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Sawtooth National Recreation Area

Photo: HalcyonToast / CC BY-SA 4.0

⛰️ Mountains

Sawtooth National Recreation Area

Stanley, ID · Sawtooth Mountains

About

More than 700,000 acres of central Idaho high country fan out around the old mining town of Stanley, where the Sawtooth, White Cloud, Boulder, and Smoky ranges throw up some 40 peaks above 10,000 feet. The serrated granite spires give the range its name, and they stand reflected in Redfish Lake, a glacier-carved sheet of cold blue water that fills with boats and swimmers all summer. Over 300 alpine lakes and the headwaters of the Salmon River, the River of No Return, hide along 700 miles of trail, with the Sawtooth Scenic Byway threading the whole basin past the dock at Redfish.

Highlights

Redfish Lake and its boat-shuttle to Sawtooth trailheads40-plus jagged peaks over 10,000 feet across four rangesHeadwaters of the Salmon River, the River of No ReturnSawtooth Scenic Byway through Stanley Basin300-plus alpine lakes on 700 miles of trail

Getting there

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Curated guides that feature Sawtooth National Recreation Area.

The Rocky Mountains21 places

The Rocky Mountains

Alpine lakes, fourteeners, and golden aspen along the spine of the West. The Rockies at their most iconic: the Maroon Bells mirrored in their lake, the Tetons rising straight off the valley floor, Glacier's Going-to-the-Sun Road, the red spires of the Garden of the Gods, and Idaho's serrated Sawtooths over Redfish Lake. From Colorado's San Juans to the Wyoming Tetons, Montana's Glacier, and the Idaho high country, with high passes and old mining towns in between.