The Sawtooth Mountains were the 4th mountain range of my 5 range / 3 state impromptu summer tour, after I pivoted from the GDT due to the wildfires. This 30 mile hike came about because Woody wanted to do a short trip right before he started teaching again. Recall that he was one of my hiking buddies that I met up with at the beginning of July, to begin the GDT. When the fires shut us down, he flew back to Utah and I started working my way south to keep on hiking. He was hankering for some more hiking before the summer’s end, but unfortunately wasn’t able to join Strider and I for the Wind River High Route. On his invitation, I took a series of shuttles from Jackson Hole WY to Logan UT, joining Woody at his home and then for a road trip to Idaho.
Woody had just upgraded from his old Toyota Tacoma to a brand new one, and so was eager to take it for a first spin. Ironically, it was a little more than a year beforehand that I walked past Woody sleeping in the back of his old truck, along the Hayduke route. He gave me a ride into Kanab, which was how we met. Well guess who got to christen Woody’s brand new Taco by sleeping in the back for the first time? A Twig, because the new 5′ bed was a little too short for a 6’3″ Woody. 😂 We drove up to Idaho the day before and car-camped near the trailhead.
Sawtooths Day 1, Tuesday, Aug 20th, 2024. Redfish Lake to Upper Cramer Lake. 8 miles. Elevation 8390′. I slept well in the truck bed, but it felt very cold the next morning…my thermometer read 40 degrees. We parked the truck at the trailhead and walked a few miles towards the highway. We needed to hitch from our hike’s end point at Pettit lake, to our start at Redfish Lake. Some cleaning ladies from a nearby AirBnB generously gave us a ride part of the way to the HWY, but were unfortunately heading south at the junction. While waiting for another ride, a bicyclist rode up and immediately recognized me. For several years, a long-distance hiker named Coyote had either been following in my footsteps or I in his (AZT, GET, MRT, PNT, and GDT). We’d become friends on social media but had never met in person. He was going to hike the GDT just a few weeks behind me this summer, but also had to cancel because of the fires. Instead, he was riding his bike from Montana to Arizona. It was so funny that I finally ran into him…hitching/riding on a road in the middle of nowhere.
Two nice day-hikers, Martha and Ivana, eventually gave us ride to Redfish Resort. There we enjoyed fish tacos and drinks by the beach. Then we took a boat ferry for $18 per person to the end of the lake. There was a trail, but it had been recently damaged by fire, so the boat ride was the only option. We started the trail around 1 pm and took it easy. Unfortunately it was a bit smokey from a nearby fire, so we cut short our previously planned high route. We ended the day at a series of lakes, where there were lots of other people camping. The Sawtooths had become quite popular in recent years.
Sawtooths Day 2, Wednesday, Aug 21st. Upper Cramer Lake to Twin lakes, 15 miles. Elevation 8860′. In the morning, we went over a pass to Hidden Lake, meeting 3 hikers. We took a break at Edna lake, went over another pass, past Toxico lake, and up one last pass that had nice views down to Twin lakes. This was the highpoint of the trip, at 9500′. Woody showed me a picture of his painting of this viewpoint, which was very beautiful. He specializes in landscape and nature art, which I just love. It’s one thing to capture my hikes in images and videos, but the vivid colors and textures of his paintings bring the experience to a whole new level. We camped next to the Twin Lakes for the night, enjoying a nice swim.
Sawtooths Day 3, Thursday, Aug 22nd. Twin Lakes to Pettit Lake, 7 miles. In the morning, we hiked some easy miles back to where we left truck, the drove back to Logan. This set me up well to begin the Uinta Highline Trail, up next.
Thanks to Woody for a fun road trip and beautiful hike! I’m also glad for the opportunity to share his artistic talent!