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After a 3+ hour drive from Boise, our group of 7 hit the trail. The first few miles are great trail, with sections of forest as well as beautiful meadows like this one.
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The trail gets harder to follow after the first 3 miles, and there are some obstacles to deal with.
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Soon it was time to make our way up Upper Alpine Creek, where the trail was hard to follow in places.
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Lake 8523' was the first lake of the trip. With plenty of good tent spots, some of the guys in the group would have been content camping here both nights. But we had ground to cover!
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After the first couple lakes, the trail became more of an adventure.
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Small unnamed lake along Upper Alpine Creek.
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The group was ready to set up camp here at Lake 9167', but we had to hike around the lake first. We'd be hiking over the pass the next morning.
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I did a little fishing after setting up camp near the inlet.
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Alpenglow on Perfect Peak, from Lake 9167'.
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Day 2 would start with a climb up to the pass southwest of Snowyside Peak.
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Reaching the pass was easier than it looked, complete with a goat trail. I got a head start so I could climb Peak 9925'. I'm nicknaming it "Little Snowyside".
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View of the peak from the saddle, with the summit on the far right.
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Some route finding and scrambling to reach the summit of "Little Snowyside Peak".
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Flytrip Lakes from the summit.
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After the 60 minute detour, I rejoined the others who had now climbed to the saddle.
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We did some snowfield sliding after leaving the saddle.
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Followed by some boulder hopping.
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The uppermost Flytrip lake made for a good lunch spot.
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View back looking east from the second Flytrip lake.
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And the third Flytrip Lake.
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I did some fishing at the fourth Flytrip Lake, and caught a good sized rainbow.
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Heart Lake was my favorite lake of the group, and we stopped here for an extended break, before hanging a left and going south.
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Another pretty little lake.
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Lake 8546'.
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Lake #8 of the day. Are we there yet!
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A fair amount of bushwhacking between the lakes, but not bad.
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Finally at Lake #9, our campsite for the night.
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I decided to circle around and climb Peak 9250' while the others set up camp. I'm nicknaming it "Little Rockslide Peak.".
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The Rakers from the summit of Little Rockslide Peak.
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Also had a view of tomorrow morning's climb. We’d head up the talus on the left, gain the ridge, then up and over the peak on the right.
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A couple of the guys took a swim after dinner.
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Alpenglow on the peaks behind the lake.
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The morning of day 3 we got moving early. We had some ground to cover today!
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Starting with some light bushwhacking through the trees.
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And then some talus and boulder hopping. Good chance of few of the guys may not want to backpack with me again after this!
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Once on the ridge, we had a great view of the prior day's lakes. Including our campsite on the sliver between the two bottom lakes.
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We regrouped for a rest, and shared some gnashing of teeth about the peak we’d have to climb over. I told them it wouldn't be too bad, but not sure they believed me…
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But spirits were high once we reached the summit of "Alpine Creek Lake Peak" aka "Rockslide Peak.
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Snowyside from the summit.
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Looking back on the route we climbed, with The Rakers on the distant right.
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The descent into Alpine Creek was tedious, and we had to watch our footing with the big packs on.
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The uppermost lake made for a good lunch spot.
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After lunch, we made our way down the drainage.
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Looking back on the peak we’d climbed.
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So many lakes on this trip!
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I really liked this little lake.
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No trail along the north side of Casper Lake, need try the south side next time. We took a well deserved break near the outlet of the last lake. What a beautiful spot.
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The trail heading down from the lake was easy to follow, but super steep in places.
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The steep trail was taxing at the end of a long day, and then we had 3 miles of valley trail to cover. So the trailhead was a welcome sight when we finally got back.
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Map of the route. 22 miles and 5800' elevation gain round trip, including 2 bonus peaks. A super memorable trip, total of 22 lakes visited!
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