Sawtooths: Baron Lakes: August 7th 2015

Baron Lakes

The Sawtooths are an amazing place, if only there were fewer people that knew about them but how can you blame them. This year's trip into the Sawtooths was to Baron Lakes, which is just behind Redfish Lake. 

Alpine Lake

Alpine Lake

I was just going to do an overnight since the next day called for rain. On my trip, I was going to go to Alpine Lake then camp at Baron Lakes and the next day hike to Braxon Lake and out to the trailhead.

Baron Lakes

Warbonnet Lakes

I got to Alpine Lake so early that I decided to head to the nearest lakes since I had plenty of time before I needed to get to Baron Lakes that night. My map said that Warbonnet Lakes were the closest and in the general area of Baron Lakes.

Little Warbonnet Lake

Monte Verita

Warbonnet Lakes were a great choice and an added bonus to my trip. They both produced beautiful cutthroat and great views from the ridge to both Warbonnet Lakes and Baron Lakes.

Baron Lake

Baron Lake Basin

About halfway through the night, it started to rain which put a damper on my plans the next day. I was going to go off the trail to some other lakes however I was not prepared for rain. So instead of hiking through the wet brush I just hiked back to the trailhead via the trail. I also had to hike around Redfish lake to get to my car since I only bought a one-way shuttle ticket across the lake, should have planned better. I did discover though how busy the Sawtooths can get, on my hike out I probably passed around eighty people hiking, it was insane. You definitely have to hike far into the Sawtooths to not find anybody.

White Clouds: Big Boulder Lakes: July 31st, 2015

Big Boulder Chain Lakes

The White Clouds are one of my favorite places to hike for a number of reasons; it's not crowded so you don't see many people, there's a lot of lakes in close proximity of each other, great fishing in almost every lake and beautiful views.

Gunsight Lake

Cutty out of Gunsight

I have been to the Big Boulder Chain once before but we just did an overnighter from Railroad Ridge into Tin Cup Lake and Gunsight Lake. The fishing was really good with really nice cutthroat out of Gunsight.

Dike Lake

Tin Cup Lake

Sheep Lake

Neck Lake

This year I wanted to hit all the lakes in the Boulder Chain so I was going to do three days and two nights. I started at Railroad Ridge and had someone move my vehicle to the trailhead at the bottom. Throughout my trip, I hiked to sixteen lakes saw numerous sheep and caught a lot of fish. The first day I hiked from Railroad Ridge to Gunsight, Dike, Tin Cup, Quartzite, Sheep, Neck, Slide, Cirque and camped that night at Sapphire Lake.

Big Boulder Chain

Cutty out of Cirque

Cirque Lake

The next day I hiked to Hook, Cove, Gentian, Boulder, Snow, Island and camped that night at Goat Lake. The whole trip was about 10 miles, I only saw a total of 4 people. My favorite lakes view wise were Sapphire and Island. And favorite lakes for fishing were; Gunsight, Cirque, Sapphire, Gentian and Snow.

Sapphire Lake

Hook Lake

Sapphire Lake

Cove Lake

Snow Lake

Boulder Lake

Island Lake

Goat Lake

Fishing at Goat Lake

Startrails at Goat Lake

Broad Canyon to Bellas Lakes: July 25th, 2015

Broad Canyon

So I have this hike called the Smyer Challenge and what it consists of doing is the Fall Creek Loop which is roughly 13 miles hitting 5 lakes. The Challenge is that you have to catch a fish out of every lake and complete the loop in 12 hours, trailhead to trailhead. Another Smyer Challenge is hiking Broad Canyon to Bellas and catch a fish out of every lake and do it under 12 hours. Both of these challenges are tough but doable and most of all rewarding. The Broad Canyon to Bellas is about 14 miles and has 6 lakes that have fish in them.

Baptie Lake

Goat Lake

If you're wondering how I was able to complete this challenge, well I will tell you so you can complete it yourself. I parked at the Bellas Lake Trailhead and rode my mountain bike to the Broad Canyon trailhead which was only about 2 miles then I started hiking up the Broad Canyon trail to Baptie Lake. Baptie Lake holds California Goldens which are tough to catch but the fishing is getting better throughout the years and will one day produce the new state record for Idaho. The next lake is Goat, which is the highest lake in Idaho that holds fish, just beating out Lonesome Lake in the White Clouds by a few feet. Goat lake consistently produces 16-inch cutthroat and is actually a great lake for newbie fisherman.

Betty Lake

Not Named Lake

From Goat, you head up over the pass and drop into Betty Lake which holds smaller fish, however, better catch rates. Then from Betty, I headed to Bench, which a great place to catch fish. I had a bet with a friend that I would be able to catch 10 fish in 15 minutes. I lost, I only caught 8 fish in 15 minutes because I had to change my fly a few times.

Betty Lake

Broad Caynon

From Bench, I hiked down to Clear lake, which doesn't hold any fish, and climbed over the ridge and dropped down into the Bellas drainage. Bellas holds 4 lakes but only two have fish in them. North Fork Bellas was my next stop. This lake is pretty cool because it's about 15 feet deep and you can see all the fish in the lake because the water is so clear. Bellas Lake is the last stop and is a great backpacking lake that holds lots of cutthroats that range it different size classes. To finish out the trip I hiked back to my car at Bellas Lake trailhead in just over 11 hours.

Bench Lake

Clear Lake

I have done both of these challenges, Broad Canyon to Bellas and Fall Creek Loop, as enjoyable hikes and it would be interesting to see the time that I could post if I did it competitively.

Not Named Bellas Lake

Not Named Bellas Lake

North Fork Bellas Lake

North Fork Bellas Lake

Bellas Lake