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Redfish Lake reconaissance

On July 11, 2024, a forest fire started near the Bench lakes in the Sawtooth Wilderness. A chain of five lakes, they are reached by a trail that starts at the Redfish Lake trailhead. It's about four miles and twelve hundred feet of elevation gain to the second lake, where the trail ends. I've hiked that trail many times, usually just to the second lake, but I have also backpacked as high as the fifth lake for climbing attempts on Mt. Heyburn and Horstmann Peak. Sandy has hiked to the second lake many times too. The last time was in June 2023 when we spent a couple of days in Stanley.

There is a large, flat, forested area at the south end of the lake. A lot of people camp there because it's a beautiful spot and it's a relatively easy backpacking destination. That's where the fire started. The Forest Service has stated that the fire was human caused but did not provide any more details. Some idiot was probably careless with their campfire.

Because I've done so much hiking in the Sawtooths, I know there's a lot of fuel for any fire that gets started. There are quite a few dead trees, killed by a pine beetle infestation that occurred a few years ago. There's also lots of down timber that has accumulated over the years. I was always worried that some day a fire would start. I could see it sweeping through and completely destroying the forest, which wouldn't recover in my lifetime. Now it had finally happened and I was worried just how bad it would be .

The fire grew rapidly and by July 15 the Forest Service ordered Redfish Lake Lodge evacuated. The Lodge is only four miles from the Bench Lakes, set on the shore of Redfish Lake. It's about a hundred years old and I've been there many times. Sometimes I've stayed there as a base for hiking. I've taken their shuttle boat to the trailhead at the far end of Redfish Lake. Sometimes I just eat at the restaraunt after a hike, or go in the store to grab a coke or buy a tshirt.

I've even held business meetings there. Thirty years ago I managed the first network printer program at HP. We would have meetings to bring together people from different sites. During the summer and fall, I would hold the meetings at Redfish Lake Lodge. We would always take an afternoon break from our discussions to go for a hike (usually on the Bench Lake Trail) and then come back and continue working long into the night in the bar. I was worried that a lot of memories would go up in smoke if the lodge was destroyed.

The fire eventually grew to almost 2600 acres, according to the fire incident website. The Lodge was closed for about ten days. I'm sure that was a hardship for the owners as well as for the staff, who are seasonal workers. There was a GoFundMe page started to help the owners and staff and I chipped in with a small contribution. But the good news is that there was no damage to any of the buildings and eventually the lodge was able to reopen.

I was curious about how much damage the fire had caused. When we got back from our trip to the Olympic Peninsula, I checked the weather. I picked a day in the middle of the week with the lowest forecasted temperature (still in the nineties - very warm for the mountains). I resolved to go up and see things for myself. I happened to wake up super early that day, even before Sandy (the early bird of the family), while it was still dark out. It was tough, but instead of rolling over and going back to sleep, I got up, grabbed my boots and a water bottle, and hit the road.

My first stop was about thirty five miles before Stanley at the Grandjean overlook. It provides a view up the canyon of the South Fork of the Payette River, towards Grandjean and the western side of the Sawtooths. A new fire had started here and the road to Grandjean had been closed. The Sawtooth Lodge, another old mountain lodge, and several summer homes nearby, had been evacuated. Smoke filled the canyon and the Sawtooths weren't even visible in the distance. The rising sun was a deep red color. The view looked like something from a post-apocalyptic movie. It wasn't an encouraging start.

When I reached the Stanley Valley I stopped at the Park Creek Overlook. That used to be one of my favorite views of the Sawtooths. I would always stop there when bringing people to the Sawtooths for the first time. The view was partially spoiled a few years ago by a fire. The mountains still look impressive but some of the forest in the foreground has burned. This time smoke made it worse as the mountains looked washed out through the haze. I also made a stop at Stanley Lake and it was the same there. The smoke wasn't terrible, but it was definitely there.

After passing through Stanley I stopped at the Stanley Ranger station. From the parking lot I could see that there wasn't any smoke plume coming from the Redfish Lake area. That was good. I had read on the web that the Redfish Lake trailhead was open and that both the Marshall Lake Trail and Fishhook Creek Trail were open. I figured that either one would give a really good view of the burn area. I wanted to double check what I had read though and the ranger I spoke with confirmed that the trails were indeed open. Only the Bench Lake Trail was closed. She said there might still be some hot spots so they didn't want people going into the burn area yet. That was fine with me.

There were several cars at the trailhead, which surprised me since the closure hadn't been lifted that long ago. My car said the temperature was fifty degrees but it was sunny with no wind. I was fine with just a tshirt. I grabbed my water bottle and started up the trail. I had it all to myself at first but then caught up to about half a dozen people on horseback. Following horses on a trail is no fun. You have to spend all your time looking at the ground instead of at the scenery because you don't want to step in anything. I was hoping to lose them at the junction with the Marshall Lake Trail. I was feeling pretty good and had already decided to go that way rather than just the short hike up Fishhook Creek. I figured since they were slower than me they must be serious noobs and they would take the shorter, easier trail. No luck though. They turned up toward Marshall Lake. Curses! But then suddenly they turned off onto a short spur trail and all lined up, probably to take pictures. They seemed to be having a lot of trouble getting positioned correctly. They were still putzing around five minutes later when I got far enough up the ridge that I lost sight of them and I never saw them later. Good riddance, I say.

