Route advice: xc sawtooth pass region of mineral king

[tnhgmia]

Hi all,

I'm planning a trip to Mineral Kings area. I'm familiar with SEKI, but never visited this part of the park. I have a permit for Sawtooth pass. I wouldn't normally go this early but the low snow year in the park has me excited to check it out. I've checked the satellite maps and it looks doable on the trails. My backup would be sawtooth to Timber with big five and little five lakes. I researched all the threads I can find and had some questions about some areas for off trail travel that I didn't see answers about the overall route and a couple places.

Places:
-Has anyone gone to the lakes below Needham Peak and 12168t? Accessed via Amphitheater lake? Tried a route over to Lost Canyon via Needham or 12210t?
-How about the lakes below Rainbow Mountain?

XC Route:
-I have been looking at a rough route starting at Crystal lake>Amphitheater Lake>Sawtooth Peak>Columbine Lake>Spring Lake>Big Five lakes and either around to little five or over the saddle as people have described. Then back via Franklin.
-The alternative would be to back via Similar but coming back via Franklin and heading down lost canyon after Sawtooth, back around soda creek, explore around Rainbow mountain and back.
-Any recommendations around these both in terms of the time, season, and experiences? Thanks!

What level of backpacking experience do you have?
Level 4- Comfortable with trail and/or x-country travel

What terrain are you comfortable/uncomfortable with?
- Some Class 3 terrain/pass/x-country
- River crossings
- Snow travel/Glacier crossings

What is your main interest?
- Big Mountain scenery
- Photography

When is your trip?
June 4-7

How many days/nights is your trip, not including travel to trailhead?
3 nights 4 days
How many miles did you want to do a day, any layovers?
up to 15 in theory, with heavy snow 10 or less. no layovers

Have you hiked at elevation before? Any prior issues with Altitude Sickness?
yes, no

Do you have a route logistics preference: loop, out and back, point to point (which may require 2 vehicles or hitchhiking)?
loop

[Shawn]

I've XC'd the area around Crystal Lakes, Sawtooth, Mineral Peak but not the others you mention. If it were me, I'd definitely include Mineral Peak as you go right by it and it's an easy ascent given the correct route (class 2). From Mineral Peak I'd descend to the easy class 1/2 ridge to the east and then traverse around the cirque above the upper Monarch Lake to the south ridge of Sawtooth. It's a great view of Amphitheater Lake from there, but I've never bothered descending to the lake. If you do, I'd suggest a descent and ascent from the same location off the ridge, again class 2 with proper route finding. The south ridge of Sawtooth is the easiest ascent there is, in my opinion, to Sawtooth Peak (kind of funny how many people slog up the usual sandy route from the west to Sawtooth pass). Once on Sawtooth Peak you could choose your next option.

I've seen TR's about XC treks over the ridge below Sawtooth over to Needham but have not personally done so.

Somewhere I have some old photos, if you're looking for something specific I can try to find an image or two for you.

[tnhgmia]

Thanks for the suggestions I hadn't considered including Mineral Peak but now I will. The only question is how hard a day do I want my first day to be! I was also thinking of just seeing amphitheater lake since I don't plan to sleep there. Early season conditions and all I settled on a mix of 4 different alternatives depending how things look on the ground. I think I'm set around The whole north of Sawtooth area, I am just intrigued by that whole region of lakes from Sawtooth to Rainbow. Appreciate it!

[Shawn]

Well, if it's of any help - I'm getting up in years and out of shape and found it to be a pleasurable day hike via the trail to Crystal Lakes, up to Mineral Peak, XC to the south ridge of Sawtooth, up to the peak, then exit via Monarch Lakes back to the trail head. Of course everyone is different, but the point is you would likely have energy to burn after Mineral Peak and Sawtooth Peak to venture on your way since the majority of elevation gain is getting to the base of Mineral Peak.

If you find yourself doing this on Mineral Peak, you're on the wrong route. Don't do what we did, LOL

wrong route.JPG (188.08 KiB) Viewed 154 times

Here's a view of Amphitheatre from the the south ridge of Sawtooth

Amphitheatre Lake.jpg (140.89 KiB) Viewed 154 times

Pass From the Crystal Lake Cirque to Sawtooth

SAWt1.JPG (88.38 KiB) Viewed 154 times

[tnhgmia]

I ended up doing a totally different route than planned due to some contingencies. First this was a bizarre year because the high country is virtually snow free. The ranger said 4% of normal. It looked like late July or August conditions. I went over Franklin pass. There's an unnamed peak roughly NE from the pass in front of peak 11973. Incidentally if you summit 11973 you have a perfect view of everything in the valley that holds Soda creek drainage and whatnot. You go off trail and essentially follow the saddle from 11973 until you get to a massive scree field just before the unnamed peak rises. I traversed diagonally down the scree (class 2) to the NW to reach the tiny unnamed lake above the large unnamed lake beneath rainbow mountain. The small lake was the most spectacular of any I visited actually. The going was quite easy compared to the official trails bizarrely. From the small lake you scramble down boulders (class 2) to the larger lake and then worked my way along across in essence rolling hills of forest and meadows to the lake beneath peak 12109. My hiking buddy didn't want to but an excellent route would have been Amphitheater lake>Monarch Lakes or Sawtooth peak. In the end we went down Soda creek drainage which was extremely easy and then completed the loop out Sawtooth. Originally I had wondered about the lakes below Needham. Getting a good view of it that whole side looks rather steep, loose, and challenging. I did see a route both on the top and visually where you follow roughly the water to the eastern most lake which could be interesting but for my skills and fear of heights it would be an out and back scenario. Still lots to explore out there!