Sawtell Peak, also spelled Sawtelle Peak is a mountain in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

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), ...

. It is located in the eastern portion of the Centennial Mountains. Sawtell Peak is located in the Caribou-Targhee National Forest roughly east of Idaho's border with

Montana Montana ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota to the east, South Dakota to the southeast, Wyoming to the south, an ...

. The summit is located near Henrys Lake and Big Springs, headwaters of the Henrys Fork of the Snake River as well as

Brower's Spring Brower's Spring is a spring in the Centennial Mountains of Beaverhead County, Montana, that was identified by surveyor Jacob V. Brower in 1888 as the ultimate headwaters of the Missouri River and thus of the fourth- longest river system in the w ...

, headwaters of the

Missouri River The Missouri River is a river in the Central United States, Central and Mountain states, Mountain West regions of the United States. The nation's longest, it rises in the eastern Centennial Mountains of the Bitterroot Range of the Rocky Moun ...

, both of which being located near the

Continental Divide A continental divide is a drainage divide on a continent such that the drainage basin on one side of the divide feeds into one ocean or sea, and the basin on the other side either feeds into a different ocean or sea, or else is endorheic, not ...

. It was named after Gilman Sawtell, who settled the Island Park area in 1868. There are two ridges, the north one being much less accessible. Sawtell Peak is the starting point of the easiest route to climb nearby Mount Jefferson.

Geology

Sawtell Peak is the easternmost peak in the Centennial Range, which run east to west, contrary to many other fault block ranges in the

Basin and Range Province The Basin and Range Province is a vast United States physiographic region, physiographic region covering much of the inland Western United States and Northern Mexico, northwestern Mexico. It is defined by unique basin and range topography, charac ...

. This east to west structure is likely due to movement with the

Yellowstone Hotspot The Yellowstone hotspot is a volcanic hotspot in the United States responsible for large scale volcanism in Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, and Wyoming, formed as the North American tectonic plate moved over it. It formed the eastern Snake Riv ...

. The mountain and surrounding area is covered by block lava flows that are approximately thick on top of underlying strata from the

Paleozoic era The Paleozoic ( , , ; or Palaeozoic) Era is the first of three geological eras of the Phanerozoic Eon. Beginning 538.8 million years ago (Ma), it succeeds the Neoproterozoic (the last era of the Proterozoic Eon) and ends 251.9 Ma at the start of ...

. This strata is by cut by feeder dikes. North of Sawtell Peak and the Centennial Range are canyons that were once heavily glaciated.

Flora and Fauna

The surrounding area contains the same wildlife as the

Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) is one of the last remaining large, nearly intact ecosystems in the northern temperate zone of Earth. It is located within the northern Rocky Mountains, in areas of northwestern Wyoming, southwestern Monta ...

. The lower reaches of Sawtell Peak contain meadows filled with

sagebrush Sagebrush is the common name of several woody and herbaceous species of plants in the genus ''Artemisia (plant), Artemisia''. The best-known sagebrush is the shrub ''Artemisia tridentata''. Sagebrush is native to the western half of North Amer ...

and native grasses. Evergreen forests fill the midsection of it, with flowers blooming toward the end of summer. Some of these flowers include Indian paintbrush, western columbine, and varieties of

sunflower The common sunflower (''Helianthus annuus'') is a species of large annual forb of the daisy family Asteraceae. The common sunflower is harvested for its edible oily seeds, which are often eaten as a snack food. They are also used in the pr ...

. Big game such as

white tail deer The white-tailed deer (''Odocoileus virginianus''), also known Common name, commonly as the whitetail and the Virginia deer, is a medium-sized species of deer native to North America, North, Central America, Central and South America. It is the ...

can be found in the forest on slopes of Sawtell Peak. There are also birds, such as

western tanager The western tanager (''Piranga ludoviciana''), is a medium-sized Americas, American songbird. Formerly placed in the tanager family (biology), family (Thraupidae), it and other members of its genus are classified in the cardinal family (Cardinali ...

and small game like the

marmot Marmots are large ground squirrels in the genus ''Marmota'', with 15 species living in Asia, Europe, and North America. These herbivores are active during the summer, when they can often be found in groups, but are not seen during the winter, w ...

