Day Four

We went to sleep under a clear sky and awoke to a complete cloud cover. The last forecast we had heard three days earlier called for rain and snow after 12:00 noon. It was windy but not raining yet. We chose to head out early. I had planned on catching the 3:00 pm boat shuttle down Redfish Lake but there was also a 12:00 boat. We were packed up and ready to go before 9:00.

The night had been much warmer. Perhaps the clouds came in early. It never showed below 50 degrees in the tent. We kept our rain gear stowed on top and headed down. The two miles to the valley floor went fast. We turned left and headed down the valley. The steep granite walls of the valley are impressive. There are a number of spires. On the right side of the valley is the best rock climbing area around. Elephant's Perch and Grand Mogul are two of the peaks.

It was obvious that we would reach the end of the lake far before noon. At lower elevations the foliage looked more and more like our Cascades. Huckleberry bushes were shades of yellow and red. They did seem a little dull with no sun shining on them. Only a few shriveled up berries remain.

We did stop at one short side trail to the creek. It flows over granite slabs in a series of short waterfalls. Looks like a great place to cool off on a hot summer day. Parts of the steep rock slopes above peel off at times. We passed "rocks" along the trail as large as houses. One rock straddled the trail and a new section drops below it. It is several times taller than I am.

The last mile of the trail seemed to drag on and on. At long last Redfish Lake came into view. In this open area aspen trees were bright yellow. The trail continues for some distance until we reached the last junction. Left for another five miles around the lake or right down to Redfish Inlet Camp. The boat docks right at the camp. It was 11:00 as we headed down the last section. Here we met two backpackers with a dog. They had just arrived by boat.

We were resigned to an hour wait at this point. At the outlet camp I found that the nice new bathrooms were locked. The sign said that they had offered six times for bids to pump out the full toilets. Six times there were no bids. Suzanne heard a motor and we ran off towards the dock. A party had just disembarked and a loud yell caught the boat skippers attention. He pulled back in and we were quickly on our way down the lake.

It had begun to spit a few drops of rain so our timing seemed perfect. The five miles of lake sped by in less than 10 minutes. We could look back up the valley to the clouds now over the peaks. At the inn we found pay phones and were able to move up our 3:00 pm pick up time. The lodge is closing for the season on Sunday (the next day). We waited about an hour and a half until my brother and sister-in-law arrived to speed us back to Suzanne's car.

On the ride home the aspen trees seemed to be much farther along towards peaking in color. We made several stops to photograph them. This turned out to be an outstanding trip. There was bad weather just before and after but we had a window of great weather. It was the end of September and we were in shorts and short sleeves much of the time. The sky was much clearer than a year earlier. I was able to add the Alpine Lake and Baron Lakes area for the first time. It was fun to have Suzanne along vs. my solo trip before. Even the fresh snow added nice highlights to our views.

This was my second trip into the mountains of central Idaho. I hope to keep returning often. I still have a lot to see and enjoy. For the four days we traveled 39 miles with 7300' of elevation gain. All but the first and last hour of hiking was over 7400'. We passed over 20 lakes and large tarns and saw only two hikers on the trail plus six more in camps we passed until the last two at the very end. No bugs, few people, and tremendous scenery. That makes for a great trip!