Austin, Danny, and Shelby - Stop at Weatherby Rest Area (Oregon) on drive to trailhead. Located HERE

It's a long drive to the trailhead (650+ miles).  Our usual stop for breakfast in Ellensburg and Lunch at Baker City Subway.  We had a short stop at REI in Boise for some supplies and then left the interstate for a long windy ride to the Pettit Lake Campground, where we would spend the night.

Supper at campground at Pettit Lake - Shelby, Bill, Roger, Danny, and Austin.

Pettit Lake at Twilight - We camped at the campground at Pettit Lake for our first night.

Getting ready to head out - Shelby, Austin, and Andrew - pretty much controlled chaos the first morning of a backpacking trip.  You can see that the cocoa water is boiling.

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Mileage and Elevation gain and losses for Day 1. Waypoints correspond to Markers on Day 1 Map

The trail skirts the west side of Pettit Lake - here looking up the valley we wee heading.  Prominent Peak at Left Center is McDonald Peak.

Danny, Bill (behind Austin), Austin, Shelby, Roger, and Andrew - Just beyond Pettit Lake the boundary of the Sawtooth Wilderness Area is reached.

Austin crossing creek (about two miles from trailhead at Pettit Lake Campground).

Shortly after the second crossing of the creek, the trail breaks out of the forest and enters a large meadow (3 miles from the trailhead).  The "lake" shown on the topo map is really a widened area of the creek as seen in the photo above.

It looks like we will be going up the valley from the meadow, but the trail begins a series of switchbacks here gaining elevation to climb into a hanging valley located over the small ridge to the right.  I think the peak in the center is "El Capitan".

View Up Valley from switchbacks opposite McDonald Peak.  The trail cuts to the right into a hanging valley containing Alice Lake.

Looking back down the valley from lip of hanging valley. It's a pretty stiff climb to this point.

Andrew & Danny - El Capitan in background. This is the back, and more impressive side, of the peak seen in the earlier photos.

Alice Lake - a beautiful lake: you can see that this area is aptly named the Sawtooths.

Danny and Andrew at Alice Lake - we saw a lot of day hikers on the trail.  We took a long break here (about 5.5 miles from the trailhead and about 1700' climb.) before heading out for our camp at Twin Lakes.

Austin preparing supper at our camp at Twin Lakes. Twin Lakes was about a mile and another 300' climb from Alice Lake.

Camp setup at Twin Lakes.  Supper is on, you can hear the MSR Dragonfly stoves purring. The sun has set behind the mountains and it has become much colder.

View of the lower Twin Lake from our camp on a peninsula jutting out into the lake.

Danny reading while most of the guys are playing cards on an "improvised" table, which has some obvious design flaws.

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Mileage and Elevation gain and losses for Day 2. Waypoints correspond to Markers on Day 2 Map.

Getting ready to leave camp - probably waiting for Bill (See Danny's 5 minute rule at 1:24 HERE

We start our day's hike with a long climb up to the pass above Twin Lakes

View back to Lower Twin Lake from trail as it switchbacks up shoulder north of Upper Twin Lake -  You can see that the view of the upper lake is obstructed by the shoulder.

Switchbacks - you can see Bill far below as he makes his way up to the pass.

View of Twin lakes from pass below Snowyside Mtn between Twin Lakes and Toxaway Lake

Twin Lakes as seen from pass - Our camp was on the lower lake in the trees at the base of the peninsula jutting out into the lake.A peekaboo view of Alice Lake is seen just to left of the photo.

Cascade Bill arriving at Pass - The trail does not follow the route shown on the topo map but is more to the north.

Taking a break at the pass - You can see that a cold wind was blowing thru the pass.

Danny at Pass - none of us knew he was carrying a 25 pound watermelon in addition to all his regular troop gear.

Looking west from pass above Twin Lakes - Toxaway lake is below Sand Mtn (brown peak on ridge at center fight).  Several chain lakes can be seen below.  These make good stopping points to take a break

We stopped to take a break at one of the small "chain" lakes west of the pass above Twin Lakes.

Taking a break at Toxaway Lake before heading up to the pass on Sand Mountain.

Snow remnants on shoulder of Snowyside Peak persisting into August.

View of Toxaway Lake and Snowyside Peak  from switchbacks on Sand Mountain.

Looking northeast down valley from switchbacks on Sand mountain. A peekaboo view of the northern end of Toxaway Lake can be seen at the lower right of the photo.

As you get higher up on Sand Mountain you can look all the way down the valley to Yellow Belly Lake.

Danny & Andrew at Pass on Sand Mountain - The trail to Edna Lake heads down and the trail from Imogene Lake goes up the ridge to an even higher pass.

Danny and Shelby - After climbing to Sand Mtn. Pass (see trail at right), some of the guys climbed up to this high point overlooking the pass and Toxaway Lake far below. (Needless to say I stayed down at the pass).

Looking across to pass that leads down to Imogene Lake (low point at right) - we would be going that way in a few days.

Camp at Vernon Lake - It was getting late when we got to Vernon Lake.  The shadows were long and we soon would be in the shade.

Shelby with the trips favorite reading material - Andrew's Maxim magazine.

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Mileage and Elevation gain and losses for Day 3. Waypoints correspond to Markers on Day 3 Map.

Mileage and Elevation gain and losses for Jason's Day hike up to Glen's Peak on Day 3. Waypoints correspond to Markers on Day 3 Map.

