In mid-August, six stalwart Chemeketans backpacked the Grand Sawtooth Loop in central Idaho (see Lorain’s "Backpacking Idaho" for details). On our seven day adventure, we hiked more than 60 miles and gained over 11,000 feet. Our route took us through the heart of the Sawtooth Wilderness past beautiful alpine lakes and over knife edged ridges. Most of our camps were over 8,000 feet and the passes more than 9,000 feet. We visited numerous lakes but among the largest and most scenic were Sawtooth, Baron, Alpine, Cramer, Edna and Ardeth.
The Sawtooths are as good as it gets for scenery with alpine meadows, blue lakes, glacier carved granite, rushing streams, and serrated ridges. There was no wondering how the range got its name. Unfortunately the first few days of the trip were smoky and our appreciation of the vistas somewhat diminished. The last few days, however, were spectacular.
We were late in the season for wildflowers though there were some. Earlier in the season the meadows would have been stunning. There was a trade off, though. Earlier would have meant many of the stream crossing would have been very difficult if not impossible to make. They were hard enough as it was.
This excellent crew of backpackers was comprised of Nancy Rockwell, Roz Shirack, Joanna Picchi, John Coyier, Joel Zak and leader Rick Cooper, all members.