What a day! We set out at 8 AM with some nice, chilly temps (37°F) to inspire us to get moving. The sign-in sheet is about a mile in (there’s a pen there, though I brought my own just in case). Our friend, Dani, was starting her own loop and snagged a few pictures of us at the beginning!
All in all, we had a ton of fun. Running among the Sawtooth mountains is magical, and this route has it all: shady alpine, rocky granite, creeks and lakes galore, and (of course) burn scars. It took us ~2 h 20 min to reach the high point (mile 10.6), including a few picture stops & one water fill-up. We appreciated the counterclockwise direction, since after the high point it’s (basically) all downhill/flat.
There were lots of friendly faces out on the trail enjoying the beautiful weekend, including a family who needed help finding the trail turn-off for Lady Face Falls (~2.5 miles from the end). We ended with a wonderfully refreshing dip in Stanley Lake & some pastries from Stanley Baking Co.
Time: 3:53:07
(I accidentally hit the “lap” button on my watch instead of “stop,” thus why we are 1 s off in total time.)