Tent camping and hiking near Sawtooth Wilderness on Labor Day weekend

[IdahoanAgain]

Stanley, Idaho is Idaho's ice box. Labor day weekend is about the last nice summertime Stanley experience. Be warned, though, there are wolves up above Stanley. For some reason or another. In the winter they get hungry and venture closer (sometimes into) Stanley. A beautiful Sawtooth destination, Stanley, Idaho. If I was you I would look into Hiking Idaho/ Idaho Climbs for advice. I would go hotspringing /rock climbs, too. Just be careful, what is beautiful is usually deadly, and the Sawtooths are the most beautiful mountain range in America. Lava Hot Springs is closer to you, has some outrageous day hikes, a resort to enjoy, and some camp grounds in sparsely populated areas. Still has grocery stores, but not a lot of population.

[80skeys]

They must have put the whole thing out by the time we got there Aug. 13, we didn't see any smoke anywhere. We were pretty close to those Hot springs because we were hiking along the Secesh River towards Loon Lake.

[kavm]

IdahoAgain -

Thanks for the warning about wolves, though not entirely sure what we can do about it. We don’t have or carry firearms. We do carry a bear spray and hiking sticks. That’s about it.

For the moment, we are planning to head to Stanley early tomorrow and look for tent camping in some campground that has first-come-first-serve. So far, we have been more worried about the mosquitoes than bears and wolves.

Have a couple of hiking books for the area - including one from hiking Idaho. I am sure we will find a few hikes in it. Are Hiking Idaho and Idaho Climbs some type of hiking/climbing groups? I did not find anything on them (except the books from Hiking Idaho), so do share some pointers.

Lava Hot Springs is an interesting suggestion. We are still not decided on the route (through Ketchum or take I15 for longer and then Arco and CLayton). The second one is slightly longer route but might have less traffic.

[80skeys]

Originally Posted by kavm

Thanks for the warning about wolves, though not entirely sure what we can do about it. We don’t have or carry firearms. We do carry a bear spray and hiking sticks. That’s about it.

You gotta be more careful about moose, of which there are plenty in Idaho.

For the moment, we are planning to head to Stanley early tomorrow and look for tent camping in some campground that has first-come-first-serve.

Drive south on Hwy 75 from Stanley towards Sun Valley. You'll see campgrounds and hiking trails along that entire stretch. All of those are good.

[kavm]

Thank you! We know about moose a bit. See them on the trails around here weekly - almost got too close when hiking before dawn a couple of weeks back. But no night hiking on the trip - so will be OK.

Will take the route through Ketchum / Sun Valley. Was leaning that way - and your recommendation confirms it. Thank you!

[80skeys]

Originally Posted by kavm

Thank you! We know about moose a bit. See them on the trails around here weekly - almost got too close when hiking before dawn a couple of weeks back. But no night hiking on the trip - so will be OK.

Will take the route through Ketchum / Sun Valley. Was leaning that way - and your recommendation confirms it. Thank you!

Have fun. Let us know how the camping/hiking is.

[kavm]

Thanks! Will do.

[kavm]

We had a wonderful trip! We loved this area and the state- it most definitely exceeded our expectations. The following is a short trip report and highlights:

Camping: We camped at the Caribou campground. Was a very nice campground - though water needed to be brought in from another nearby campground. Very quiet. In retrospect - we might have been better off trying for a campground farther North as our hikes were all in that direction and beyond the pass. But, hindsight is 20/20 and we did enjoy camping here.

Hiking: As I said, this was the main activity we were interested in. And, we had three (+1) fantastic hikes.

1. Murdock Creek Trail: We did this hike on the day when we arrived and pitched the tent. There was some time in the afternoon - and this was a very nice trail nearby. Easy.
2. Sawtooth Lake(s) - A fantastic hike that brings one close to sawtooth mountains. There is a string of lakes fed by the snow on the sawtooths. Absolutely fabulous hike. Quite moderate - very nicely graded trail.
3. Alice Lake: Starting from the Pettit lake campground - a nice trail takes you up to another part of the sawtooths and a couple of lakes. We only went up to Alice lake, which is beautiful. That was about 11-12 miles round trip. A couple of more miles - and we could have made it to the twin lakes. Very popular. Number of people camping there, though we made a day hike. Moderate-Strenuous.
4. Horton Peak: Phenomenal hike into the White Cloud wilderness. Leads you to a old fire lookout for the most fantastic 360-degree views of entire region. Moderately strenuous.

Town: We did not spend much time in Ketchum, but spent a bit of time one afternoon after taking a shower in the local Y (a very nice facility). Ketchum gave a good impression.

All in all - fantastic trip! We will return to this area. Thanks again for all the help and tips on this thread. They were very valuable.

[nm9stheham]

Tnx for letting us know! Glad to hear it was all you wanted. The Horton Peak trail sounds like it is worth the workout to get the view.

[kavm]

We would wholeheartedly recommend the Horton Peak trail. Somewhat strenuous (depending upon the shape you are in) but very nicely graded. Ascending constantly but never too steep. We had more left in the tank on return - so not excessively strenuous either. Not crowded - we only saw one other hiker and it was the Labor Day weekend! Recommend carrying enough water as there are no water sources on the way.