The Grand Sawtooth Loop Trail

How hard can this be, I thought to myself. I’ll just type “Sawtooth Mountains” into my favorite search engine and pick the best result to jumpstart my research on this trail. But hold on, buddy, not so fast. After all, which Sawtooth Mountain were you interested in? The one in Texas, or New York, or Minnesota, or Arizona, or Nevada, or Wyoming, or Utah, or Virginia, or Colorado, or Alaska, or Montana, or… You get the idea. For obvious reasons, it turns out Sawtooth is a popular name for mountains.

Luckily, I knew the Sawtooth Mountains I was interested in were in Idaho. And honestly, they turn out to be the most famous Sawtooths by far. The well-known, at least by outdoorsy types like me, Grand Sawtooth Loop Trail is one of the Crown Jewels of the range.

So how do I get there? A couple of hours by car from Boise is the Grandjean Trailhead, the usual starting point for this 60-70 mile loop trail. Reached by highway, two-lane, and eventually miles of dirt road, it is not exactly on the beaten path.

Is there anything I need to know about this trail before I start.? It’s a loop— clockwise or counter-clockwise— that is the question. “Choose wisely, grasshopper.” The Sawtooth Mountains are a pretty vertical bunch. To go clockwise is to immediately take on one of the biggest single climbs of the trip. But going clockwise is also to be plunged into the best scenery from the get-go. Counter-clockwise is to start out with a more mellow climb and save the best and most spectacular scenery for last. Hmmm, I’ll have to think about it.

When should I do this loop? The Sawtooths have peaks over 12,000 feet, and the trail wanders around in the 7,000 to 9,500-foot level. Due to winter snow, common wisdom says to hike it between mid-July and mid-September. But there can be feet of snow in the high passes even in mid-July. Mosquitoes are generally worse earlier in the season, too. People are more plentiful in mid-season. So for a more secluded experience, early or late is better. Oh, so many decisions!

What about water and the quality of the trail? The good news is that there are lots of lakes and streams, so water should not be an issue. Also, the trail is tolerably well maintained, meaning reasonable travel and not a ton of blowdowns or missing trail sections. Although it appears that there are quite a few rocky and scree cover sections of trail. Which is not so good.

I’m inclined to do the Grand Sawtooth Loop Trail in late July and to go counter-clockwise over 5-6 days. There may still be snow, and the mosquitoes might be fierce, but maybe I’ll miss the crowds. Weather, fires, etc., will affect things, so I won’t commit yet.

So that’s the info on the Sawtooth Range of Idaho. I will now need to hunker down with a map and figure out the details. But that can wait a while.

Until next week safe travels and happy trails…