August 2019 - Day 11/21 Sawtooth Lake

Sunday, August 18, 2019 - Hike up around Sawtooth Lake, then drive to the Super 8 in Grangeville, Idaho (261 miles):


It was 35° at 8 AM this morning - all that means is that I get to listen to my books-on-cd as I drive up to the trailhead, which I got to at 9:30


The trail is straightforward enough - start at Iron Creek Trailhead, go up to Sawtooth Lake, and then maybe over and down to McGown Lakes:


Very nice trail:

with nice views:

After a while the trail does its "Hairpin turn" thing:


You eventually wind up looking down on Alpine Lake:



Keep hiking UP, and 10-to-15 minutes later you get your first glimpse of Sawtooth Lake:




Well, just because I got here doesn't mean that I'm done. Let's see if we can find our way to McGown Lakes:


I love hiking up alongside these alpine lakes!


And when you reach the ridge-line, the view back down is pretty magnificent:


I got over the ridge and started hiking down the other side, towards an unnamed lake:

I kept going down until I saw the party with their horses. I can't stand horses on a hiking trail, so I took a final picture and turned around:


I noticed hiking back out that it was an interesting burned-out area down on the other side of the main ridge:


Goodbye to Sawtooth Lake!


I splashed in a little creek on my way out:

and finished at 3:22 PM - 12.95 miles in 5 hours 55 minutes:



Then it was out the dirt road, and take a left on Hwy 21 - Idaho looks GREAT:


These Idaho highways run alongside rivers that are ROARING:


or a Beautiful Calm:


Nice landscape as the sun gets lower:


And then I saw a sign for MY HOTEL:

Wow - I didn't know it was an "Award Winning Hotel"!

Heading north in Idaho, you cross the Salmon River, which is the Time Zone boundary in these parts:



Um - the Crosstrek REALLY LIKES these mountain roads:

I have been cruising along, and got a gas fill-up, and the calculator thinks that I can go an additional 760 miles on the gas in my car!

Reached the Super 8 at 8:25 Pacific Time:



Wow - these days sure are FULL!! Thank you God for all these wonderful adventures!

For my cold drive this morning I continued with "Pattern Recognition", cd 6:


For my afternoon/evening drive - hey, they sounded SO GOOD yesterday, I repeated them today:

Grateful Dead - Shakedown Street, 1978


Talking Head - Stop Making Sense, 1984 live album


lyrics - "Once in a Lifetime"

You may ask yourself
Where does that highway go to?

Van Morrison - Wavelength, 1978


and because of the 50th Anniversary of Woodstock - various artists - Woodstock II, 1971 double live album

some is garbage (Melanie, Mountain), but some is wonderful (CSNY, Joan Baez, Jefferson Airplane)

Grateful Dead - American Beauty, 1970


lyrics - "Ripple"

There is a road, no simple highway
Between the dawn and the dark of night
And if you go no one may follow
That path is for your steps alone

Tom Rush - Wrong End of the Rainbow, 1970

very nice versions of two James Taylor songs: "Riding on a Railroad" and "Sweet Baby James"