The Sawtooth Range is a

mountain range A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have aris ...

of the

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in great-circle distance, straight-line distance from the northernmost part of Western Can ...

in central

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest and Mountain states, Mountain West subregions of the Western United States. It borders Montana and Wyoming to the east, Nevada and Utah to the south, and Washington (state), ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, reaching a maximum elevation of at the summit of Thompson Peak. It encompasses an area of spanning parts of

Custer George Armstrong Custer (December 5, 1839 – June 25, 1876) was a United States Army officer and cavalry commander in the American Civil War and the American Indian Wars. Custer graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point ...

Boise Boise ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho. As of the 2020 census, there were 235,685 people residing in the city. Located on the Boise River in southwestern Idaho, it is east of the Oregon border and nor ...

, Blaine, and Elmore counties, and is bordered to the east by the

Sawtooth Valley The Sawtooth Valley is a valley in the Western United States, in Blaine and Custer counties in central Idaho, United States. Description About long, the valley is in Sawtooth National Recreation Area (SNRA) in the Sawtooth National Forest. ...

. Much of the mountain range is within the

Sawtooth Wilderness The Sawtooth Wilderness is a Federal Government of the United States, federally-protected area, protected wilderness area that covers of the U.S. state, state of Idaho. Managed by the U.S. Forest Service in the United States Department of Agri ...

, part of the

Sawtooth National Recreation Area The Sawtooth National Recreation Area (SNRA) is a national recreation area in central Idaho, United States that is managed as part of Sawtooth National Forest. The recreation area, established on August 22, 1972, is managed by the U.S. Forest S ...

and

Sawtooth National Forest Sawtooth National Forest is a United States National Forest, National Forest that covers 2,110,408 acres (854,052 ha) in the U.S. states of Idaho (~96 percent) and Utah (~4 percent). Managed by the U.S. Forest Service in the United States Depart ...

. The mountains were named for their jagged peaks.

Peaks

There are 57 peaks with an elevation over in the Sawtooth Range, all falling between on Thompson Peak, the highest point in the range. Another 77 peaks fall between . Climbs range in difficulty between the Observation Peak, a Class 1 hike, and King Spire, a rock route rated Class 5.10 on the

Yosemite Decimal System The Yosemite Decimal System (YDS) is a five-part Grade (climbing), grading system used for rating the difficulty of rock climbing climbing routes, routes in the United States and Canada. It was first devised by members of the Sierra Club in Southe ...

Geology

The northern Sawtooth Range formed from the

Eocene The Eocene ( ) is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (Ma). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes ...

Sawtooth

batholith A batholith () is a large mass of intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock (also called plutonic rock), larger than in area, that forms from cooled magma deep in the Earth's crust. Batholiths are almost always made mostly of felsic or intermediate ...

, while south of Alturas Lake the mountains formed from the

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 143.1 to 66 mya (unit), million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era (geology), Era, as well as the longest. At around 77.1 million years, it is the ...

granodiorite Granodiorite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock similar to granite, but containing more plagioclase feldspar than orthoclase feldspar. The term banatite is sometimes used informally for various rocks ranging from gra ...

of the

Idaho Batholith The Idaho Batholith is a granitic and granodioritic batholith of Cretaceous- Paleogene age that covers approximately of central Idaho and adjacent Montana. The batholith has two lobes that are separate from each other geographically and ge ...

. The Sawtooth Range has a history of alpine

glaciation A glacial period (alternatively glacial or glaciation) is an interval of time (thousands of years) within an ice age that is marked by colder temperatures and glacier advances. Interglacials, on the other hand, are periods of warmer climate be ...

, but while no surface glaciers exist today, perennial snow fields and

rock glacier Rock glaciers are distinctive geomorphological landforms that consist either of angular rock debris frozen in interstitial ice, former "true" glaciers overlain by a layer of talus, or something in between. Rock glaciers are normally found at hi ...

s remain, usually on north or east facing slopes. There have been 202 perennial snow fields mapped in the Sawtooth Range. The Sawtooth Range was last extensively glaciated in the

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fin ...

, but glaciers probably existed during the

Little Ice Age The Little Ice Age (LIA) was a period of regional cooling, particularly pronounced in the North Atlantic region. It was not a true ice age of global extent. The term was introduced into scientific literature by François E. Matthes in 1939. Mat ...

