Last night, Elizabeth and I camped at Redfish Lake, a big glacial lake on the western edge of Idaho’s Sawtooth Range.
This morning we drove to Redfish Lodge, took a boat shuttle across the lake, and got dropped off at a tiny dock at the Redfish Lake Creek inlet.
We started hiking at 9:40. We wanted to go to Baron Pass, where “peaks, crags, and serrated ridges stretch in every direction into blue haze”, according to my guidebook. It was a 14-mile round trip. This distance was well within our abilities, but there was one catch: getting the boat shuttle back to Redfish Lodge. The last two return trips were at 5:00 and 7:00. I didn’t even consider the last shuttle; missing it and spending a night in the woods with our dayhiking gear wasn’t an option. So we decided to make the 5:00 trip. But was that enough time for the hike?
We started in a forest of lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta), subalpine fir (Abies lasiocarpa), and Engelmann spruce (Picea engelmannii). The trees were old, but not large. The forest canopy offered partial sunlight as well as partial views of the peaks lining the valley.
A meadow created by a rockslide gave us our first good look at the Redfish Lake Creek valley. On both sides were apricot-colored granite peaks, giant spires connected by ridges bristling with pinnacles.
At Flatrock Junction, the trail split and we followed it out of the valley and up toward Baron Pass. This part of the hike reminded me of our hikes in Washington’s North Cascades. Like the valleys in the North Cascades, the valleys in the Sawtooths have a classic U-shape carved by glaciers millennia ago. For hikers, this means long, flat trails down valley bottoms, and short, steep trails out of them.
We hiked up switchbacks through meadows that gave us excellent views up and down Redfish Lake Creek valley. The valley was lined with shining peaks and filled with deep green forest. Farther up the valley, beyond the junction, were even higher peaks, their faces still holding significant snowfields.
The upper switchbacks passed through some large Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii). And in the meadows I spotted two interesting wildflowers. The first was a new species of Calochortus for me, big-pod mariposa lily (Calochortus eurycarpus). The other was a species of columbine (Aquilegia formosa) familiar from California.
Once we reached the rim of the valley, we hiked over level ground to Alpine Lake.
Did I mention Alpine Lake? At just over 5.4 miles into the hike to Baron Pass, you reach a nice, modestly-sized lake ringed by mountains and filled with crystal blue water.
Elizabeth and I got to Alpine Lake at 12:45, which left us about 45 minutes until we had to turn around. We briefly considered trying to hike the remaining 1.6 miles to Baron Pass in the time, but with one look at the lake our minds were made up. So, we set down our packs, took off our shoes, and soaked our feet in the chilly water. I read my map and guidebook while Elizabeth watched frogs catch flies.
After an hour relaxing at the lake, we hiked back to the inlet. As we hiked, clouds formed in the distance and produced shafts of rain, but we never heard thunder and they eventually dissipated.
We got to the inlet at 4:10, fifty minutes early. The beautiful view and the sandy beach, however, made the time spent waiting for the shuttle go by easily.
















