Bald Mountain Trail to Viewpoint

The Trail

This moderate trail is about 1.6 miles one way with about a 930 foot elevation change. It goes to a nice viewpoint of the Sun Valley area.

Topographical Map (red = to viewpoint)

Graph of Elevation

Trail in Google Earth

This trail starts out nicely shaded. It is easy to follow and well maintained by the ski resort.

Trailhead

The trail opens up as hikers climb toward the viewing platform.

Approaching viewing platform

 

From the platform, you can see fantastic view of the surrounding valley and mountains.

Looking up toward Bald Mountain

If you wish to go further, the trail does continue to the top of Bald Mountain. If you go during the summer season, then you can ride the lift down after reaching the top, which is my favorite way to do this trail. However, the lift was closed for the season when we went on this trip, and we did not have time to hike all the way up and down.

The trail is opened to leashed dogs, and there are even some dog drinking fountains along the trail to the top. Bathrooms are available at the resort when it's open.

Directions

This trail is located near Sun Valley and Ketchum, Idaho. To get here, take ID-75 north to Second Ave/Serenade Ln. and turn left. Then turn left onto Third Ave. and continue to follow the road as it curves around and becomes Pennay's Way/Seattle Ridge Ln. There is parking here, and you can walk up to the ski resort/lift area. The trail is to the north of the lift and lodge.

GPS Coordinates: N43° 40.279' W114° 22.132'

Norton Lakes

 The Trail

This moderate trail is roughly 2.6 miles one way with about a 1500 ft elevation change. It follows the stream in a climb up to two picturesque mountain lakes.

Topographical Map

Graph of Elevation

Trail in Google Earth

This trail starts crossing a bridge before ascending through pine forest nestled between the walls of jagged  cliffs and mountain slopes, leaving hikers with satisfying scenery throughout the trail.

Very near the beginning of the trail, there is a split between the Norton Lakes Trail (7135) and the Norton-Prairie Trail (7134). To just do the Norton Lakes Trail, head left. If you are up for a longer trail, you could continue past Norton Lakes to Miner Lake and Prairie Lake and then loop back along the Norton-Prairie Trail, creating a 10 mile long loop hike. For a more complete map of these trails, see the topographical map here.

Split between the Norton Lakes Trail (7135)
and the Norton-Prairie Trail (7134)

The trail runs near the stream for a fair amount of the hike, and there is a crossing over some logs that is probably extremely wet earlier in the year.

After hiking about 2.2 miles up the trial, you will arrive at the first lake.

 

Upper Norton Lake is only 0.3 miles further up the trail.

 

A trail skirts the south end of this lake, so we walked along it for a ways to enjoy the lake from some different angles.

From here you can head further up the mountainside trail toward Norton Peak and then descend to Miner Lake, or you can head back down the way you came.

This trail is open to dogs, but they must be kept on leash. No toilets were available at the trailhead at the time we did this trail, but vault toilets are scheduled to be install during the summer of 2024. 

Directions

This trail is located in the Sawtooth National Recreation Area near Sun Valley, Idaho. To get here, take ID-75 north until you reach Baker Creek Rd. on your left. Continue to Norton Creek Rd., which will be on your right, and turn up here. Continue to the end of the road, where you will find the trailhead.

GPS Coordinates: N43° 43.853' W114° 37.985'

Baker Lake

The Trail

This easy trail is about 1.9 miles long one way with a 840 foot elevation change. The trail meanders through forested area, much of which was burned by forest fire, climbing gently as it takes hikers to a picturesque mountain lake.

Topographical Map (red = Baker Lake Trail)

Graph of Elevation

Trail in Google Earth

The trail starts from a gravel lot and soon crosses a bridge. It heads through areas thick with burned lodgepole pines that were devastated in the 2013 Beaver Creek fire. We did this trail most recently during the fall, which made for some pretty fall colors in the brush foliage along the way.

Trailhead

The trail also passes close to the stream in many spots.

There is a trail that appears to turn off and head up the side of a mountain away from the lake about 1.4 miles up from the trailhead (shown in green on the maps above). This trail connects to other trails that run between the lakes in the area and is the trail I used many years ago to hike from Prairie Lakes to Baker Lake. This trail was quite difficult and tricky to follow when I did it previously, as it completely disappeared in places and frequently went straight up and down mountainsides without switchbacks. However, you can still see it on the Forest Service map as trail 7138 Baker Ck - Norton Ck and 7134 Norton Creek -Prairie Creek.

Shortly after passing this trail hikers will arrive at the lake. There are trails that follow the shoreline some along the side of the lake. I also hiked up a bit farther for a different view from above.

Baker Lake

Baker Lake from further up the mountainside

This lake is popular for fishing, but there are restrictions of fishing for native trout. This lake is also popular for picnics and also works well for a short backpacking trip.

This trail is open to dogs, but they must be kept on leash. Vault toilets are available at the trailhead.

Directions

This trail is located in the Sawtooth National Recreation Area near Sun Valley, Idaho. To get here, take ID-75 north until you reach Baker Creek Rd. on your left. Turn left onto this road and continue to its end to reach the parking area for the trail.

GPS Coordinates: N43° 41.447' W114° 39.277'

Pillar Falls

The Trail

This moderate trail is only 0.8 miles one way when starting from the parking area, however it does pack about a 400 ft elevation change, nearly all of which is in a half mile portion of the trail. At the time we hiked this, construction workers were busy grading and renovating the trail to pave it. We were probably about the last if not the last hikers to hike this unpaved. It is pretty steep, which made it a bit slick in places, and I don't know how the paving of the trail will affect this aspect. The trail leads to a nice viewpoint of Pillar Falls. If you are up for a bit longer hike, there is also a trail to another waterfall (shown in green below) that will add an additional 0.2 miles to your hike (0.1 miles one way) and about 100 ft more in elevation change.

Topographical Map (red = Pillar Falls, green = other falls)

Graph of Elevation

Trail in Google Earth

It is difficult to start this trail at the actual trailhead as there is no parking there. For this reason, most people start at the parking lot at the intersection up the road, and then walk along the road to reach the trail. This adds 0.3 miles to the hike; otherwise it would only be half a mile to the falls. The trailhead is marked by a sign warning people that only foot traffic is permitted on the trail.

Trailhead

From there the trail descends steeply toward the river below.

Much of the trail was soft dirt like
this when we hiked

When you reach the split, go right to reach the viewpoint to see Pillar Falls in the distance. Unfortunately, my nice pictures from my camera were accidentally lost, so I am just left with a few taken from a phone instead.

Looking out toward Pillar Falls

 

If you are up for a bit more hiking, turn right on your way back onto the other trail and make your way down to the other falls found this direction. There are also some fantastic views here of the bridge and Snake River. From here you can return the way you came, climbing back up the canyon.

Other waterfall

Directions

If you are coming from south of Twin Fall, take Exit 182 off of I-84 and turn left onto State Route 50. Next, turn right onto 3900 N/Addison Rd. Continue 6 miles and then turn right onto 3200 E/Hankins Rd. Next turn left onto 4000 N/Falls Ave, then right onto 3100 E/Airport Rd. As this road turns left, turn right onto Pole Line Rd. and park in the lot to the right. From here walk to the trailhead about 0.3 miles down Pole Line Rd.

If you are coming from the north, take Exit 173 off I-84 and merge onto US-93. Turn left onto Bridgeview Blvd. and from there turn left onto 4100 N. Continue to Pole Line Rd. and turn left, then turn right into the parking lot.

GPS Coordinates for the parking lot: N42° 35.517' W114° 26.407'

GPS Coordinate for the trail: N42° 35.528' W114° 26.090'