OverviewThe Lake Chelan-Sawtooth Wilderness is located on the east side of Lake Chelan and runs in a northwest-southeast direction over about 25 miles. The crest of the divide is generally known as the Sawtooths. But if you're expecting a craggy crest, you will be disappointed. Yes, there are crags around, but the general lay of the land is one of talus slopes with sometimes steep north walls. This is no more apparent than on Martin Peak, Mt. Bigelow, and Star Peak. There are even some rock glaciers in the wilderness.
This wilderness is a great alternative for easy hiking and scrambling when the weather to the west has gone to pot. The area is quite attractive, especially in the fall when the larches in the subalpine regions have turned yellow.
One drawback to the wilderness are the trail approaches that aren't in the wilderness itself. These are often trenched or made dusty by motorcycle traffic (in the winter this traffic is snowmobiles). The good thing is the motorcycles aren't allowed in the wilderness. Horses are allowed in the wilderness. They do their part to further make dusty the trail. And yet, the access these motorcycles afford means you can generally drive your car higher and closer than you would with other wildernesses in the state. Trailheads are often over 3000 ft in elevation.
The highest point in the Wilderness is Gardner Mountain (8,897 ft) on the northern boundary. The highest point in the area most associate as the Wilderness is Oval Peak (8,795 ft).
There's a lot more I could say but the main intent of this page is to provide a page with which to link together all of the peaks in this area/wilderness. Go discover it for yourself. Images
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