Driving up from Boise we had to go around areas where forest fires were burning.
Even at Redfish Lake, far from the fire, the smoke obscured our views of the mountains.
Thankfully the wind changed by the time we took a canoe out on the lake a couple days later.
We did two super rewarding hikes, demanding and dramatic. One day we climbed past Alpine Lake, where Vicki and Platt paused to fish.
We arrived at Sawtooth Lake for a snack and watched a ridiculously cute pika hard at work fetching greenery for its den.
Another day we hiked toward Thompson Peak, up and up, starting at sunrise, pausing at a lovely little lake in the cirque below the peak, and picking our way over boulders, past more water, to some last, small snow fields and a point where we would have had to start scrambling, a bit beyond our available time and competence. We had plenty of fun getting that far anyway.
Huge thanks to Vicki and Platt for opening our eyes and minds to this gorgeous place.
