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Summer was turning into a scorcher and I started looking at the weather map for anywhere we could escape the heat for a few days. It appeared the only place in Idaho that might still stay in the 80’s during the day and cool into the 50’s overnight would be the high elevations of the Sawtooth and White Cloud mountains in the middle of the state. The White Clouds had been on our list as a backpacking “want to do” for a while, so we loaded the packs and headed that direction.

The video from this adventure can be found here:

The hike started out plenty warm, as the first couple miles were mainly sagebrush with little to no shade, but by the afternoon we were up in the trees with the mountains coming into view.

The interesting thing about the White Clouds is, you can’t see them from the road. So, even though they may be some of the most beautiful mountains in the state, they aren’t as well known as their neighbors the Sawtooths. They were only designated wilderness in 2015 well after many other areas in the state were designated. They are far from a secret, but the crowds in nearby areas seemed to taper off significantly as we drove the dusty roads toward the trailhead.

We spent our first night of the trip within view of Castle Peak, but shy of the lake basin we were eventually headed for. The last light on the mountains was pretty serene.

The next morning we climbed the last section of trail leading into the Boulder Chain Lakes, a chain of 11 alpine lakes rimmed by mountains.

We took in the views at the first few lakes and settled in at camp at Lodgepole Lake.

There seemed to be fish in all the lakes we visited, but they were a bit on the small side. After getting several to rise to a tiny fly I hooked one and called it good. We sat back and watched the light on the mountains the rest of the day.

Lodgepole lake sits about in the middle of the chain of lakes. The next morning we went up the trail to see the rest of the lakes above us.

The upper group of lakes did not disappoint. They are nearly above tree line, surrounded by gardens of wildflowers and granite boulders. It is hard to think it gets any better than this.

The higher we went, the more stunning the lakes were. Did I mention we had the entire place to ourselves?

After a morning of being awed by these lakes we made our way back to camp. We still had a good part of the day so we broke camp and headed to another lake lower on the trail. This would make our hike out on the last day a bit more pleasant, as we weren’t looking forward to those last couple miles of sagebrush on a hot day. We watched the sun set and the fish jump as we settled in for our last night in the mountains.

The next morning we sipped some coffee and had a quick breakfast as the sun hit the mountain tops, then down the trail we went in the cool of the morning.

The last couple miles were hot – 90 degrees, but the views of the mountains were just as good as on the way in. Unfortunately the heat wave continued past our trip, but the White Clouds offered a nice escape from the heat, and so much more.