Hike nineteen miles through Idaho's premier alpine wilderness, where jagged granite spires frame a chain of cold, glacier-carved lakes and high mountain passes.
The climb begins at the Tin Cup Trailhead, where the dry scent of sagebrush quickly gives way to the damp, cool draft of lodgepole pine and Douglas fir. As you ascend along Pettit Creek, the valley walls close in, and the first jagged teeth of the Sawtooth Range cut into the sky. The transition is sharp and physical. The air thins and cools, carrying the clean, mineral scent of snowmelt and granite dust. Your boots find purchase on a trail carved directly into the talus, winding upward toward a high-alpine basin where the silence is broken only by the rush of cascading creeks. By the time you reach the shores of Alice Lake, framed by the sheer, towering face of Idaho's own El Capitan, the modern world has completely dissolved, replaced by a landscape defined by rock, water, and sky.
This dramatic topography is the work of the Sawtooth batholith, a massive intrusion of granite uplifted millions of years ago and subsequently sculpted by relentless Pleistocene glaciers. These ice sheets carved the deep, U-shaped valleys and left behind the rugged cirques that now hold the loop's signature lakes like jewels. This high country is the traditional homeland of the Shoshone-Bannock tribes, who traveled these valleys for generations, hunting bighorn sheep and gathering plants in the brief summer window. Today, the wilderness remains a sanctuary for resilient subalpine species. Pikas whistle from the rockslides, mountain goats navigate the impossible ledges of Snowyside Peak, and whitebark pines cling to the wind-scoured ridges, their twisted trunks testifying to the harsh winters that dominate this landscape for nine months of the year.
Hiking the full nineteen-mile circuit requires a steady rhythm and a willingness to earn every view. The crux of the journey is the climb over the 9,300-foot pass beneath Snowyside Peak, where the trail switchbacks through loose scree and snowbanks that often persist well into August. Standing at the crest, you look back at the deep blue of Alice and Twin Lakes, then turn to see the sprawling expanse of Toxaway Lake cradled in the basin below. The descent takes you past the dark, deep waters of Toxaway, through meadows thick with heather and paintbrush, and alongside the roaring outlet of Farley Lake. Camp here means pitching a tent on granite slabs, watching the alpenglow turn the high peaks a brilliant, fleeting copper, and falling asleep to the cold, clean wind blowing down from the summits.
While wilderness permits are free and self-issued at the trailhead, bear-resistant food storage is highly recommended. Hike the loop counter-clockwise, tackling the steep climb to Alice Lake first to get the heaviest elevation gain out of the way while your legs are fresh, leaving a gentler descent from Toxaway.