, which ended around 1850 AD. Evidence of past glaciation given remnants of the glaciers such as

glacial lakes A glacial lake is a body of water with origins from glacier activity. They are formed when a glacier erodes the land and then melts, filling the depression created by the glacier. Formation Near the end of the last glacial period, roughly 10,0 ...

moraines A moraine is any accumulation of unconsolidated debris ( regolith and rock), sometimes referred to as glacial till, that occurs in both currently and formerly glaciated regions, and that has been previously carried along by a glacier or ice sh ...

, horns, hanging valleys,

cirques A (; from the Latin word ) is an amphitheatre-like valley formed by glacial erosion. Alternative names for this landform are corrie (from , meaning a pot or cauldron) and ; ). A cirque may also be a similarly shaped landform arising from fluvi ...

, and

arête An arête ( ; ) is a narrow ridge of rock that separates two valleys. It is typically formed when two glaciers erode parallel U-shaped valleys. Arêtes can also form when two glacial cirques erode headwards towards one another, although frequ ...

Seismology

In 2010, scientists from

Idaho State University Idaho State University (ISU) is a Public university, public research university in Pocatello, Idaho, United States. Founded in 1901 as the Academy of Idaho, Idaho State offers more than 250 programs at its main campus in Pocatello and locations ...

discovered the Sawtooth Fault near the base of the mountains, running for , near

Stanley Stanley may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Stanley'' (1972 film), an American horror film * ''Stanley'' (1984 film), an Australian comedy * ''Stanley'' (1999 film), an animated short * ''Stanley'' (1956 TV series) ...

and Redfish Lake. The Sawtooth Fault’s latest period of significant

seismic activity An earthquakealso called a quake, tremor, or tembloris the shaking of the Earth's surface resulting from a sudden release of energy in the lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from those so weak they ...

occurred between roughly 4,000 and 7,000 years ago. Nevertheless, estimates predict that it could be capable of producing a 7.5-magnitude earthquake, felt as far away as

, a distance of some 132.7 miles (213.5 km).

Waterways

The Sawtooth Range is home to hundreds of lakes created by vanished alpine glaciers, with nearly 400 lakes in the Sawtooth Wilderness. Five of the six largest lakes in the range are located outside the wilderness (

Redfish Redfish is a common name for several species of fish. It is most commonly applied to certain deep-sea rockfish in the genus ''Sebastes'', red drum from the genus ''Sciaenops'' or the reef dwelling snappers in the genus ''Lutjanus''. It is also app ...

, Alturas, Pettit, Yellow Belly, and

lakes), while Sawtooth Lake is within the wilderness. Most of the east side of the Sawtooth Range is drained by the main stem of the Salmon River and the west side by the South Fork

Payette River The Payette River () is an U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed May 3, 2011 river in southwestern Idaho and a major tributary of the Snake River. Its headwaters originate in ...

. Small portions of the northern and southern ends of the range are in the watersheds of the Middle Fork Salmon River and

Boise River The Boise River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data. , accessed May 3, 2011 tributary of the Snake River in the Northwestern United States. It drains a rugged portion of the Sawtooth Range in so ...

, respectively.

Recreation

There are 40 trails totaling nearly in the Sawtooth Wilderness that can be used for day hiking,

backpacking Backpacking may refer to: * Backpacking (travel), low-cost, independent, international travel * Backpacking (hiking), trekking and camping overnight in the wilderness * Ultralight backpacking, a style of wilderness backpacking with an emphasis on ...

, and

horseback riding Equestrianism (from Latin , , , 'horseman', 'horse'), commonly known as horse riding (Commonwealth English) or horseback riding (American English), includes the disciplines of riding, driving, and vaulting. This broad description includes the u ...

and accessed from 23 trailheads. Additional trails traverse the foothills of the mountains outside the designated wilderness. Camping is permitted anywhere in the wilderness. There are several developed campgrounds on the western side of range, outside the Sawtooth Wilderness, including at Redfish, Little Redfish, Alturas, Pettit, and Stanley lakes, as well as at Iron Creek. Restrictions on fires and animals apply in some areas.

References

External links

Sawtooth National Forest
- official website {{Authority control Ranges of the Rocky Mountains Mountain ranges of Idaho Salmon-Challis National Forest Sawtooth National Forest Sawtooth Wilderness Landforms of Custer County, Idaho Landforms of Boise County, Idaho Landforms of Elmore County, Idaho Landforms of Blaine County, Idaho