Jessie goes hiking

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The Sawtooths

The Sawtooths are a mountain range in central Idaho, part of the Rocky Mountains. I’ve never heard of them until my fourth of July birthday party in 2025 when Jack (an Idaho native) suggested I check them out after asking for hiking recs. Malinda was on board for a spontaneous yolo weekend in the middle of fire season, so off we went to climb some peaks! Big cheers to Jack - this was a seriously epic weekend, AND we somehow managed to dodge the smoke from the Montana and Washington wildfires to luck out with perfect weather. The Sawtooths are such an underrated gem of a mountain range, and I’d love to go back.

Quick notes

Who: Jessie, Malinda
When: September 2025
Hikes: Redfish Lake (Sat), Thompson Peak (Sun), Craters of the Moon (Mon)
Hike types: Out-and-back
Accommodation: Yurt AirBnB, Stanley
Permits: Day use permits (free) at TH

Getting there

We caught an after-work flight from SMF to Boise, Idaho on Thursday night. Rented a car on arrival and stayed in a budget hotel close to the airport. Woke up the next morning and started our three hour drive to Stanley. It was during this drive that Malinda introduced me to the song ‘Rolling Stone from Texas’ and my life hasn’t been the same since.

Sawtooth Lake

Stats: 9.7 mi; 1814 ft gain, out-and-back
Difficulty: Easy
Start/end: Iron Creek Trailhead
Trails: Iron Creek-Stanley Lake Trail
Wildlife: Pika, chipmunks

The quintessential Sawtooth hike. We had lunch at Sawtooth Lake and had to be careful of the chipmunks trying to take our sandwhiches. We came aross a pika nest!

Thompson Peak (10,751 ft)

Stats: 12.7 mi; 4,117 ft gain, out-and-back
Difficulty: Hard; class 3 scrambling required and off-trail navigation
Start/end: Redfish Trailhead
Trails: Fishook Trail -> Marshall Cutoff -> Alpine Way -> Thompson Peak Trail
Wildlife: Pika (lots!), trout

The crown jewel of the Sawtooths (AKA the highest peak in the mountain range). I still can’t believe we did this! Never seen so many pika in my life - their little squeaks were echoing around the mountains for most of the hike.

Craters of the Moon NM

We elected to drive past the national monument on our way back to Boise to see some cool volcanic geology stuff. The mascot of this NM is a pika in an astronaut suit, which was very fitting for the trip. Lots of lava, lots of caves. Don’t need to go back lol.