Aug 19, 2017 — I've wanted to check out the Sawtooth Mountains forever, so we planned a trip to visit for the 2017 solar eclipse, but left a few additional days for adventuring. Follow the Alpine Way Trail west until begins to head north, and look for a use trail that leads to Thompson Peak, passing a stunning unnamed lake along the way. Head straight up the boulder field to the saddle between Thompson Peak and Williams Peak, and find a Class 3 route to gain the saddle. Continue to the west face of Thompson Peak and scramble up a Class 2 talus field to a gully just south of the summit. A couple of easy Class 3 moves bring you to Thompson Peak. Head back down and to the saddle of Thompson Peak and Mickey's Spire. A Class 2 scramble leads to the west ridge before Mickey's Spire. I'd say it's Class 3+ if you stay just to the right (south) of the ridgeline to gain the Mickey's Spire summit.
From here, we bushwhacked down Class 2 stuff to another unnamed lake and then stayed just north of the creek the drained the lake in order to safely get into a more moderate slope. What we didn't predict is that there would not be any sort indication that humans have been here before, nor that the valley we were now continuing down was getting more and more vegetated. Four to five miles of bushwhacking led to the end of Fishhook Creek Trail, which brought us back to the trailhead. In hindsight, the bushwhack wasn't terrible, but we were mostly concerned if the vegtation would worsen the whole time, making it seem more aggravating than it really was. If you decide to take this route, keep north of the creek to avoid marshes and denser vegetation.
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