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Bench Lake

I had a great time trekking on my trip to Nepal. So when I got back to the US I was psyched to hike. Unfortunately it was the end of October. That's late in the season and there had been some snow in the high country. Usually that shuts down hiking till next summer. But when I looked at the webcams for Redfish Lake Lodge and Stanley, the valley floor was still clear. There was a lot of snow up high on the peaks but it was hard to tell where the snow actually started. Would it be possible to still make it to a high lake? There was only one way to find out. Give it a try.

The weather forecast for Stanley was good - sunny skies and highs of about sixty. Since I still hadn't synchronized to Boise time, I was getting up really early most days. The early start required for a day trip to the Sawtooths would be easy. I wouldn't miss my beauty sleep since I was in bed by eight the night before. I was even too tired to pack before I went to bed. I figured that I would have time to do it in the morning.

I was up at 4:30 am but it took quite a while to get ready. It's hunting season, and even though there aren't many deer hunters in the Sawtooths I figured that I better dig out all my hunter orange to wear. With a BSU cap, tshirt and sweatshirt along with an orange stocking cap and wind shell, it would be hard to miss seeing me. It was 5:30 am when I finally pulled out of the driveway.

There was one other good thing this morning. When I weighed myself I was 194 lbs. That's the lowest that I have been this year. I lost quite a bit of weight on my Nepal trip and when I came back I kept working hard to continue to improve. So that put me in a good mood when I left.

There wasn't much traffic on the drive up. It was foggy in Garden Valley so I did have to slow down and really concentrate on driving, but it cleared before I reached Lowman.

I stopped at the overlook near the Grandjean turnoff where there was a beautiful view. It was almost pitch dark but the sky was just beginning to glow behind the Sawtooths, revealing their jagged profile. Venus was shining brightly in the sky above them.

After my stop it got light pretty quickly. Now I noticed something problematic as I climbed up to Banner Summit. The ground was covered with snow. I wasn't even at 7000 feet yet. That was a bad sign as any high lake in the Sawtooths is much higher than that. I had been hoping that the snow wouldn't start until much higher up. Now it looked like my hike this morning might be a short one.

I made it to Redfish Lake as the sun was about to come up over the mountains to the east. First I stopped at Little Redfish Lake to take some pictures. The sun was hitting just the tops of the Sawtooth peaks and mist was rising from the surface of the lake. It was really beautiful.

There was a lot of snow up high which made for a pretty picture. But it was also clear that the snow started just above the level of the valley floor. It wasn't clear how far I was going to get but I was here so there was nothing to do but start hiking.

Next I drove over to the lodge. It was all boarded up. The place was deserted except for a single pickup truck parked by the dock where two people were out admiring the view. When they left it was just me. It was kind of weird to be there, probably the most crowded mountain spot in the whole state during the summer, when no one else was there. It was like being in a ghost town, or in one of those stories about the apocalypse. I half expected to see Jack Nicholson turn up from The Shining (although that was at Timberline Lodge, not Redfish Lake Lodge).

Next I drove to a picnic area that was part way around the lake where I could get a better view of the peaks on the other side. After taking more pictures, I finally drove to the trailhead. It was time to get to get down to business and start hiking.

The backpackers parking lot was completely empty. For all the times that I have hiked here, I don't remember ever seeing that. I would have the trails all to myself.

When I parked, the thermometer in my car said that it was seventeen degrees. Pretty chilly! I had brought along more warm clothes than I thought I could possibly need. I figured that at the trailhead I would decide what to wear and what to leave behind in the car. I decided to wear it all. I was comfortable but I was definitely bundled up.

Just before I started I paused for a minute to take out my phone and start my GPS app to track my hike. As I finished I looked up and at that very moment the sun appeared over the White Cloud foothills in the east. Good timing.

After signing in at the trailhead I only went about a hundred yards before I hit snow. But it wasn't very deep and there was a track in it from previous hikers. It was easy to follow. That was pretty much the story of the hike. All the way up to Bench Lakes, wherever there was snow there was a clear, easy to follow track. No problem.

Quite a bit of the trail was snow covered, especially in the lower half where the trail went through the woods. Maybe as much as half of the time I was walking on snow. Surprisingly, when I got higher and reached the top of the ridge the trail was completely clear. Looking down at Redfish Lake from the ridge, it was completely covered by the mist that rose from the lake. It looked like a lake of clouds. In contrast to the fog over the lake, the sky was perfectly blue and there wasn't a cloud anywhere up above. A cool sight.

The trail to Bench Lake gradually climbs 1200 feet in four miles. I felt good and thought that I was hiking faster than usual. I attributed it to my conditioning and acclimatization from my recent trek. But when I finally reached the second Bench Lake it turned out that I had taken just over two hours to hike four and a quarter miles. True, I took a lot of pictures on the way but that certainly isn't a time to get excited about. I guess that I am getting older.

I found my usual log where I sat down and admired the lake. It was probably the prettiest I had ever seen it with all the snow on the mountains, and I have been to Bench Lake at least a half a dozen times. By now it had warmed up too and I was just wearing a sweatshirt. It was a gorgeous fall day.

I had to be careful on the hike back. On the lower section which was snow covered it was somewhat icy. It would have been easier to fall on the way down. I did slip once but caught myself and made it back to the car without mishap.

I thought that I would have the mountains entirely to myself, something unbelievable on the Bench Lake trail. On a summer day you would see from ten to twenty other parties. Not that many by the standards of some of the more popular national parks, but busy for a Sawtooth trail. When I was about a quarter of a mile from the trailhead, I passed two hikers who were heading up. Except for them, there was no one on the trail except for me. Oh well. I guess I can share.

After I got back to the car I made a few more stops for pictures. Then it was time to head into Stanley. I stopped at Riverworks to pick up one last tshirt before the season ended. Then it was time for lunch at Abby's favorite pizza place, Papa Brunee's. Actually it's her only pizza place, at least it's the only one where she can join us on the patio. The pizza tasted really good after my hike.

There was little traffic on the way back and I made good time. I was home by 4:30 in the afternoon. Although I had been hiking in the Himalaya the week before, it still felt good to do a hike in my home mountains. They were absolutely beautiful with so much snow on them and it had been a gorgeous fall day. A wonderful day in the mountains.