2019.09.21 - Boise to Redfish Lake

09.21.2019 - Today's plan - Boise to Redfish Lake. When we checked the Recreation.gov website for Redfish Lake first thing in the morning, we were dissapointed to see that the campgrounds were listed on the website as "Closed for the Season". We knew the two campgrounds by the lake were a "first-come, first-serve", but we thought they were still open. As a back-up plan, we make a phone reservation for a private RV park in Smiley Creek, ID, just beyond Redfish Lake, then hit the road.

 Good bye - Snake River

We took Hwy 20 that crossed the north side of the west Boise area, headed for the town of Eagle where Hwy 55 would take us north along the Payette River. Hyw 20 was bullet-straight across the north side of Boise and was mostly flat farming territory. We passed a lot of fields where there were tall vines growing on wire trellis structures, similar to grapes, but in the range of 10-12-ft tall. At first, we thought they were some sort of beans, but soon saw some crop signs that indicated they were hops (for making beer). We also discovered that, technically, they weren't "vines" but were "bines", a term that refers to how the plant climbs the wire (wish we had a photo to offer). 

After passing thru Eagle, we headed up the Payette River Scenic Byway towards the town of Horeshoe Bend, named after a large, swinging bend in th Payette River. The Payette River is popular for canoeing and kayaking which was evident today as we passsed the many designated river portals accessing the river.

  Payette River

At the town of Banks, we were due to head east into the Boise National Forest on Banks-Lowman Road. Our 20-yr old road atlas, however, showed a portion of the road as gravel, so we stopped to check it out on Google Earth. Fortunately, a mile-by-mile check of the portion shown in the atlas to be gravel, showed a paved road, so we were good to go thanks to modern technology. We headed east through the Payette River Canyon, climbing the grade towards Lowman. The first thing we noticed was the remnants of a huge fire that evidently took place back in 2016. The fire damage stretched for miles and miles and evidently was caused by lightning strikes. Although the river canyon and clear rushing river was spectacular, seeing mile after mile of scorched mountains as the backdrop really dampened the experience.   

     Fire damage along the Payette River Canyon

When we got to Lowman, we headed east via the Ponderosa Pine Scenic Byway, towards Stanley, ID located along the South Fork of the Payette River. We were now entering the Sawtooth National Forest, the section of the day's trip that we were most looking forward to. Signs of the past fires were fewer and farther between and the Sawtooth Range was frequently in view as we continued through Stanley, turning south on Hwy 75 now following the Salmon River towards our new RV park reservation in Smiley Creek, ID.

 Sawtooth Range along the Salmon River outside Stanley, ID

When we got to the Redfish Lake turn-off, John decided he wanted to check out the lake, even though we made reservations to stay farther down the mountain in Smiley Creek. When we got to the lake, low and behold, the campgrounds were open. John missed the entrance to the first and larger campground at the north end of the lake, so we continued towards Sockeye Campground, a smaller campground along the east side of the lake where we planned to turn around (it's much smaller, with only 25 campsites). Entering the campground, we met the campground host who advised that there were plenty of spots available that would fit our rig including a large double-wide site right on the lake. SCORE!  We took possession of that site and called the RV park in Smiley Creek to cancel.

      Score! - Lakeside site at Redfish Lake

Afternoon Lounging, Reading & Nap Session

Got to say that this is probably the nicest campsite we've stayed in for many, many years. After we set up and lounged around for a bit, we headed down to the lake to enjoy "Happy Hour" on a small beach, taking in the incredible view right behind our campsite. We then grilled some salmon, enjoyed some wine then made a fire and enjoyed an evening under the stars.  

Sawtooth Mountains - Redfish lake

Happy Hour on "the beach" - Redfish Lake

"Here's to Ya" - Redfish Lake

Campfire Time - Redfish lake

Tomorrow's plan - continue down the Sawtooth Scenic Byway headed towards Craters of the Moon National Monument. If not for fixed (and hard-to-get) reservations at West Yellowstone later in the week, we undoubtedly would have stayed a few more days. Couldn't do that, but what a great spot to return to someday!