Heather and I heard from a local photographer that we had to hike the incredible Sawtooth Lake hike, which in his opinion, is by far one of the best hikes in the Sawtooth Mountains--located in the Sawtooth Wilderness just outside Stanely, Idaho!

-Now, it is our recommendation, "Don't miss this Stanley Idaho hiking adventure!!"

We decided it was absolutely necessary to attempt this hike even though it was already late in the day. We didn't really have another option...the weather was rolling in the next day--pushing us south--therefore it was today or bust!

So we hit the trail with all our photo/video gear, food, water, layers, and headlamps! We read everywhere that it's about a 10-mile round trip hike, however, to get the best views of Sawtooth Lake, the photographer had suggested we head up towards the McGown Lakes via the McGown Lakes trail. Pushing the trip to be a 12-mile round trip hike.

Along the McGown trail you get just an incredible view of the historic Sawtooth Lake in the Sawtooth Mountains sitting just beneath the grand Mt. Regan!

This Stanley Idaho hike is lovely from start to finish. You hike up the Sawtooth trail through a lovely forested area, along Iron Creek on smooth hard pack dirt, then begin heading up towards Alpine Lake (nice for a snack and break up the hike), past Alpine Peak where the trail gets a little bouldery before you pass a small pond. Next, you hit a trail marker to go right or left. **We suggest going right, adding about 1.5-2 miles to your hike, but to get a much better and grand panoramic view of the Sawtooth Lake! Then its a turnaround and back down a couple thousand feet of elevation.

This hike is certainly going to be added to our best hikes in the world post https://www.arboursabroad.com/best-tr...

This can be done as a day hike or an overnight backpacking trip. Either one you choose will be equally incredible! If you would like to see the whole hiking sawtooth lake trail on my strava account, please visit the link here:   / strava  

The pants and shirts worn in this video include the Kuhl travel pants and their merino wool blend shirt! We absolutely love the quality and comfortability they both brought. Check out their stuff here: https://www.kuhl.com

Events as they occurred in the video!
00:00 Intro
00:23 Driving in & setting the scene
01:40 Free wilderness permit (mile 0)
01:52 Already getting warm (.37 miles)
02:22 Gradual up to here, fairly easy (3.12 miles, 5k)
03:32 Less than a mile to go (4.22 miles)
03:55 Alpine Lake
03:57 Alpine Peak
04:20 Pond before Sawtooth Lake
04:24 *McGown Lakes Trailhead for best views of Sawtooth Lake*
04:35 Leveling out..kinda. (4.88 miles)
05:04 First look at Sawtooth Lake
05:44 At the top and the best views of Sawtooth Lake
06:34 Heading back down to Iron Creek Trailhead
07:31 (8.52 miles)
07:55 Sunset (10.13 miles)
08:52 We made it back (12.02 miles)
09:00 Georgie Girl
09:23 Outro, Watch next, Subscribe

We hope you enjoyed this informational vlog-style video about the incredible Sawtooth Lake Hike in Stanley Idaho as much as we did.

We are always pumping out new videos, so stay tuned for more!

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