Sawtooths in June

Nick

Nick

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I'm heading up to the Boise area in early June to do some photo shoots for work. Thinking it's a prime opportunity to try a little backpacking in The Sawtooths or any other cool Idaho destinations. Does anyone know if that is too early for them? I know they're a lot lower in elevation than some place like the Uintas and I also know this has been a dry year. Thoughts?
 
nick said:
I'm heading up to the Boise area in early June to do some photo shoots for work. Thinking it's a prime opportunity to try a little backpacking in The Sawtooths or any other cool Idaho destinations. Does anyone know if that is too early for them? I know they're a lot lower in elevation than some place like the Uintas and I also know this has been a dry year. Thoughts?
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I have hiked them 2 different times. Mid May.... To much snow! And the beginning of July. There was a bit of snow up high and the misquitos were HORRIBLE. They ruined the trip. Both trips were in 2009. http://www.wesleyaston.com/sawtooths.html
 
Early June is going to be iffy. I'm sure all of the campgrounds down in the valley will be open but I'm thinking most of the trails into the backcountry won't be open very far back. I'll keep a lookout for what's open by then - the forest service will put out a report around memorial day as far as what's available. If I can get time away from work I'll meet you some place. How many days do you think you'll have? wes242 is right, the mosquitoes can be a bitch in July.
 
Hmmm... I might be able to push it into late June. I'm thinking I'm going to give myself 2-3 days of play and 2-3 days of work when I come up.
 
Its a dry year for the Colorado river drainage, but the Snake River drainage is doing well.
 
June would most likely be too early even though it's been a dry year. After doing a bunch of research for my trip last year, I realized that it takes a little longer to clear out up there not just based on elevation, but also based on how much farther north of here it is. It can't hurt to check conditions as your trip date approaches. Depending on where you're planning to hike it could work.

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Ugh. I really thought I might be able to pull off moving this to late June but it's not looking good. Looking more like I'll be home from The Maze for all of 36 hours and then on my way north to the Boise area. If the Sawtooths aren't yet available, are there any other good backpacking destinations up there? Even if it's quite a ways from Boise, that's okay. I'm thinking of working up there Wed, Thur, Fri and then maybe backpack Sat, Sun and maybe Mon. I'd love any suggestions.
 
I don't know how many people know about/use this, but I frequently use the NOAA National Snow Analysis data to get a general idea on how snow levels are in the high country. It doesn't give fine-grained imagery, but enough to know what type of snow cover you're dealing with. If you want to do an even cooler version, download the daily KML overlays and load them into Google Earth.
 
Stoked!!

I successfully pushed this trip back so now I will be up there for the weekend of June 23rd. That should be late enough to get me some decent Sawtooth backpacking, right?
 
I was going to suggest that early June would be an excellent time to check out the Craters of the Moon monument.
 
nick said:
Stoked!!

I successfully pushed this trip back so now I will be up there for the weekend of June 23rd. That should be late enough to get me some decent Sawtooth backpacking, right?
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Depending on where you're looking to go, yes. This Forest Service page for the Sawtooths http://www.fs.usda.gov/sawtooth has a recreation report that will give you some info on conditions in the area. They generally update it at least once a week once things start melting off. They usually have some of the more popular trails listed, but I'm guessing they aren't on there yet because it's too early right now. The mountain passes up there can retain snow into August. That might not be the case this year since it's been drier than usual, but I would make sure you check the conditions before planning anything in the higher elevations.
 
Okay... so I need to figure out where the hell I'm going on this trip. The Seven Devils Loop isn't going to work because of the time I'll have and how out of the way it is. I'll be leaving SLC either Thursday night or Friday morning and heading north. I'll have from then until Monday morning when I have to be into Boise working.

So what is going to be the most bang-for-buck as my first Sawtooths trip? Keep in mind I'll probably be solo with just one vehicle. Loops are always nice...

The Hellroaring/Imogene area is catching my eye but looks like it would probably have to be an out and back. A lot of the other areas seem heavily forested with less awesome peaks.

And does anyone want to join me? June 22-24.
 
Not a bad idea... I had kind of ruled that out because 1. it would be busier than the Imogene area and 2. it doesn't look like it's as scenic in the form of raw granite and jagged peaks. But an 18-mile loop through an area frequented by other people might be just the ticket for a solo trip since solo isn't really my cup o' tea. Hell, this will actually be my first truly solo alpine trip in my life. I've done a fair amount of solo stuff with a dog but never without in the mountains. Do you know if the Petit Lake trailhead is 2WD? That would be another benefit... the trailhead for Hellroaring Lake and Imogene is HC 4WD which would mean I'd have to take the Taco up there instead of stealing Audra's car. Hmmm.........
 
Have you considered the Owyhee area? Pretty close to Boise.
 
nick said:
Do you know if the Petit Lake trailhead is 2WD? That would be another benefit... the trailhead for Hellroaring Lake and Imogene is HC 4WD which would mean I'd have to take the Taco up there instead of stealing Audra's car. Hmmm.........
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According to my Earthwalk Press topo, the two-mile road to Pettit Lake CG is an "improved light duty road" (RV's camp here-2WD is legit). The rest of the road from there to the actual TH is "unimproved", but it's only .5 miles long. So even if you had to start from the CG, you'd be good.
 
nick said:
Do you know if the Petit Lake trailhead is 2WD? That would be another benefit... the trailhead for Hellroaring Lake and Imogene is HC 4WD which would mean I'd have to take the Taco up there instead of stealing Audra's car. Hmmm.........
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You don't need 4wd, but the road does get pretty rocky toward the end, so you'd want some clearance to go all the way. We drove it last year on our trip while we were scouting out the area.

Were you thinking of going to the upper or lower Hellroaring trailhead? Going to the upper trailhead is very rough from what I understand. I haven't actually been up there, but when we looked into it last year it sounds like it takes most people nearly an hour to drive just a few miles. We didn't end up hiking to Hellroaring Lake as we had planned, but based on that we decided we'd rather start at the lower trailhead and walk the extra miles. Maybe that's not a big deal for you, but I just thought you should know.

Another loop option for you would be to start at the Grandjean trailhead and hike Trail Creek to McGown Lakes and Sawtooth Lake and go out North Baron Fork. Sawtooth Lake is stunning and a must see in the area. Side trips to Trail Creek Lakes, Observation Peak, and Alpine Lake would be easy to include.
 
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