Grizzly bear The grizzly bear (''Ursus arctos horribilis''), also known as the North American brown bear or simply grizzly, is a population or subspecies of the brown bear inhabiting North America. In addition to the mainland grizzly (''Ursus arctos horr ...

s can also be seen on occasion.

Communication

Sawtell Peak is used for communications for various agencies and organizations. The

Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is a Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government agency within the United States Department of Transportation, U.S. Department of Transportation that regulates civil aviation in t ...

(FAA) operates a long-range radar site that has been tied into the

Joint Surveillance System The Joint Surveillance System (JSS) is a joint United States Air Force and Federal Aviation Administration system for the atmospheric air defense of North America. It replaced the Semi Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE) system in 1983. Overvie ...

since the

September 11th attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

. The radar is part of the

Western Air Defense Sector The Western Air Defense Sector (WADS) is a unit of the Washington Air National Guard located at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Tacoma, Washington. As a state militia unit, the Western Air Defense Sector is not in the normal United States Air Force ch ...

, headquartered at

Joint Base Lewis-McChord A joint or articulation (or articular surface) is the connection made between bones, ossicles, or other hard structures in the body which link an animal's skeletal system into a functional whole.Saladin, Ken. Anatomy & Physiology. 7th ed. McGraw- ...

near

Tacoma, Washington Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, southwest of Bellevue, Washington, Bellevue, northeast of the state capital, Olympia ...

. There is an amateur radio repeater near the summit that is linked to the Intermountain Intertie. This repeater provides coverage to portions of

Yellowstone National Park Yellowstone National Park is a List of national parks of the United States, national park of the United States located in the northwest corner of Wyoming, with small portions extending into Montana and Idaho. It was established by the 42nd U ...

, and the Intertie provides access to amateur radio operators to communicate as far south as

Las Vegas, Nevada Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

and

Flagstaff, Arizona Flagstaff ( ), known locally as Flag, is the county seat of Coconino County, Arizona, in the southwestern United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the city's population was 76,831. Flagstaff is the principal city of the Coconino Cou ...

. Also near the summit is a translator for KBYI-FM, a radio station owned by

Brigham Young University - Idaho Brigham may refer to: Places * Brigham, Cumbria, England * Brigham, East Riding of Yorkshire, England * Brigham City, Utah, USA * Brigham, Wisconsin, USA * Brigham, Quebec, Canada People * Brigham (surname), including a list of people with the ...

and affiliated with

National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

Recreation

Sawtell Peak can be accessed by a heavily trafficked road leading from

US 20 U.S. Route 20 or U.S. Highway 20 (US 20) is an east–west United States Highway, United States Numbered Highway that stretches from the Pacific Northwest east to New England. The "0" in its route number indicates that US 20 is a major ...

south of Henrys Lake. The road is about long and involves a climb from US 20 to the summit. The road can be dangerous due to sudden snow storms. The snow can be up to deep and avalanches are a hazard. The road to the summit is closed from November 1 to June 1 but is maintained by the FAA. During the closure, the road is only accessible for personnel associated with the communications facilities at the top. Snowmobiling is not allowed on the road. There are no roads or trails leading to the north summit. From the top, visitors can see Yellowstone, the Centennial Valley, the

Teton Range The Teton Range is a mountain range of the Rocky Mountains in North America. It extends for approximately in a north–south direction through the U.S. state of Wyoming, east of the Idaho state line. It is south of Yellowstone National Park, ...

Wyoming Wyoming ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States, Western United States. It borders Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho t ...

and the Pioneer Mountains in Montana.

References

{{reflist Bitterroot Range Landforms of Fremont County, Idaho Mountains of Fremont County, Idaho Aviation in Idaho

Geology

Flora and Fauna

Communication

Recreation

See also

References