Starting at Payette Lake in Idaho, near the South end of the Sawtooths is a popular loop hike going to Alice and Toxaway Lakes, primarily. Those are the traditional stopping points for camping, and are where I stopped. You also see the Twin Lakes, and a few others, if you want to go to them. The map is deceiving as the trail appears to go along the shore of every possible lake but is often hundreds of feet above them. I mention this so that you can plan accordingly with water. Don't skip a creek if you need water and are a mile from a lake. You may have to bushwhack down to it!
The road to Payette Lake is a bit bad, pretty rutted, but only 2 miles long. The trail can be hiked in either direction of course, and I started for Alice Lake, as I was not sold completely on the idea of the loop. Mostly I wanted to climb some peaks I had seen around Alice Lake which look amazing. And I knew I would go to the Snowyside Peak Pass at least up above the Twin Lakes, but I was not sure I would go beyond that. So day one I drove from Salt Lake to the trailhead, about 6 hours. The last 2 hours to the Sawtooths is always brutal because you have to pass through a half dozen spaced out little tourist trap towns, mostly cute, but darned annoying with 25 mile per hour Main streets when you are eager to be moving. The Sawtooths are pretty cool, usually sun-bleached with bright blue skies, white peaks reflecting you to blindness, but air temperatures no more than 80 degrees at your starting elevation of around 7000 feet. So afternoon hikes are definitely doable. This was my second trip to the Tooths and both times I spent the morning driving and the afternoon speed hiking in. The speed hiking has not been necessary in either case, but its hard to judge the time a trail will take until you've done it. I got a little late start as I felt sick and unmotivated- left at 10 am instead of 3 am or then 7 am, after sleeping badly, and started hiking at 4:30 pm. I took the tent and my big rig for this trip as I expected bad mosquitoes and night lows of around 32 F.
Below are El Capitan, looking different from every side- a true shape shifter, and my orange tent just peaking out from the trees on a lovely peninsula in Alice Lake.
The beast outside stopped snuffling around the edges of the tent and neither of us breathed. He must have wondered what he had inside this strange shelter. I knew he wanted my Snickers Bar, and with two layers of nylon up, I could not see outside. So I made some relaxed neutral noises and heard a clattering of heavy feet- almost hooved. So possibly it was a mountain goat. Whatever it was, it came back after I switched a light on- apparently more curious than scared, as I expected. So I gave up on the light and reading and slept with my knife on my chest. Turns out, I do still have some fear- unseen large animals outside a canvas "shelter" with possible aggressive intentions do spook me. I slept fitfully trying to keep away from the edges so the first claw blow wouldn't land on my head and I could go out like a warrior. I was planning to win actually if the monster didn't get me with the first swipe.
Morning came and I snapped some marvelous pics, then went looking for tracks. No bears. Mountain goat was my guess, though in hindsight, deer is likely too, as every other campsite I stayed at I saw at least 1 deer. A majestic laconic bored buck once, and 2 does eating near my ears while I slept another night, and a deer who walked right up to me a third and was limping. The bears may still be asleep. But Snowyside Peak, according to the summit diary is home to a mountain goat who shares its perch atop the peak with climbers often- though not me, sadly. So possibly, it was a goat this time.
Without eating I made for the log bridge I had scouted out the night before to El Capitan. The peak was easily obtained, on mostly good solid scree of large boulders, with plenty of exposure, but easy climbing. A nice warmup. The views were great but I started too late to make the best of the perch. The light was blinding in most photos. Sharing a saddle with the Captain was a nasty steep smooth run which was too exposed to be believed. I had to climb it I decided, as I think few do. Wishing I had my climber shoes, rather than just thick hiking boots I had chosen for ankle support, I did quick work, including a nice corner and a knife blade saddle swap (sort of like climbing over a horse and sitting in the saddle at the middle of the move, only if the horse were as thin as a blade on the top), all with a thousand foot drop to the lake below me. It was fun, and probably the most dangerous thing I've ever done- to that point. I thought so while doing it, and generally, I don't think I do anything dangerous- ever. It would be dangerous for other people, but I know my limits. Well, I named this little sub-peak "The First Mate", and if you run up the Captain, grab it while there, if you dare. Only takes an extra 20 minutes or so. The run on First Mate is pictured below: right along the sloping edge, so one slip equals a big fall in either direction. El Capitan is pictured above with the bottom of a very still lake still visible. 