Vernon Lake from our camp - we got in too late and too tired (at least me)  to do any fishing here.

Getting ready to leave Vernon Lake - explanation of using lawn chairs on backpacks.

Danny cutting Watermelon he hauled in for three days over two passes to celebrate Bill's 59th birthday. A treat enjoyed by all.

Danny getting ready to distribute the watermelon to the eagerly awaiting onlookers.

Man that was good! - Austin, Andrew, Roger, Danny, Bill (Happy 59th), and Shelby.

I had planned a much longer hike going over another pass to Spangle Lake.  When we got to Ardeth Lake, Shelby asked, "Why do we have to hike another bunch of miles to get to another lake when we are at a great lake right now". Well you can't argue with that logic, so we stayed for a leisurely day at Ardeth.

While the rest of us decided to say at Ardeth, Jason decided to do a day hike up to Glen's Peak.  He  got this view of a waterfall on his hike up the trail above Ardeth Lake.

Looking down on Ardeth Lake - far off Sand Mountain is right of center.

The early morning clouds gave way to afternoon sunshine. It was nice to have an easy day to just hang around camp.

View from opposite side of Ardeth lake - looking towards our camp. Although the lake was beautiful, the fishing was terrible - no strikes or even any fish seen.

While Jason went off on a day hike, the card players had at it,  Danny and Andrew read, I fished - Shelby spent the afternoon trapping chipmunks.  Fun was had by all - except the chipmunk.

It was a fine dinner for my 59th birthday celebration - my congratulations to the cook!

Following an old Troop 24 tradition, Jason performs the ceremonial burning of the tee shirt - farewell to the trusty "lynnwood Soccer" shirt.

This is one way to keep the pack weight down (socks and underwear too).

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Mileage and Elevation gain and losses for Day 4. Waypoints correspond to Markers on Day 4 Map.

Danny heading down the trail between Ardeth Lake and the SF Payette River.  It would have been shorter to head back the way we came to get to Edna Lake but we made a big circle instead.

Camouflage - nobody does it better than the ruffed grouse. (look at photo closely).

Austin at small stream crossing trail from Ardeth down to the SF Payette River trail.

Taking a break at the junction of the SF Payette River and Cramer Lake trails.

Late afternoon view across Lake Edna towards Vernon Lake. Vernon Lake is beneath peak in distance.

Cleaning the trout for the Fish Fry - I pack a thin but rigid plastic sheet for fish cleaning in order to keep dirt and debris out.

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Jason, Danny, Shelby, Austin, and Roger - heading back up to Sand Mtn Pass.

After climbing through forest the trail breaks out into meadows above Lake Edna.

Andrew - breaking our of the forest - small stream drains into Virginia Lake.

Looking back on the trail from Toxaway Lake as it approaches the pass on Sand Mtn - Snowyside peak in the background.

Andrew at upper pass - Peak 9745 beyond Andrew.  Edna Lake is hidden behind the lower slopes of the peak.

Virginia Lake far below. You can see the trail at the bottom of the sandy slope.

looking northeast - one more pass to go - Unfortunately we have to drop a few hundred feet before heading up again.

Andrew descending from the pass. Far off in the distance is Yellow Belly Lake and the valley beyond.

Alpine weather gives the trees here a lot of character - you can see how hard it is for them.

Imogene Lake from pass - we met a horse packer  on top who was waiting for us to reach the top so he could go safely down the steep switchbacks.

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Notice that there is a new Trailhead on the opposite side of Hell Roaring Creek near the Marker "Nr Cr". Trailhead is best viewed in Caltopo using "Global Imagery" or "Satellite" view (If you have a subscription.

Mileage and Elevation gain and losses for Day 4. Waypoints correspond to Markers on Day 4 Map.

Shelby, and Roger - a lot of the guys went tentless for the night.

The guys heading down the trail along east shore of  Imogene Lake.

Imogene Lake - you can see the pass we came over yesterday  peaking out beyond the low ridge to the left of the photo.

Horse packer that we met the previous day - now heading out near Imogene Lake.

"Man those horses have long ears", comment by Danny about packtrain on Paseyton hike, 1998.

A "Damn Fine" camp along stream (not much more than a wide spot in the trail.  I got a lot of crap about it but a plan is a plan.  We were only a mile or two from the trailhead and could camp for free here without having to pay a fee at the Campground in the valley.

No tents were pitched - we were getting up and heading out before the crack of dawn. - heading down the trail by flashlight.

Bill's Pack - The guys are playing a joke on me here by putting the Maxim in my pack!

During the hike, I felt a sore area on my back. I found that the frame had cracked and was scraping my back.  Time to get a new pack (after 20 years). It led to an embarrassing moment when I stopped at a switchback to apply duct tape over the abrasion, when a lady hiker came around the bend while I had my pants down and the roll of duct tape in my hand.  Boy, did she get out of there fast.

Time for a last card game at the last camp - Roger, Danny, and Austin. - we camped about a mile and a half from the trailhead. We got up in the dark and headed out using our flashlights.  When we got to the road there was no car!!. We had parked where the topo map showed the trailhead, but a new trail had been built about 1/4 mile further up the road.  It was a fairly long ride to Stanley for a very welcome breakfast!

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Day 7: Showing location of old trail on the original topo map where we parked the car.

Mileage and Elevation gain and losses for Day 7. Waypoints correspond to Markers on Day 7 Map.