FOUR-STAR BACKUP PLAN

The next morning we backtracked a short distance to a junction. We turned left on the trail heading up the South Fork of the Payette River. We waded across Benedict Creek and the South Fork before beginning a steady climb. The trail stays in the woods above the river for the most part, but it does pass close to some nice cascades and small waterfalls. We encountered a couple of additional creek crossings later on. We waded the first one, though rock hopping may be possible with slightly lower water levels. After rock hopping the final crossing, we reached the junction with the trail to Cramer Divide.

My original plan had been to backpack over Cramer Divide and camp at the Cramer Lakes. We’d return back over Cramer Divide the next day before climbing over Sand Mountain Divide. Christy rejected this plan. I was disappointed, as camping at Cramer Lakes had been one of my top priorities. I guess that is a good reason to go back.

Instead, we hiked another hour to the foot of Hidden Lake. The lake is poorly hidden, as the trail passes right by it. Hidden Lake is long and narrow – kind of like a Scottish Loch. The south end of the lake is mostly wet meadows, but I explored off trail near the outlet. I found a great campsite in a small clump of trees just below the lake. We had lunch there and set up camp. That afternoon, we enjoyed a gorgeous hike up the length of Hidden Lake and on up to Cramer Divide. The entire hike had fantastic scenery, and the view of Mount Cramer was fantastic from the pass.

My guidebook recommends scrambling up to Point 9,703’ from the pass for even better views. That side trip proved to be a lot longer and harder than it looked on the topo map! On the map, it looks like a steady climb up a ridge to the summit. In reality, it requires a bunch of rock hopping and / or bushwhacking around a series of sub-peaks and gullies that aren’t shown on the map. Christy stopped at the first gully, but I was determined. The hike took a lot longer than expected, but I was eventually rewarded with a more expansive view that included one of the Cramer Lakes far down in the valley below.

Originally I had planned to hike down to the lakes and back before returning to Hidden Lake. That seemed realistic before the hike, but after Point 9,703’ took a couple of hours and a lot of energy, it was out of the question. I rejoined Christy, and we found a slightly easier route back to the trail on the south side of the ridge. From there, we enjoyed a pleasant hike back down to camp. That evening, thunderstorms rolled through. The rain stayed to our south, but the wind was whipping all night. It was snapping and shaking the tarp above our hammocks, which made for some sporadic sleeping.

HEAT AND DUST

The next morning was hot, hazy, and smoky again. We packed up and backtracked down the valley to the South Fork of Payette River. We then resumed our loop, hiking up to lovely Virginia Lake. Beyond, we rejoined the trail towards Sand Mountain Divide. On the way up, we left the trail to check out an alpine tarn at treeline. That was a nice spot for lunch, and Christy took a quick dip to cool off. That was a smart move on her part, as the climb to the divide that afternoon was miserably hot. It reminded me of the climb out of the Grand Canyon. From the divide, we continued along the ridge and then started down towards Edith Lake. We stopped at a junction, and Christy continued on down towards the lake to look for a campsite. Meanwhile, I stashed my pack in a clump of trees and did the short, quick, heavily switchbacked climb up to Imogene Divide. That was a nice little side trip, with a great view of sprawling Imogene Lake from the pass.

I hung out for a few minutes before backtracking. I hoisted my pack one final time and started the rocky descent to Edith Lake. There, I found that most of the camping areas were closed for revegetation. Christy was hanging out in one of the few remaining spots well away from the lake. At first this seemed disappointing, but it ended up being a nice site. A short walk from there leads to a cliff with a great view down the valley towards Farley Lake. That view was particularly nice the next morning at sunrise.

There was one other group at Edith Lake. Their tent was in a wet meadow right on the edge of the lake. Christy said that the guy was cursing up a storm when they arrived, apparently because most of the possible campsites were closed. Their “site” looked wet and it was way too close to the water, but when I went over there to get water, it sounded like two people were having sex in the tent. So I guess that worked out ok for him.

It rained a little that afternoon, so we napped in our hammocks. We enjoyed one last quiet evening in the backcountry before heading to bed early.

TIN CUP CHALICE

Sunrise was spectacular the next morning, despite cloudy and smoky skies. We broke camp and descended back to the main thoroughfare between Farley Lake and Toxaway Lake. It was a Friday, and we ran into a lot of people starting this popular loop hike. We stopped at lovely Farley Lake for a break, and passed a couple of waterfalls downstream from it. After that, the hike was mainly a trudge in the woods. We eventually reached the junction with the trail to Yellow Belly Lake. From there, we managed one final climb before descending to Petit Lake and on to the Tin Cup Trailhead.

We reached the parking area, and I went to the car while Christy stopped at the restroom. I got in the car, but it wouldn’t start. I walked back to the restroom, and informed Christy. We fooled around with the car for a bit, and concluded that the problem was the battery. There were a few people in the parking area, so we asked the first guy we met if he had jumper cables. He did, and he was willing to help us out. We managed to push the Jeep out of the parking spot, and we were successful getting it going.

We drove into Lower Stanley (it is downstream from Stanley), and stopped at the Bridge Street Grill for lunch. We enjoyed hot wings as a downpour rolled through. From there, we made the long but scenic drive back to Boise. We went out to dinner that night, but we didn’t make a big night of it. We were pretty exhausted after a long, demanding backpacking trip. We headed back to the hotel after dinner and packed for the flight home.

The Jeep’s battery was dead again the next morning. Jeep really lived up to its reputation of having the least reliable cars on this trip. We borrowed jumper cables from the hotel, and got someone hanging out in the parking lot to give us a jump. Once we had the car running again, we made a short drive to a breakfast place we had picked out. We left the car running the entire time we were in the restaurant, for fear that the battery would die again. Afterwards, we took the scenic route through the middle of Boise and checked out a couple of city parks.

The flight from Boise to Dallas started out well, but thunderstorms in Dallas threatened our return journey. We circled Dallas several times, hoping the storms would clear. Eventually the captain told us that we would either have to land immediately, or be diverted to another, undesirable airport. We went for it, and it was wild seeing lightning flash outside the windows of the plane.

We had dinner at the Dallas airport, and headed for the gate for our flight to Asheville. Unfortunately, the plane for our second flight didn’t make it to Dallas. That flight was diverted to Abilene, or some other hellhole. It was a couple of hours before the plane finally arrived. Once we boarded, the flight was pretty smooth, although our baggage didn’t arrive until the next day.

I’m looking forward to returning to Idaho. We missed some great stuff in the Sawtooths, and there are many other compelling destinations in the surrounding area. Hopefully we’ll get back soon…

Back to Idaho

Back to Hiking and Backpacking Trip Reports

Home

Please remember to Leave No Trace!