I've taken this trail many times but I've only gone all the way to Marshall Lake once. That was in 2018 with Abby. Most of the time I use it as an approach to the basin below Thompson Peak. Sometimes it's been for climbing attempts on Williams Peak or Thompson Peak, but there is also a beautiful lake up there below the west face of Thompson. It is unnamed, but since it's the favorite hike of my friend Dave Thiel, we call it Dave's Lake. I have gone up to just the lake several times. Today I decided that the junction where the climber's track splits off the main trail would be a good objective.

It was a healthy climb up to the top of the ridge. Where the trail reaches the crest there is a junction with a trail that comes from the Stanley Ranger station and the town of Stanley. For some reason, that was signed as closed because of the fire. That was baffling since the fire was in exactly the opposite direction. But since that wasn't the way that I wanted to go, it didn't matter anyway.

Now that I was on the ridge crest, it was easy to take a few steps off the trail and get out of the trees, which gave me an excellent view of Fishhook Creek and Horstmann Peak. The damage from the fire really didn't look bad. I expected the entire south side of the Fishhook drainage to be totally barren, but it was mostly still covered by forest. At the time, it looked like the fire had almost no effect. Interestingly, now when I look at the pictures, a lot more damage is visible. About half of the trees are brown and not green. Still, the fire obviously wasn't bad enough to burn the foliage off of most of the trees. Maybe they're still alive and will rejuvenate next year. I hope so. Otherwise it will probably take decades before the burned areas are back to what they were before. Fortunately half of the trees still looked green and healthy. The view of the mountains wasn't bad either, but the colors were all washed out by the smoky haze. Not terrible, but not the best view either.

After a while the trail went deeper into the forest so there weren't any more views. But it was still a good hike. I was surprised at how many wildflowers there were so late in the season. I saw lupine, purple daisies, red Indian paintbrush, purple asters, scarlet gilia and others I couldn't recognize. (Sandy is the flower expert in the family.) There wasn't much wildlife, but I did see a big old hairy catepillar making his way down the trail. Checking the web later, it looks like this guy, although they are supposed to be very rare. At the time I was wondering why he didn't get eaten or stepped on, but if my id is correct, the catepillar is very poisonous. Just touching the spines injects a venom that's as painful as a bee sting. Good thing both of us took a live and let live attitude when we met on the trail and went our separate ways without bothering each other.

When I reached the junction that was my objective, I rested for a few minutes and then turned around. I saw a few people on the trail on the way back but not many. It's pretty typical around Redfish Lake that you will see crowds at the lake but very few people once you start hiking. I had a pleasant walk back to the trailhead. Unfortunately there was even more smoke than earlier though. Looking across the valley towards the White Clouds, usually an impressive view, I couldn't even see the mountains through the haze.

When I got back to the car I drove to the Lodge parking lot. Walking to the beach, I was amazed at how crowded it was. Apparently as soon as the area was reopened, people flocked back. I was reminded of Yogi Berra's famous saying. "Nobody goes there anymore. It's too crowded." At least I don't spend much time there anymore. But I did stop at the store and pick up a new cap, a tshirt and a much needed cold bottle of Diet Pepsi.

I drove around the south side of the lake. I wanted to check out the trailhead on that side. Surprisingly, I couldn't find my way through the maze of campgrounds and eventually gave up. But I did stop at the boat ramp to get a good look at the ridge on the other side of the lake where the fire had been. The good news is that most of the trees still looked green and healthy. Redfish Lake has always been on my list of the prettiest spots in Idaho so I was glad that it hadn't been badly affected by the fire.

I was pretty hungry by now so it was time to head into Stanley. I did make one more stop at an outdoor shop, River 1. On our trip in June, Sandy bought a sun screen hoodie top that she really liked. I was able to find one in another color to get as a present. If you read this before her birthday, don't tell her.

Finally I headed to Papa Brunee's for a pizza. Don't tell Abby that I went there without her. They allow dogs on their patio and it is Abby's favorite pizza place after a hike in the Sawtooths.

On the way home I stopped at the Grandjean overlook again. There was a large plume of smoke rising from the Wapiti fire in the South Fork of the Payette canyon. It was blowing straight to the east, right towards Stanley and Redfish Lake, only ten miles away over the Sawtooth crest. That explained why the smoke had been much worse in the afternoon when I was coming back down the trail. Until that fire burns out it looks like smoke is going to be really bad in the Sawtooths.

That was pretty much it. The rest of the drive home was uneventful and I was home in time for dinner and watching the Brewer game that evening.