Amber and I had planned a trip up to Idaho to hike in the Sawtooths. They looked really cool and I was excited to see something new. Unfortunately our trip was delayed a few hours because I spent four hours at the doctors office. Sunday morning I woke up with a really weird rash/bump/infection on my right breast. It was not there when I went to bed but was huge and uncomfortable when I woke up Sunday. It was bizarre. I finally got into the doctor Wednesday right before we were supposed to leave town. The PA was a little concerned about it because it looked like two different things were going on. She said I should not leave town until I had some imaging done. So I had to have a mammogram and an ultrasound that afternoon. Luckily it seems her initial thought was accurate . . it seems to be an infection. I got some antibiotics and was given the thumbs up to leave town for the long weekend. By the time I got out of there I was stressed and had a major headache. It was a long and somewhat emotional day. I wasn't even worried when I went to the doctor but then because of her reaction I became much more concerned. I have been on the medication for almost a week. It looks a lot better but there is still a super weird bump. We will see what happens with that. Anyways finally three hours later than planned Moki, Amber and I were on the road. Due to the late start we ended up staying the night in Declo. We were at a cute little campground with awesome grass. It was right on the Snake river. We got there and got set up jest in time for evening stroll at sunset.
Moki and I in the tent ready for vacation:)
Moki ready to bounce the next morning.
We got up early, packed up camp and got on the road. We wanted to get up towards Stanley and find camping before all the weekend campers got in town. All the camping around Red Fish Lake was full but we ended up at Sunny Gulch Campground. It was perfect for what we needed. We set up camp and started to explore. We went to the lodge to look at our hiking options. We decided to start with the hike we were most excited about Sawtooth Lake. I had read this was the "must do" hike in the Saw Tooth range. It is around 10 miles and 1600ft elevation gain. We found the trailhead and started hiking.
The hike was a very gradual uphill and it was overcast it seemed like the perfect hiking conditions. The views were amazing!
Moki led the way.
As we were hiking we heard thunder but it seemed far away and the clouds were light. I wasn't too worried. We kept hiking but heard the rumbles every so often.
It's so fun to hike and explore a new place. It is one of my most favorite things.
A few miles in the thunder got louder and we were hit with a crazy hail storm.
Like the hail was big and it really hurt. We had to take cover under trees and I covered my head with my pack because it hurt to get it. Amber and I have been in thunder storms before while hiking. We assumed this would be a short summer storm, it would clear up and be a nice day. Once the hail let up we continues hiking up. There were a couple more times we had to hide under trees before making it to Alpine Lake the fist lake on the hike.
The lake was pretty. We did not hike down to it because we wanted to get to Sawtooth Lake. Right as we started hiking again there was crazy lightning, thunder and hail. We found some cover, it was more difficult now because we were almost above the treeline, and hoped to wait it out. After 10-15 minutes we realized this storm was not going away. We decided we needed to head back down. We had hiked 4.5 miles and new it would take a while to get down. On the way down we had multiple times we had to take cover from the painful hail. It really did hurt. It felt like someone was throwing little rocks on us. It rained the entire hike down. We made it back to the car dripping wet and freezing.
We went and took showers at redfish Lake and then headed to Stanley for dinner. It felt good to be clean and warm. We had a nice dinner at one of their restaurants. The waiter told us this was the busiest he had ever seen this area. Corona-virus has forced so many people outdoors to stay sane. That was crazy to hear because it did not seem crowded. We finished dinner then headed back to camp. It was still raining and so we just hunkered down in our tents for the night.
Our hike ended up being 8.43 miles, we gained 1,338 ft of elevation and it took 3 and a half hours. It was a great first day, minus the hail.
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