The Decompression of a Boomer

Monday August 22. Up early at Redfish Lake Lodge to check out the mountains. It’s smoky up here due to the Pioneer Fire that’s been burning in the Boise National Forest since July 28.

8/22/16: Mount Heyburn overlooking Redfish Lake

The amount of smoke depends on the shifting of the winds. Not too bad today. Breakfast at the lodge, then we’ll hit the trail! Eric has talked the other seven of us into the hike to Hell Roaring Lake. We’re at the trailhead now:

5 miles to Hell Roaring Lake!

Yeah, so five miles to the Lake, five miles back … Eric leads the group. The first part of the hike is the most strenuous. The trail climbs more than 300 feet up through a dense lodgepole pine forest.

David and Megan

David, Megan and I bring up the rear and lose the others quickly. You walk along the creek in the beginning,

but then the trail veers away from the creek.

The path is well-worn and dusty. Long, but not strenuous. Question is, are you in good enough shape to hike 10 miles? David, Megan and I trudged along for three miles and then decided to find a place to sit for a picnic. Hey this place looks good, some fallen trees to sit on!

Time for a picnic

What the heck. We’ve lost the others. It’s still two miles to the lake. How about we call it good and head back?

We take a selfie

Megan, Jody, David

Then I capture a photo of the area across the path from us:

Pine beetle devastation?

Lodgepole pines have been stressed by consistent dry summers, leaving them vulnerable to pine beetles. No wonder wild fires are raging in Idaho.

Meanwhile, Eric, Paul, Pauline, Adam and Meredith make it to the lake. They shared their photos with me. So now you and I get to experience Hell Roaring Lake vicariously through their photos! Just think, too, it has saved us the stress, time, and wear and tear of getting there.

We’ve arrived at Hell Roaring Lake!

Photo taken by Meredith

The lake is pretty, but if you want the good views of the mountains you need to cross the inlet and walk another half mile. Look carefully at the center of the photo and you’ll see: the only way to cross the inlet is to traverse a log. Here I have zoomed the photo so you can see – the log is near the center of the photo:

you have to cross the log

Great. You’re already exhausted, do you really need to put yourself through this?

Of course you do. Eric leads the way across the inlet. Adam and Meredith follow. Pauline and Paul decide not to bother with that last half mile. Me personally, I suspect I would need a bit of coaxing to maneuver my exhausted body across the log and beyond. If you think at this juncture you do want to cross the inlet and walk that last half mile … follow Eric, Adam and Meredith. We’re at the log now. Hmmmmm. Hesitating on this. How to cross it without slipping, scraping your ankle, twisting a knee??? No worry. Meredith will now demonstrate how it’s done:

Ha. Piece of cake – if you’ve had years of gymnastics training. Okay so now we have walked the last half mile along the lake for a close-up view of the Finger of Fate (at 9,775 feet) and other peaks. Here are Eric’s photos

Adam and Meredith

Finger of Fate – still a bit smoky

We arrive back at the Lodge starving and exhausted. The wind has shifted direction – and it’s smoky again:

Back at the Lodge

We drive to Stanley for dinner

Smoky in Stanley!

Sunset view of Sawtooths from Stanley

The smoke clears again on Tuesday. We’re a bit tired so we just hang out at the lodge and on the lake. Meredith and Pauline both rent kayaks:

Meredith kayaking on Redfish Lake

The rest of us just hang out. Except for Eric, a.k.a. ‘Mountain goat,’ who was off on another huge hike.

A patio table near the outside bar and concession stand overlooking the lake, serves our purposes just fine

The self-proclaimed Three Wise Men declaring one beer is not enough

Megan orders an ice cream. Double scoop, please…

A little top-heavy – what to do with it?

We shop at the General Store:

Yes, they sell apple pie

Matching sweatshirts for Megan and Pauline!

We spot the perfect miniature poodle girlfriend for Rudy:

She could teach him a thing or two about healthy eating habits:

In case you wondered, Rudy is also a miniature poodle

Wednesday morning the winds blow in our favor – the air is clear! But we have to check out and drive home. That figures. I snap one last clear photo of Mt. Heyburn before we hit the road:

Redfish Lake, Wednesday August 24, 2016

I don’t snap any decent photos of the Sawtooths on the drive home. But Eric does:

Well, I take that back. The best views of the Sawtooths are from lower Stanley. Unfortunately, they were behind us as we drove through Stanley.

So I captured a photo of the Sawtooths in our rear view mirror.

Oh, and that’s Paul driving my blue Avalon, with Adam and Meredith.

Tags: Finger of Fate, Hell Roaring hike in Sawtooths, Miniature poodles, Pioneer Fire in Idaho 2016, Red Fish Lake Lodge

This entry was posted on September 8, 2016 at 5:42 pm and is filed under Hiking, Idaho, Redfish Lake, travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.