We initially wanted to do a version of the Sawtooth Grand Loop out of Grand Jean but fires changed our plans.
We ended up going with the lower Hell Roaring Creek TH with the following campsites.
1st night: Camped off Imogene (1st peninsula). Perfect spot just off the water.
Note: the 2nd peninsula looked nicer but was taken.
2nd night: ‘Un Named Lake’ just before Ardeth lake. Had the camp all to ourselves. Loved the rock island for swimming and clothes rinsing.
3rd night: We started late (11am)due to an early morning rain storm.
After a rough downhill past Ardeth Lake, we did the 10 Lake basin loop clockwise.
Soaked 2 pairs of socks on some stream crossings.
Ended up at an old campsite in the woods just up the hill from the stream crossings
Loved the quiet in the woods. Woke up to a low 30’s morning.
4th Night: Edna Lake!!! Best night of all.
Had a great swim and laundry day as well.
Found a great spot in the pines just off a perfect lake access.
This was our O day. Caught a trout (C&R).
Super chill and amazing views.
NOTE: Go to the dead end trail on the East side. Have to climb over a log bridge to get there.
Super private with 6 or so sites and rock ledge that slides right into the water.
5th Night: Farley Lake.
We found a great spot on the peninsula on the North Side.
Had to hike on logs through a swamp to get to it but well worth it.
Please don’t feed the chipmunks. They were aggressive!!!
Perfectly serene last night.
Loved the route because the last day out was mostly downhill with a crushing 400+ ft elevation just before the access road back to the Hell Roaring Lower TH.
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5/5: really hot day! Jumped into many lakes and streams, flowers were great but probably not at peak
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Great hike on a heavily trafficked trail. Fun to see the family’s backpacking and carrying fishing poles. Lots of people with dogs. Stream crossings all reasonable. We tested the water temp in the streams and lakes. Ranged from 68 at Alice Lake and 55 in the streams down lower. Got good swims in at Pettitt and Alice.
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An amazing day hike that follows the streams for most of the way before turning up to switchbacks until you reach the peak. Most of the valley up to the ridges had a stand replacement level burn that is only just now starting to regrow. In the meantime the wildflowers in July were amazing. The views from the top are incredible and almost unbroken.
Make sure to sign the log at the top!
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Ran into snow while attempting Horton Lookout(June 24th) at 8800', so diverted to Goat lake. Super nice hike, water crossing (waded on the way in, used a log on the way out).
Last mile or so involved some slippery scrambling, but nothing too bad. The last 1/2 mile is a boulder field, since the regular trail was still snowed in. It looked like there was still a little bit of scrambling on the trail, but...
Lovely lake, just coming ice off. A little open water near the edge. Ended up being a +9 mile day according to my Forerunner, but...
My wife, our dog and I really liked the hike.
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Incredible views, amazing water, great fall colors. This hike is all you need
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Incredible views, amazing water, great fall colors. This hike is all you need
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Great hike for beginners and to take your kids alpine lake is beautiful.
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Beautiful hike! After the first 2 ish miles gets steep and slightly confusing at times, but just keep working your way up and you’ll find a trail. A little bit of a “choose your own adventure” at times
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The summit between Toxaway lake and the basin with Twin Lakes and Alice lake was absolutely breathtaking. It was a steep 2.5 miles up from Toxaway but completely worth it and then just a bit over a mile down to the isthmus between Twin Lakes where there are about 4-5 good camping spots.
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Excellent, moderate hike up to Alpine Lake. Partial shade from the trees and walking between the two larger mountains. (We did it middle of the day in summer, and it was fine). Most people go up to Sawtooth instead, but Alpine was plenty for us.
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We are vacationing in the area. One of the local purveyors told us about this hike. The first three miles of the trail are normal dirt paths with moderate incline. The paths are easily followed although not marked. After that the level of effort increases as you climb up a steeper slope consisting mostly of scree for maybe a quarter of a mile. The final section involves climbing over talus where the ascent is minimal but the effort still significant. Goat Lake is beautiful, probably in the top 5 pristine and scenic mountain lakes I’ve ever seen. The final section of scree and talus can require some detective work to figure out and Gaiagps was very helpful in that regard. Providing you don’t mind the investigative work I think you’ll be very happy you made the effort.
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I enjoyed this dog friendly hike on a beautiful blue sky day. Great hike for all different levels of hikers!
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I chose to do this bad boy in a single day. I sort of regretted that decision around mile 15 when the man with the fatigue hammer came for me. What I didn’t regret was doing this whole hike. It’s absolutely stunning every mile of the way. The trail is mostly moderate at a similar elevation. It’s really approachable and amazing.
Make sure you take some dips in the lakes if impelled. That was a nice addition to the day.
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Well signed and easy to stay on trail. Solid day hike with nice payoff views. Recommended!
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Beautiful hike but trail is extremely difficult to find at multiple points, probably thanks in part to an earthquake that felled trees all over the trail. You definitely want a GPS for this trail and even then you may get lost. We met another couple of locals when we started who said they got lost on this trail last year. They tried to advise us but we still got lost for about an hour hacking through brush and crawling over logs. The first confusing part is when you divert off trail 101 and look for the stream crossing. Just follow your GPS and trust that it is right. There are logs on the trail, so the trail doesn't look right. Just trust its there, and you'll see where people have walked. The river crossing is easy and you can do it at multiple points by hopping over rocks or walking along a fallen set of logs. About 5-10 minutes later you'll see a rock wall on your left. At one point there is a trail about 4 yards long that leads up to the wall. It looks like nothing but maybe a place for climbers to belay, but that is indeed the way up onto the rock. It really isn't obvious at all and by missing this we got totally lost. Scramble up the wall. This is easy enough, but definitely not for someone who isn't well coordinated. Once you get up on the rocks, you have for about 5 minutes until you hit a spot with nothing but solid granite. Get up on the granite and look for the dirty signs of boots on granite. You hike over the granite for about 2 minutes until you find the trail again. Once on that trail there are few tricky spots but as long as you stay on well worn paths you'll find your way up to the lakes. There are no signs or markers, so you really do benefit from a GPS.
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Completed in 5-days and would recommend experienced backbackers to do 5-7 days. So many lakes and great views. There was one rock slide coming down from Sawtooth Lake to Baron Creek. Then, between Elk Lake and Taylor Spring, there was another recent and quite large rockslide to scramble over. Other than that, it was very manageable, with plenty of water stops along the way. Completed in late July 2020.
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Normally I suspect this would be 5 stars. The high snow spring lead to high snow levels above 8100 feet. Once you pass the water crossing, the trail to alpine lake as mostly snowfield. We did not try to get to Sawtooth Lake due to snow. June 14, 2019
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Normally I suspect this would be 5 stars. The high snow spring lead to high snow levels above 8100 feet. Once you pass the water crossing, the trail to alpine lake as mostly snowfield. We did not try to get to Sawtooth Lake due to snow. June 14, 2019
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