Hike to Martin and Kelly Lakes on the west edge of the Sawtooth National Recreation Area

I want to thank Scott Marchant for his "The Day Hiker's Guide to Stanley, Idaho". I used it to find this hike and plan to continue using it for other hikes in the years to come. If you are interested in purchasing his guide books check out his website at hikingidaho.com.

The coordinates at the trailhead are:
N 44 degrees 19.677'
W 115 degrees 07.198'
and the elevation is 6695'.
Follow Hwy 21 from Stanley, Idaho 12.6 miles west to Road 199 on the left. (Note: Scott mentions a wooden sign indicating 8 miles to Martin Lake. That is another route, not the one I am describing.)

Road 199 as seen coming from Stanley.

Road 199 as seen coming from Lowman.

Road 199

Google Map from Stanley to the trailhead. On road 199 at .4 miles there is a very rough patch of road, (they have improved the road), if you stop there you will need to hike the road another .4 miles

To the trailhead which will be on your left.

Trap Creek Trailhead

I measured the trail to the junction near Martin Lake at 3.6 miles. We found a campsite on the north side of the lake another .4 mile from the junction. The climb from the trailhead is very easy with only gentle hills to climb. About halfway in the trail starts to climb with a spot or two that are fairly steep. The hardest climb is near the end but only lasts about .4 mile. I am 56 years old and somewhat over weight and was carrying a 44 lbs pack. That last climb kicked my butt! This is a view of the trail with the mountains that surround the lakes in the distance.

This is a view of the trail about half way in.

A smoky sunrise at Martin Lake.
N 44 degrees 17.322'
W 115 degrees 09.928'
The elevation at Martin Lake is 7616 feet.

For a project on this trip I decided to make a table. It is much harder than I thought, ha!

To hike over to Kelly Lake find where the trail crosses the creek at the outlet from Martin Lake. Cross the creek and follow the trail about .9 miles east. The trail from Martin Lake to Kelly Lake leads over a few gentle hills.

This is Kelly Lake, it was smoky here the entire trip.
N 44 degrees 16.922'
W 115 degrees 09.446'
The elevation at Kelly Lake is 7898 feet.

As we were enjoying our view of Kelly Lake a couple came by and told us about this camp on the other side of the lake so we had to check it out. Someone went to a lot of work.
N 44 degrees 16.808'
W 115 degrees 09.538'

I climbed the rocks behind Kelly Lake for this picture. The smoke was from a fire by Anderson Ranch Reservoir. I would recommend doing this hike in July from the 15th to the end of the month. We have been having forest fires and smoky conditions most every August in recent years. We did this hike August 10 - 12, 2013.

Here are a few of the "friends" we made.