lake, so we passed up the campsites near the Edna
Lake inlet. We reached Vernon Lake and
got a good look at the climb up to the divide above Ardeth
Lake. It was getting late, and we were
out of gas. We found a campsite near
Vernon Lake’s outlet and set up. There
was a large horse group downstream, close to the Edna Lake shoreline, but they
were far enough away that we were barely aware of them. Occasionally we would be startled by a horse
stomping or snorting, but otherwise it was a peaceful campsite.
0% CHANCE OF RAIN
We
woke to cloudy skies the next morning.
The weather looked threatening, so we checked the forecast on our Garmin
In Reach. The
forecast, which comes from Dark Sky, showed a 0% chance of rain for the
day. I have the Dark Sky app because I
like their radar map, but I’ve noticed that their actual forecasts are worse
than worthless. The 0% chance of rain
was encouraging, but I didn’t have much faith in it.
We
broke camp and tackled a surprisingly steep, demanding climb to the ridge above
Ardeth Lake.
The ridge is lightly wooded, featuring small ponds and views of the
mountains along the divide. We descended
to Ardeth Lake, where we stopped for a break. While we were resting, Christy was stung by a
Vancouver Bumblebee, which was horribly painful. After she recovered, we started the long
climb to the Glens Peak divide. At a
small, dried up tarn, we stopped for another
break. At that point, I dropped my pack
to do a short off-trail exploration.
I
headed northeast, along the edge of the plateau south of Ardeth
Lake. I climbed steeply at times, but
the woods were mostly open, so the bushwhacking wasn’t bad. The final steep climb brought me to the brink
of a cliff directly above Ardeth Lake. The view here was spectacular. I wish I’d had more time to explore the tarns
farther up on the plateau.
I
rejoined Christy, and we resumed the climb towards the pass. Shortly before the top, a cold rain began to
fall. We hurried to the top, where we
stopped to put on rain gear. The rain
eased, so I decided to follow the ridge towards Glen Peak in search of a better
view. I kept thinking that a better view
was just around the corner, but it was a fool’s game. I never got a good look at the small lakes on
the plateau below. Eventually I headed
back to rejoin Christy for the hike down to Spangle Lake.
TWO SUNSETS
We
stopped at Spangle Lake for lunch. There
was a bikini on the lakeshore, which was odd, considering that there was no one
around and we were about 20 miles from the nearest trailhead. We finished eating right when it started
raining again. We packed up quickly and
resumed the hike, though I did take a quick side trip to check out Little
Spangle Lake. I worked my way out onto a
peninsula in the middle of the lake.
Although it was raining hard, Little Spangle Lake was quite
beautiful.
Another
climb brought us to Lake Ingeborg. I
wandered off trail to a campsite on the east side of the lake. It featured a spectacular view across the
lake to the spire of one of The Rakers in the distance. From there, we continued over a minor pass and
descended towards Rock Slide Lake. Just as we arrived at our first view of the
lake, the rain stopped, the clouds parted, and the sun came out. Rock Slide Lake
sparkled below us, and the Rakers pierced the clouds in the distance. It was a magical moment.
Our
plan had been to hike down to the waterfalls on Benedict Creek to camp. However, when we saw Rock
Slide Lake, we knew we had to camp there. We descended from the initial viewpoint into
the woods. A few minutes later, we
explored a side path to the east side of the lake. There, we found a great campsite on a rock
outcrop above the water. We couldn’t
pass it up.
We
spent the evening exploring the lake and enjoying our campsite. Sunset was spectacular. The sun seemed to roll down the face of the
mountain beyond the lake. For several
minutes, there was a perfect reflection of the sun in the water. It looked like two suns that were slowly
sliding towards each other.
THE RAKERS
The
next morning we hiked down a lovely stretch of trail
below Rock Slide Lake. We followed
Benedict Creek to Benedict Lake, and continued along
Benedict Creek past a series of sliding waterfalls and cascades. We had originally planned to camp along this
stretch, but we only saw one good camping area -in a dull stretch of forest between
two areas of waterfalls. We continued on down to a junction with the trail to Plummer
Lake. Just beyond, we stopped for lunch
at the base of the final run of waterfalls.
Christy hung up her hammock there, while I took a side trip.
My
goal was Point 9,493’, high on the ridge above.
I started out hiking the trail to Plummer Lake. At a second junction, I turned right and head
up towards a pass on the ridge. Just
beyond the pass, I turned north and continued uphill. I stayed a bit below the ridge, as the ridge
itself had a lot of rock outcrops and other obstacles. I climbed steadily from there, following the
path of least resistance. I was nearing
the top when I heard thunder in the distance.
I looked back and saw black clouds on the horizon. That didn’t look good, but I wasn’t sure
which direction the storm was moving. I continued on, but I doubled my pace.
As
I neared the top, I realized that the summit was guarded by giant
boulders. I could climb it, but it would
take a lot of time and effort, and the storm was threatening. Instead, I dropped down a bit and traversed
around to the far side. I reached the
ridge just beyond the peak. There, I was
treated to a spectacular view. The
Rakers towered across from me. The peaks
in the heart of the Sawtooths formed a jagged line on
the northern horizon. The storm was
slowly swallowing them up, but the view was still incredible.
I
headed back down by a similar route. I
rejoined Christy late that afternoon, and we continued down the valley. I was exhausted, and the last few miles were
draining. We final reached the junction
with the trail up the South Fork of Payette River. We continued downstream another quarter mile,
to Smith Falls. We followed a side trail
down to a campsite at the top of the falls.
It was a spectacular spot, right at the brink of the waterfall. We struggled to find a good spot for the
hammocks. In fact, the first scrawny
tree Christy tried cracked and fell, sending her for a tumble. We eventually got set up, and we spent the
evening relaxing. We got photos of the
falls the next morning before packing up and heading out.
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