Because photographers get up early, I am up a little after dawn, thinking that I should have a hobby that allows for sleeping in; Ray suggests painting still life? We are rewarded with 15 min of morning glow and glorious reflections of the Sawtooth range at Little Redfish Lake. Feeling quite satisfied, we go for pastries at the Stanley Bakery and enjoy scones from our motel deck. It is a chilly 50 degrees and dark clouds cover the sky. We have a hard time believing it will reach the projected 89 degrees.
Today is a hiking day but given the predicted heat, we opt for a relatively flat hike up Fishhook Creek to the meadow, surrounded by jagged peaks of the Sawtooth. In the shade, it is comfortable but returning back, we realize the temperature has indeed reached 89 degrees. We pause in the woods by the river, in no hurry to leave.
There is not much activity that is enticing when it is so hot, so we stop at the fish hatchery visitors center. Did you know somewhere between 500-1,000 chinook salmon actually make it from the Pacific Ocean to Idaho, surviving all the dams along the Columbia River? It is truly mind blowing! After our rendezvous in Stanley, we travel back toward Hailey, and stop at a variety of creekside locations at the summit, but find nothing fishable.
After a surprisingly terrific dinner at Dangs Thai Restaurant, and an unsuccessful search for a fishable creek, we retire to the Airport Inn in Hailey. It is hard to believe we have only been gone 3 days; we’ve covered a lot of ground!
