You know a lot of people, a lot of people have seen Alpine lake and Sawtooth lake it's a
really popular hike.
But not many people can say they've been out here and witnessed a sunset
with the Sawtooths covered in snow.
So here we are. This is Alpine lake in the Sawtooths. The snowy Sawtooth mountains of Idaho. I said i
wanted to be able to get into the Sawtooths in the winter and i've done it a lot earlier than i
thought i would. It's the day after Thanksgiving, November 26th, i just felt really confident.
I made some upgrades to my gear especially in the boots department. I got these sweet pack boots
from a Canadian company. They're supposed to keep your feet warm in negative 40 degrees and so far
they've really really done the trick. This looks like someone's been ice fishing here. And then i
switched my tent as you can see there is no more sheep herder tent i have gone for a real
mountaineering tent. The hot stove and the whole teepee thing that's all
well and good and i'm sure that works for a lot of people but that just wasn't fit in my style so
the MSR Access 3 which i have right now is the way i want to go. Once i got
this thing and i got these boots and i got snow tires put on my car i felt really ready to roll.
You know it's getting cold here in the Sawtooths last night it was a low of 3 degrees. That's still
not bad for here this place gets to negative 25 negative 30 in the January, February months
and tonight it's only supposed to get down to 19. So i thought why not give it a shot now before it
gets really too cold so, here we are. I didn't want to wait for the water to filter so i made coffee
with the snow and it tastes very treey. It tastes like the Sawtooth forest it's pretty freaking cool.
And this is one of the most popular trails in the Sawtooths so this is the hike from Iron Creek
trailhead to Sawtooth lake and if you've ever done this in the summertime it's crowded. It's
a very crowded hike because it's so easy to get to it's right by Stanley and it's a pretty easy hike.
The hike here to Alpine lake which is the first lake is only 3.9 miles so 7.8 miles round trip. You
gain 1300 feet of elevation and it's stunning and sawtooth lake is just another mile and 500 feet
up so a lot of people come up here, they see Alpine lake, they see Sawtooth lake and they go back down.
So i thought this is the perfect time to do it. I'm gonna spend two nights out here so i have decided
to camp at Alpine lake and then tomorrow i'll just have the whole day to get up to
Sawtooth lake. That mile to Sawtooth lake. I'll have so much less weight and then come back down,
stay another night here at Alpine lake and then just have a nice easy 3.9 miles back to the car.
As you can see this is Sawtooth lake and i made the right decision staying at Alpine it is
a lot colder up here, a lot more exposed. I can see a campsite right over here
and the wind is coming off the lake blowing right through here
it's pretty gnarly. I have read that one of the most stunning hikes
and views in the Sawtooths is actually on the other side of this lake. There's a pond and some other
unnamed lakes down at that end. I'd have to carve out my own path but it's early
it's only like 11 o'clock i don't really want to go back yet so i think i'm gonna give it a shot.
This is the other end of the lake and i'm afraid this is probably where the journey should end.
It wasn't easy getting over here. My gaiter broke. It's like waist deep. It took me just a really
long time. There's only nine hours of daylight up here in the winter so i should probably start
heading back. It's just the safe thing to do. I really wanted to get over to those
other features but... So i'll just enjoy this for another 5-10 minutes and head back to Alpine.
I'm just thinking of all the stuff back home waiting for me you know.
Just out here it's, i feel, i mean it's just so free out here. Maybe you look at this and you're like
that looks really uncomfortable but i mean what is comfort? Your nice furniture and your warm bed?
Do you hear that? That's an avalanche. If your mind won't stop racing, if
you can't get out of your own head, are you really comfortable? I finished my coffee so
i guess that means it's time to head back. Thanks for watching i'll see you next time.