What an amazing day!!! The Sawtooths were definitely celebrating the first day of fall.
I originally had planned to camp the night before and start this loop earlier, but the weather forecast was COLD. Instead, I drove up from Boise in the morning and started around 10:20 AM. with the goal of hitting 4 hours.
I went in the clockwise direction -- I have previously done this loop counterclockwise, and it seems to be the more popular direction. However, I wanted to get the climbing done quicker: going clockwise means that you hit the high point at ~8.6 miles, instead of ~12 miles. On my way up, lo and behold who comes around a corner but the legend Joelle Vaught herself! I had a lovely chat with Joelle and her crew (including lots of happy dogs!) that gave me good energy early on.
The autumn feelings kept that good energy going. The shrubs under the burn area on the climb were PERFECT (see pictures), though it started to get a bit warmer than I expected on the climb. It was clearly end-of-season, as I ran into way fewer backpackers than during the summer months (though I did run into ANOTHER Boise pal out backpacking with her mom). The descent was magical: right after the peak, there's a descent and a decently flat couple of miles before you really drop back down to Grandjean on the backside. There's less water access going down the north fork trail, but still plenty for refills. It got toasty near the bottom again, and I dunked my hat in a river for a little relief before pushing in to the end.
I carried 1200 mL of liquid (600 mL of water, 600 mL of electrolytes) from the start and refilled my water 1x and used a filter top (1800mL total). I had ~400 cal of food (Gu's mostly, remnants of my husband's IMTUF 100 nutrition). I carried bear spray since I was out alone, but the biggest critter I saw was a chipmunk.
I enjoyed a nice cold Bodhizafa at the end, and grabbed a huckleberry milkshake from Sawtooth lodge before driving home. :) It was very fun to go out and rip it, but I think this trail is well worth the time to pause and enjoy the lakes and views. I was sad to have to stay so focused on my footing while running downhill instead of marveling at the solemn giants around me!