JUNE 2026 · ADVENTURE
Wilderness backpacking - Sawtooth Mountains, Idaho
Sawtooth Wilderness · Idaho
Two days into the Sawtooth Wilderness, Idaho, aiming for Farley Lake. The forest changes character before it ever opens into rock - deadfall and burned trunks first, packs heavy from the start, granite spires visible above the treeline long before we reached them.
Four of us made the trek in, trading positions on a narrow dirt trail through stands of blackened, dead-standing timber left from some past fire, then onto talus and granite boulders as the trees thinned toward the pass. By the time we reached camp a golden-mantled ground squirrel had already worked out there'd be food, sitting on a boulder by my boot the moment the pack came off.
Whatever was working the shoreline after dark never got a look at it.
Farley Lake — June 2026
Camp went up between granite boulders in sight of the lake. Every night the food bag went up too, hauled from a dead lakeside snag on a length of cord - whatever was working the shoreline after dark never got a look at it.
Farley Lake sat under a slope still holding snow in June, visible through the pines in pieces rather than all at once - the kind of view that made the two days of carrying weight feel worth it.
The way back out crossed the same burned stretch of forest from the first day, the trail narrowing to a grassy thread between blackened trunks. Whatever fire went through here did the job thoroughly; the pines coming up now are barely knee height.
Fallen timber scattered through a sunlit stand of young lodgepole pines
Driving a dirt forest road, hands on the wheel, dense pines ahead through the windshield
White water cascades over mossy rocks in a forested stretch of Sawtooth backcountry
A boulder-choked trail winds between lichen-streaked granite blocks in dense forest
Deadfall crisscrosses a sunlit lodgepole pine forest floor in the Sawtooth foothills
Two backpackers with loaded packs set off down a forest trail at the start of the trek
Deadfall logs crisscross a clearing among thin pines in the wilderness
Hikers with heavy packs move along a sunlit dirt trail through open pine woods
Sun-bleached deadfall logs tangle across a quiet stretch of pine forest
A hiker with trekking poles follows a winding dirt path through burned and regrowing forest
Three backpackers spread out along a wildflower-lined trail through open pine forest
A lone hiker dwarfed by tall pines on a forest trail, snowy peaks visible ahead
A fallen log spans a shallow, rock-strewn mountain creek bordered by pines and boulders
A backpacker walks a narrow trail through dappled light beneath tall conifers
A hiker pauses on the trail near deadfall, shading his eyes beneath a backpack
Sunlit granite boulders scattered across a forest trail in the Idaho backcountry
Snow-dusted granite peaks rise above a forested drainage and boulder-strewn slope
Backpackers descend a forest trail beneath snow-streaked granite peaks, Sawtooth Wilderness
Whitewater cascades down a boulder-strewn gully cutting through subalpine forest
A hiker rests on a fallen log overlooking a calm alpine lake ringed by pine forest
Yellow tent camp tucked among boulders with a hiker resting on a log, snowy peaks beyond
A hiker stands on a dead lakeside snag hanging a bear bag over still, dark water
A golden-mantled ground squirrel poses on granite rock beside a hiking boot and pack
A framed view through pines of an alpine lake beneath a steep snowfield-covered slope
Two tents pitched under pines with a snowy Sawtooth summit rising behind camp
A backpacker in red and teal hikes a forest trail toward jagged snow-lined peaks
Two hikers climb a rocky forest trail beneath a partly cloudy Idaho mountain sky
A lone backpacker ascends a trail through pines toward towering granite Sawtooth spires
Backpacker descends a forested slope beneath granite cliffs in the Sawtooth Wilderness
Two hikers with trekking poles cross a talus slope below jagged granite peaks
Backpackers pick a route through a boulder-strewn slope near the treeline
Hiker with backpack threads a narrow trail through weathered granite boulders
Small cascade tumbles over mossy rocks in a shaded subalpine forest clearing
Solo backpacker pauses on a quiet pine-needle trail deep in the forest
Sunlight filters through standing and fallen trunks in a burned subalpine forest
Open pine woodland with scattered granite boulders along a wilderness trail
Two hikers with trekking poles walk a shaded trail between windswept trunks
Weathered log lies across a mossy clearing in a dense stand of lodgepole pine
Narrow grassy path opens through burned tree trunks in the Sawtooth forest