J&A
New member
Let me preface by saying this loop really did a number on us. Having done the feather of the Eagle slide on Giant the day before, we thought we were warmed up and could knock out these 7..potentially 8 peaks in one day. We initially planned to include Haystack in this loop, but by the time we began to descend Basin we were down to our last 2 liters of water. Having brought with us over 10 liters, we would have never imagined encountering such a problem. These mountains really don't mess around. Thankfully, we ran into a young guy named Jake who had just finished Haystack and he was generous enough to let us use his water filter to replenish our camelbaks. Thanks, Jake! 
To round out the hike, we had about 11 miles of hiking left: down to the Lake, up and over Sawteeth, back down and along the Lake Road. Although the bugs were mildly annoying between Wolfjaws and Basin, they were nothing like they were on the relatively ungroomed trail up the southern side of Sawteeth. Seeing what seemed to be one plateau after another before the summit took quite a mental toll on us. Upon reaching the top, I was completely fatigued. At this point, my partner and I could do nothing but lay down in the dirt and let the bugs have at us.
No folks, that's not a decaying corpse, it's just me with my bugnet.
The bugs were quite amazing and they got to work on us immediately. This is evidenced by the 42 (I counted) extremely itchy bites I have all over my body. These are...black flies? Deer flies? Smaller than mosquitos, almost gnat sized, but can give a mean bite and usually break the skin when they do. Great hike, ~8200 ft of gain and 23 miles. Enough to put a couple of city boys from DC in a world of hurt.
To round out the hike, we had about 11 miles of hiking left: down to the Lake, up and over Sawteeth, back down and along the Lake Road. Although the bugs were mildly annoying between Wolfjaws and Basin, they were nothing like they were on the relatively ungroomed trail up the southern side of Sawteeth. Seeing what seemed to be one plateau after another before the summit took quite a mental toll on us. Upon reaching the top, I was completely fatigued. At this point, my partner and I could do nothing but lay down in the dirt and let the bugs have at us.
No folks, that's not a decaying corpse, it's just me with my bugnet.
The bugs were quite amazing and they got to work on us immediately. This is evidenced by the 42 (I counted) extremely itchy bites I have all over my body. These are...black flies? Deer flies? Smaller than mosquitos, almost gnat sized, but can give a mean bite and usually break the skin when they do. Great hike, ~8200 ft of gain and 23 miles. Enough to put a couple of city boys from DC in a world of hurt.
