After 6 days of mountain biking in a row for a total of 19.5 hours, 160 miles, and 25,000 feet of climbing (elevation gained), all of which were records for me in a week period, it was time to mix it up for a day. I did some googling and found that Alice Lake is a very popular local hike to an alpine lake. Sounds great. Lets go!

I usually like less popular hikes, but fortunately its “early season” here. This adventure took place on Thursday June 11, 2020.\

Pettit Lake

The hike starts from the Tincup Hiker Trailhead at Pettit Lake, which is close to Stanley (60 minutes from Ketchum). The drive is comparable to my 51 mile ride a few days ago so some of the scenery along the way was familiar, but the road also climbed over a pass which afforded some nice views. I was driving then, so no photos.

Pettit Lake was beautiful in its own right.

Alice Lake Trail

On to the Alice Lake trail!

After about a mile, you leave the Pettit Lake trail (which is mixed use) and enter the Sawtooth Wilderness. No bikes allowed past here, unfortunately.

Permits are required, but are free. If you ever doubted the intelligence of mosquitos, think again. I had no issues with bugs my entire hike except at this single point, where they seemed to know I would be forced to stop for 90 seconds while I filled out the permit. During that 90 seconds I was swarmed repeatedly and bitten 5+ times on the neck, legs, arms. I had to drop everything and step away, swinging my arms wildly to get a reprieve, then quickly write the rest of the permit info down, jam it into the box, and run away. After that, no further issues.

The trail had a nice mix of feels, from alpine rocky (to come), pine forrest (the smells are so good), or meadow.

There were also lots of large scree and boulder fields.

Sometimes they fall all the way down onto the trail. This one looks fairly recent. Motivation to hike faster!

Over the course of the trail you cross five major creeks that, in June this season, were around knee deep. I started the hike in shoes, but quickly found chacos (sandals) to be better suited to the conditions.

That was true until I began to encounter snow, at least. However, I pressed on and hiked with cold feet. They warmed up pretty quickly once I got the snow that was regularly kicked under my foot to melt.

Alice Lake

I was really enjoying the hike, and then I made it to the lake.

As you can see, many of the slopes are still covered in snow. Anything north-facing has yet to melt out for the season. At 8,600 feet, its no surprise.

Nothing like a cold beer at a cold lake in the mountains. I packed this up in a few grocery bags with some ice and it was perfect when I arrived at the lake. This encouraged sitting, relaxing, reading, and taking in the sights vs. reaching the lake and charging right back down, which I am often guilty of doing.

The hike back down was the same as the hike up, but in the opposite direction. 😉 Near the end, I started to have some minor chaffing on my feet from the hours of wet chaco hiking. I guess they need to get tougher.

I missed a turn near the end (literally 2 minutes from the truck) because of a misleading sign and hiked up this trail for about a half mile. I was annoyed since my feet hurt, but I ended up with a spectacular view and photo as a result. You can just see Pettit Lake sneaking through, but the dark clouds, trees, flowers, and distant mountains make for a pretty magical picture.

Of course, I always try and make new friends everywhere I go, and this hike was no exception.

Finally, I made the hour drive back to Ketchum, happy but hungry.

The happy remained, and I was able to solve the “hungry” part with a 1/2 pound burger, fries, and a large Modello at Grumpy’s (right behind my condo).

I hope you enjoyed reading about the hike as much as I enjoyed hiking it. Ok, who am I kidding. Pictures and simple narrative will never do this justice. This is one you have to see for yourself. The sawtooth wilderness is fantastic. It reminds me of the Canadian Rockies, but there’s no tourist hotspots (akin to Moraine Lake or Lake Louis), at least not this early in the season.