Sawtooth Mountains Hiking Engagements || Hannah + Chase

This day in the Sawtooth Mountains was one that I will never ever forget! It was one of the best days and one of the best engagements sessions to date!!
I first met up with Hannah and Chase at a local coffee shop in town, where we instantly hit it off and became friends— those kinds of friends that you feel like you’ve known for a long time. They already had their hearts on booking (so I loved them already), but meeting in person sealed the deal even more because we all got along so, freaking, good. We instantly bonded over our love for the mountains (they are getting married in the same little mountain town that Chase and I got married in, AND on their families cabin property right across the highway from our families cabin property!!), and our love for hiking and summertime. Sometime throughout the conversation we both brought up the fact that we have been DYING to do the Goat Lake hike in the Sawtooths. So, naturally we decided to turn their engagements into one epic adventure through the Sawtooths where we would tackle this 8 mile hike!!

The Sawtooths is somewhere that has always been so close to Chase and I’s heart. We spend at least a few weekends every summer/fall up in Stanley— hiking, kayaking, swimming, and just dropping our jaw at the beauty of this place. And even more lucky for us this year, a few of my couples wanted their engagement sessions done the SAME weekend and ONLY weekend I had off in the summer that we had planned to go camping up in the Sawtooths. Hannah + Chase’s hiking engagements were up first 😉 Oliver fell in love with Hannah instantly, and Chase got along with Hannah’s Chase without a hitch, and it was just the freaking best time. We made our way up the mountain, crawled up scree literally on our hands and knees (which is loose gravel rocks that break off from boulders, so that’s reassuring right?!), thought multiple times that maybe just maybe our lives could be in jeopardy, but absolutely couldn’t turn around. The hike up was one of the most breathtaking hikes I have ever done, and the view at the end was without a doubt, worth it. I’ve always wanted to explore more IN the Sawtooths, since whenever we go it’s usually such a short trip that we stay more in town. Because of the opportunity to get deeper into these beautiful mountains, Hannah and Chase you’ve become some of my favorites 😉

And then to top it off these two looked like they of course DIDN’T just hike up 8 miles on hands and knees and sweated bullets— but instead they looked freaking AMAZING for their little engagement session at this alpine lake. Like are you kidding me?!

We hit all sorts of weather on our way down— sunshine, rain, wind, heat, cold— you name it— and we bonded yet again over our love for good street tacos and have multiple double dates in the works and I’m not mad about it one bit. I’m so grateful for people like Hannah and Chase, for welcoming us into their love story, and letting me capture these memories. For turning their engagements not into just a little session after you get off work, but into a trip that they’ll now remember for the rest of their lives. THOSE kinds of sessions, I live for.

xx