All posts tagged fords

Baron Creek to Grandjean

Again at the Baron Creek Ford ©2009 Jeff Blaylock

Once again, I have reached the ford of Baron Creek, but this time my path does not cross it.

The sounds of the rushing waters of Baron Creek gave me a restful night’s sleep, and now, on the morning of August 21, I faced a decision. My plan called for me to hike uphill, gaining more than 3,000 feet, to Sawtooth Lake, then loop around to the Trail Creek Lakes, where I would spend the night. Another 10 miles or so awaited me in the morning, including a 3,600 foot descent through a mostly burned forest. The other option was a 3.9 mile walk downhill to the trailhead.

In all honesty, this decision was already made when I failed to reach the Baron Lakes two days earlier. I reckoned I could dayhike to Sawtooth Lake the next day, rested and laboring under only a daypack (On advice of the locals, I hiked to Goat Lake instead, from the same trailhead.). I had already been reckoning various milestones as “lasts,” and, as the sun rose, I celebrated that this dreadful strawberry flavored protein shake would be the last. The sun was only just beginning to light the surrounding peaks when I was packed up and on the trail.
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Benedict Creek to Mount Everly

Mount Everly looms above a marshy meadow fed by Benedict Creek.

The second day of my backpacking trek across the Sawtooth Wilderness would get me to the high country and, eventually, out of the long slog through the thick vegetation and fallen trees that marked the previous “forgettable” day. It would also be a day during which I would see more bears than people.

I would start this day — August 13 — about four miles short of the previous day’s goal, Smith Falls. The South Fork Payette River Trail made one of its rare visits to the namesake river at a place I dubbed “Waterfall Bend,” and it was here I had set up camp. In the predawn chill, I returned to the rocks overlooking the dozen-plus cascades to drink a protein shake. As I sat there, listening to the singing waters, a small black bear trotted along the other shore. It glanced in my direction once, then did a double-take before bolting away from the river. I didn’t have my camera handy — and it wouldn’t have mattered as it was still fairly dark — but this was otherwise a perfect bear encounter.
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South Fork Payette River Trail

Typical view of the South Fork Payette River south of Grandjean

My adventure across the Sawtooths began at the Grandjean trailhead of the range’s western side. The plan was to acclimate to the terrain slowly by taking a long, gradual ascent up the South Fork Payette River to Benedict Creek up to the Tenlake Basin. My goal for that first day, August 12, was 14 miles to Smith Falls, one of two significant waterfalls along the river. But the terrain and trails proved more challenging than I’d imagined, and I barely made 10 miles that first day.

In my notebook, I described that first day as “forgettable.” The South Fork Payette River Trail “is overgrown & frequently impeded with downed trees.” I later noted, “Curious that the SFP and Benedict Creek trails rarely see their namesakes.”
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The South Rim

All posts tagged fords

Baron Creek to Grandjean

Benedict Creek to Mount Everly

South Fork Payette River Trail

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