Back at camp, my tent had not been torn to shreds by animals, which was nice. I ate another candy bar, drank a bit of water and headed to the Twin Lakes. The trail was easy going and not terribly steep, but hot and it did not pass the Twin Lakes, which crimped my water plans. I would have had to go out of my way and back downhill then uphill again for water and I chose to pass. Had I gone down, I'd have spent the afternoon climbing an easy enough ridge of smooth rock to Perfect Peak, one of the only practicable peaks to reach around Alice Lake, other than El Capitan, due to sheer and unstable walls around the lake- no shores at all. Probably a bad idea not to go down for water, but oh well. Climbing that peak would have meant I had to sleep another night on the South side of the pass by the Twin Lakes and since I could not grab a whole mess of peaks, I didn't want to do that.
I made the pass quickly and decided I had to nab Snowyside Peak, the tallest in the area, and one of the taller in the whole mountain range, though it was far away and I was not dead set on it coming in. But up close the peak had the same profile of King's Peak in the Uintas, which I failed to reach last trip, you may remember. And its been tugging at my sense of machismo and manhood ever since. This peak also like King's, gets smaller as you approach- if that makes sense. It has the feeling of moving farther away. I felt about 2 miles away now that I was right under it. Or maybe I actually was 2 miles away because the climb involved a lot of work. First there is a pleasant ridge walk to the very high point of the pass and then up some terrible scree and loose soil and rocks, with slides easy and plentiful. Then you gain a jagged ridge- bring gloves! And a messy scramble begins. If you have ice axe, and are there early in season, another option is to try some steep ice slopes which will be dangerous, but probably no more so than the rock, and you could skip the horrible tedious scree ledges that took me 45 minutes- all without water, at height of daylight, recall.
There were partly frozen lakes, snowy peaks, beautiful cottony clouds. It was one of the most rewarding and grueling and horrible mountains I have done. Storms were swirling, rain was evident near the end of of my ridgeline, and I still had to go down, which I was dreading. So I did the only sensible thing: I tarried. Down actually, was not so bad. I knew what to expect and made quicker work of it. I was hot and flushed and had a North side of a pass to descend now though and after mouthfuls of snow for 2 hours, was dry inside and shaking in the legs. Plus, the whole pass to Toxaway Lake was snowed in. So now I faced a decision: retreat, or go on? I went on, falling and tumbling, and possibly spraining my wrist. The trail had to cross under a falls at one point, and I could not see trail, so I wound up in the creek, falling through ice, but only up to the ankles, soaking my boots.
Hard to say if I made the right call or no. I got water and Toxaway Lake was gorgeous, as shown from my first sight of it above, and some below, and I saw waterfalls, but I could have done Perfect Peak and stayed at the Twins had I retreated. There were 3 peaks easy to reach around Toxaway, with one having a magnificent and devilish ramp run for a half a mile that would be nasty and awesome, all at once. Also, I met a friend, a young college lady travelling alone, and probably unarmed- which was brave and terrific to meet- and we talked trails and mountains and the like. However, I would have met her the next night at Alice Lake, had I climbed Perfect Peak and maybe jaunted over to some others the next day. And the final leg after Toxaway involved a barefoot up to the waist stream crossing on sharp stones, and a dry, beetle-singed stretch of forest up a brutal climb where the air got so dusty and I was so dried out, that my nose gushed blood for half a mile, and I could hardly keep from bleeding over all my gear- which is a great way to meet bears! I am sure. I could have done without that. And I wish I had climbed the peaks around Toxaway, and I could have skipped the lightly sprained left wrist- after several breaks, it doesn't take much to damage it. But I am glad to have done the whole loop, I think. And it was wise to save energy for the next leg of my trip, though that worked out poorly in hindsight too, as I preferred the peaks I could have climbed to those I did. But that is always true.
As for gear, the tent was not necessary I decided. Its hard to move on snow with a heavy pack, and my shoulders were getting raw burns and scrapes from the weight, and it was warm enough at night to go without the tent. Plus that way I could see bears coming, if I positioned my head in shelter of trees and rocks. I just don't want anything getting me from the back. As long as I can see what is coming, I say come what may. All that will be in the next post though.
The last two photos are near where I fell through ice into the creek- yes I was being careful and was aware the ice was not solid due to the pic I had just taken, but did not have the ice axe along, as on the drive in, no snow was visible on any peaks and I did not expect any. So I also lacked ice cleats. The mountains are above Toxaway Lake, with two easily walkable- I should have done those at least, and in the center, is one heck of a ridge climb, which I'd have done, had I not been too tired to climb around trees for the first half of it.
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