Upper Baron Lake
This final post highlights the last few beautiful lakes I encountered in Idaho’s Sawtooth Mountains back on August 20 and 22 (See prior installments).
The 20th, which turned out to be my last full day on the trail, began with a spectacular sunrise at Alpine Lake, which I shared with the local deer and trout populations. The lakeshore itself remained in shadow as the sun slowly lit the mountainous backdrop. The photo below was taken a few minutes after sunrise, when only the higher peaks were shining in the morning light.
As with most other days on the trail, this day began with a climb. The target was Baron Divide, a low point in the knife-edge separating Sawtooth and Boise National Forests. The trail quickly disappeared into the trees, so there were only the slightest hints of Alpine Lake visible through the trees as I climbed.
The trail passed a series of small, unnamed lakes, coming closest to the middle one. I actually saw some frogs in this lake, which is a creature I was not expecting to see in such a harsh environment. No doubt this small lakes are frozen for much of the year. The lake sits beneath the pointed crown of Pt. 9,727, the ridge of which wraps around the drainage and forms Baron Divide.
The divide would turn out to be the last pass I would traverse during the backpack. At just over 9,100 feet, the pass is roughly 600 feet higher than the first of three namesake lakes, Upper Baron Lake. Just beyond it, but 200 feet lower in elevation, is larger Baron Lake. Little Baron Lake is lower still but hard to see from the trail. From these, Baron Creek plunges steeply down to join the South Fork Payette River. The pass itself provides spectacular views of the deep blue lakes.
A series of steep switchbacks quickly loses altitude and nears the upper lake, staying above it until finally reaching the shore about 2/3 of the way from its sheer headwall of rubble. The trail follows the shore to its northern outlet, from which sweeping views back toward Baron Divide resemble the photo at the top of this post.
Baron Divide itself is on the far left of the ridge. The deeper depression in the ridgeline is the gap between Pt. 9,363 — itself just 250 feet or so higher than the Baron Divide — and the series of jagged summits radiating out from Monte Verita Peak. I paused here for a snack and soaked up the scenery.
While Upper Baron and Baron Lakes are close together, their vertical offsets create a deceptively long trek between them, but this path offers great views of the mountains, particularly Warbonnet Peak. Notably, a creek flowing into the lake from the south forms a crashing waterfall, which sadly cannot be seen up close without a lot of scrambling. The creek originates from a permanent snowfield on the north face of Monte Verita.
That’s Monte Verita (literally, the “mountain of truth”) looming above the lake.
Turns out that Baron Lake was the final beautiful lake of the backpacking route. I had intended to reach several others, notably Sawtooth Lake and the Trail Creek Lakes, but the brutally hot and tough slog down to the junction of Baron Creek and North Baron Creek curbed my enthusiasm for the last portion of the loop. The confluence lies nearly 3,400 feet below Baron Divide, an a nearly equal climb is needed to reach Sawtooth Lake. So I continued the descent along Baron Creek back to the trailhead and my waiting car.
I planned to dayhike up to Sawtooth Lake from a different trailhead, but was persuaded by the locals to visit Goat Lake instead. Goat Lake is named, so one said, because you have to be a goat to reach it.
My trek to Goat Lake is detailed here, but suffice it to say, the challenges the route to it poses are paid off nicely. The lake is simply spectacular.
Once that hike was completed, I decided to visit Redfish Lake, an extremely popular recreation area. It seemed that all of Idaho was there — a very crowded, chaotic place indeed. I drove to the end of the road and roamed along the shoreline, dodging various groups of people picnicking by the lapping waves. Mount Heyburn, probably the most widely photographed and well-known Sawtooth peak, is the hulking mass peaking over a tree-lined ridge. Grand Mogul is the most prominent summit on the lake’s southern edge.
Leaving the crowds at Redfish Lake behind, I returned to where the Sawtooth portion of the epic trek began: the shoreline of Pettit Lake. I retrieved my bear canister, successfully completing the resupply I had reached five days earlier. Then it was time to say goodbye to the Sawtooths and begin the long drive home.
Upper Baron Lake, SW09-0820-6152R, UTM 11T 0657956 E 4882235 N NAD27, Sawtooth Wilderness, Boise National Forest | Alpine Lake Alpenglow, SW09-0820-6075R and Pt. 9,727 and Unnamed Lake, 0658574 E 4881489 N, Sawtooth Wilderness, Sawtooth National Forest | Baron Lakes From Baron Divide, SW09-0820-6112R, 0658309 E 4882235 N; and Baron Lake and Monte Verita, SW09-0820-6163R, 0657760 E 4882748 N, Sawtooth Wilderness, Boise National Forest | Spectacular Goat Lake, SW09-0822-6326R, Sawtooth Wilderness, Sawtooth National Forest | Redfish Lake, ID09-0822-6360R, Sawtooth National Forest, Idaho | ©2009 Jeff Blaylock
The South Rim 