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Lakes of the Sawtooths, Part 3
Upper Cramer Lake
Previous posts showcased the beautiful lakes I encountered during the first six days of last month’s backpack through the Sawtooth Wilderness. Days seven and eight had their share of spectacular scenery, and nine of those lakes are featured here.
Day seven (August 18) began with the final leg of my resupply loop and ended back on the main backpacking loop by way of Sand Mountain Pass, the only mountain pass I encountered twice. There were two passes to cross before “Sandy,” and neither had a name. The first climb began immediately after I left my campsite alongside gorgeous Imogene Lake. I got off to a bit of a late start and didn’t hit the trail until nearly 9 a.m. It was quite a bit warmer than the previous morning but still quite chilly. It took me about an hour and 20 minutes to reach the first pass.
From it, the view back down to Imogene Lake, 850 feet below, was inspiring.
I met a couple of locals on this pass who were going the other direction, and we exchanged intelligence about the trails. They were going to camp and fish at Hellroaring Lake, which I had passed the day before. It was in the mid-30s and breezy on the pass, but the bright sun kept me from being cold.
The trail switchbacks down the steep slope, quickly losing 300 feet before bottoming out in a swampy area which drains into small Edith Lake. Along the way, the trail provides a fine view of this high lake and the larger, lower Farley Lake.
A trail runs from here down to these lakes and on to Pettit Lake. My original resupply plan was to use this trail to get back to Sand Mountain Pass, but I opted instead for the longer trip up Hellroaring Canyon. The Edith/Farley approach would not have required hiking the maze of forest roads or the poorly designed trails over the ridges dividing Pettit from this drainage and Hellroaring Creek. After a short flat segment, the trail began climbing again, crossing barren rock fields as it gains more than 500 feet.
I reached the second unnamed pass, at around 9,425 feet, about an hour after crossing the first one. This pass provides a birds-eye view of an unnamed nearly circular lake with a shield-like island in the middle.
Many of these lakes had islands, and most of them were rocky and home to at least one tree. This particular island was bare. Likely, this island is submerged for most of the growing season.
The trail actually descends steadily from this pass along a narrow, exposed track in the scree slope to lower Sand Mountain Pass. I was eager to get off this portion of the trail, as there was no safe place to stand aside in case someone came the other way. A couple of women and a dog were right behind me, and gaining, so I hastened my pace, as safely as I felt I could, to reach the pass. It took about 10 minutes.
Back at Sand Mountain Pass, I was once again rewarded with the great view of Toxaway Lake (Photos from the pass will appear in a future post.) to the east and Edna Lake to the west. I was back on a familiar trail, having climbed it three days earlier, heading back to a familiar lake.
By 2 o’clock, I had reached the lake’s northern shore and hopped the outlet stream to reach a nice place to sit, have a snack, and admire the view. Pt. 9,941 is the pyramid in the distance. Clouds were beginning to stream overhead, but they were not likely to bring rain. I continued on to kidney shaped Virginia Lake, which is just downstream from larger Edna Lake, but 150 feet lower.
I probably would have thought more about Virginia Lake, had it been on its own, but it simply did not have the luster and scenery of its prettier neighbors. The trail stayed above it, though several social trails cut through the grass to the shore.
Below the lake, I was reunited with the South Fork Payette River, here just a fledgling stream barely down from the highest peaks. A trail junction provided my first bail-out point back to my car in several days. Without so much as a thought, I passed it by. There were some prettier trails ahead.
About an hour later, I reached my campsite beside narrow Hidden Lake, and, moments later, the sun disappeared behind the mountains. An hour or so after I was set up, the mountains caught the reflection of the setting sun. Payette Peak blazed to life, brightly outshining the dim shore where I was camped.
I was the only person camped at Hidden Lake that night, and it was the only time on the trek that my being completely alone gave me the willies. I did not sleep well. The narrow strip of land between the mountains and the water provided few places to store my food and smellables, and I was forced to tie my Ursack to a tree less than 30 feet from my hammock. What I later concluded was a rockslide across the lake woke me, filling me with terrifying visions of a big bear ripping at that Ursack. I kept listening for what I was sure was a bear, and any noise the rest of that quiet night was, of course, that bear.
I was happy to move on from Hidden Lake and hit the trail by 8 the next morning. I was faced with an immediate 1,000 foot climb over Cramer Divide. As the trail climbed, Hidden Lake reappeared through the trees, occupying almost the whole of the canyon floor. It took me about an hour and 15 minutes to reach the divide, basically a notch puncturing a stark sawtoothed ridge.
The trail descended quickly, losing 1,200 feet of elevation as it passed a series of small, unnamed tarns before reaching the first, and largest, of the Cramer Lakes (pictured at the top of this post). I paused at Upper Cramer Lake’s north shore for a snack and rest a little after 11 a.m., soaking up the views of the aquamarine lake and the surrounding high peaks, each reaching 10,000 feet of elevation.
Moving on, I quickly reached Middle Cramer Lake, which was significantly smaller and shallower (and thus greener) than its big brother. It did, however, have a boisterous waterfall on the opposite shore, where its inlet stream tumbled into the lake.
The trail continued its gentle ascent, passing by Lower Cramer Lake but not affording much of a view. From there, the trail rambled gradually downhill as the mountains slowly pulled back and Redfish Lake Creek Canyon opened up the terrain. A brisk ford of the creek, 1,000 feet below the Cramer Lakes, represented the day’s low elevation point. Immediately, a fresh, steep climb was begun, zig-zagging up a dry, sun-exposed grassy slope. The views improved as the trail relentlessly rose toward a crack in the sheer cliff face. A final series of switchbacks, thankfully located in the trees, gained the final 200 feet of elevation and topped out above the canyon.
Once atop the buttress, the trail gently traced the wall of a hanging canyon to reach the shore of Alpine Lake, a place that is clearly loved to death. The entire northern shore looks like one giant campsite, its native vegetation trampled by too many admirers. Worthy of this affection, the lake is indeed stunning.
I spent the evening sitting on its shore, watching the mountains slowly fade into the dusk, amused as hundreds of trout jumped into the air to catch yummy flies. In the photo above, the rings on the water are evidence of one fish’s efforts. The stars were especially bright this night, and the Milky Way arced over the lake’s still waters, shining enough dim light to give some restless fish an occasional late-night snack.
Upper Cramer Lake, SW09-0819-6006R, UTM 11T 0661490 E 4877115 N NAD27; Imogene Lake From an Unnamed Pass, SW09-0818-5815R, 0663564 E 4871700 N; and Edith and Farley Lakes, SW09-0818-5849R, 0663295 E 4871023 N, Sawtooth Wilderness, Sawtooth National Forest | Lake 8,861, SW09-0818-5866R, 0662979 E 4870841 N; Return to Edna Lake, SW09-0818-5889R, 0661099 E 4870613 N; Virginia Lake, SW09-0818-5892R, 0661177 E 4870923 N; and Hidden Lake and Payette Peak, SW09-0818-5916R, 0660491 E 4873464 N, Sawtooth Wilderness, Boise National Forest | Middle Cramer Lake, SW09-0819-6018R, 0661052 E 4877147 N; and Alpine Lake, SW09-0819-6061R, 0658624 E 4880906 N, Sawtooth Wilderness, Sawtooth National Forest, Idaho | ©2009 Jeff Blaylock
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