Perfect Peak

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Perfect Peak
Elevation 10,269'

A Perfect Fall Day in the Sawtooths
September 27, 2019
43.9193°N / 114.9474°W

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Perfect Peak is a lesser known peak located in central Idaho’s Sawtooth Mountains. It forms a rugged backdrop to the popular and highly scenic Alice Lake. The peak can be climbed from Alice Lake, or Alpine Creek from the south. Either way, the climb culminates with an exciting scramble section to reach the summit.

Michael and I had been weather watching and hoped to sneak in a Friday peak before a predicted weekend storm. Neither of us had been to the Sawtooths for a while, Perfect Peak was high on both of our lists, and Splattski had often recommended this as a favorite climb. So plans were set!

After a 3 hour drive from Boise, we were hiking by 9am from the Alpine Creek trailhead near Alturas Lake. The early section of trail is easy going and scenic. It was a crisp cool morning, aspen leaves were turning yellow, and there was some light fog, so definitely a fall-like feeling.

Once at the end of the maintained trail at the 3 mile mark, we turned north on lesser used trail up the north fork of Alpine Creek. We followed that until about 8100’, then went cross-country aiming for the bench seen on the topo map at ~8500’. The views of the Alpine Creek drainages got better and better as we climbed, and the fog was now clearing enough that we were starting to get occasional views of Perfect Peak above us.

Above the bench, the slopes go steeper, but no real obstacles and we reached the 10,000’ saddle southwest of Perfect Peak without issues. We stopped for a snack at the saddle, and enjoyed the views and perfect fall weather. Cool but sunny.

Now it was time for the fun part, the final 300’ to the summit. Reports made it sound complicated, but we hoped we’d just be able to follow our noses. So up we went, to a rocky point, a quick backtrack down to a lower notch to the west, traverse north along a shelf to a saddle. Basically repeat that pattern a second time to the final saddle, then a steep but stable fun scramble up the summit block. Good times!

The views from the summit were nothing short of spectacular. Alice Lake below to the north, Snowyside Peak was impressive to the northwest. We could make out the infamous Rakers and other jagged Sawtooth peaks in the distance. We also had great views of the White Clouds and Boulders across the valley to the east.

The sun was shining, minimal wind, and amazing views, so we took a longer than normal break on the summit to soak in our surroundings on what could be our last snow-free summit of the year. Reluctantly we eventually had to head back down. We were able to retrace our route back the trailhead without issue.

It was a perfect day on Perfect Peak. I savor all days in the mountains, but this day felt especially fine given the fun scramble, beautiful surroundings, fantastic fall weather, and good company of course. Round trip was just over 10 miles and 3300’ elevation gain in 7 hours.