Tuesday Sep 19, 2023 - The Point Campground, Redfish Lake, ID

 

Deb here. We woke up to a cold but clear morning. We decided to walk over to Redfish Lake Lodge for breakfast, and had a great eggs, sausage, toast, and homefries meal in the lodge, all served by fun 20-somethings. The lodge is the place to go for WiFi, so we were able to get caught up on our communication. The lodge has been around since the 1920’s, and the owners have kept the spirit of the place alive with its rustic feel, dark knotty pine, and warm lighting, After breakfast it was back to our campground to talk with the host and see if we could stay here again tonight. He said that the sites were all pretty much wide open, so we moved the van to a spot with lake access.

I’d learned last night from the folks in the campsite next to us that the Bench Lakes Trail is a good hike. When we had WiFi I downloaded the trail on All Trails and it looked like a winner. There’s all kinds of hiking in this area (the Sawtooth Mountains Wildnerness), and there’s even a chance to take a shuttle boat from the lodge to the other end of the lake and start hiking there.

John had thought he’d hike part of the trail with me, but his stomach was feeling off (a polite interpretation), so at 10:30 he dropped me at the trailhead and I headed up the trail. What a gorgeous trail! An 8-mile roundtrip hike with about 1,300 feet elevation gain. The trail climbed steadily to the lakes, but at a nice pace and with many switchbacks. I started in the pine woods, and then popped out on a high ridge with views of Redfish Lake down below, before finally reaching the first Bench Lake. From there it was a short walk to the second (and bigger) Bench Lake. There are 5 lakes total, but I’d been advised that after the second lake the trail isn’t well marked, and the best spots are the first 2 lakes, so I took a break there before turning around and heading down. Sunshine, blue skies, magnificent rocky mountains in the background, a lovely trail, and water. For me, it just doesn’t get much better than that.

By 2 I was off the trail and walking the half mile back to the campsite. John was feeling better and sitting on the beach reading. I put my bathing suit on and we took our chairs to the bigger campground beach. I jumped in the water and boy, was it ever cold!

A bit later we drove into Stanley to see what that was like (pretty sleepy), stopping at the local mercantile store. On the way back to the campground we passed a spot run by the lodge for laundry, pay showers, and a dump station. We decided to do our laundry, take showers, and dump our grey water. A very productive hour and a half indeed!

A stop at the lodge on the way back. We sat at their rustic bar (the kind of place that makes you want to talk fishing) and ordered some wings and drinks. That turned into splitting a burger before heading back to our campsite. We enjoyed talking with the young bartender and learned that the lodge’s season runs from Memorial Day to mid-October, and all of the workers are housed on site and provided with 3 meals/day for $10/day. The employees we talked with all really loved working there and planned on returning for another summer. I would have loved that job in my 20’s. The consensus from employees, the campground host, and other people we’ve bumped into is that this part of Idaho is absolutely overrun with people between Memorial Day and Labor Day, so the best time of the year to visit is September. We would love to return in the future.