Day 3: A Non-Driving Day in the Sawtooth Mountains

It was a relief to stay put for a day, partially just because we didn’t have to transition the van, but also because we had time to rest into the area.

I woke up early to use the facilities, and sharpness of the new moon reminded me of the impending sunrise. I failed to capture the lunar beauty, but managed to gear up without waking the family. I wandered down to Redfish Lake, expecting to end up on the docks, but time ran out and I stood on the shore capturing the arrival of the sun. It was most reminiscent of the desktop pattern for Apple’s Sierra release of macOS — a hard orange line slowly dropping down mountains. Stunning.

After it was well and truly light, I wandered back to the site expecting to find a wakeful family, but it was still silent. I pulled a few more supplies and rotated between sitting and wandering, eventually discovering a view that captures all three chunks of mountains. I can’t decide whether I hope to wake up early again tomorrow.

We lost a couple of hours to slow rising, breakfast, and preparations, but eventually mounted our bikes and headed to the beach, the kids proclaiming their need to swim. The mountain cold quickly dissuaded them, so we retreated to lunch, a paddle boat ride, and a boat tour around the lake.

I would have liked to get more hiking or riding in, but the setting itself is such a draw it’s hard to do much beyond hang out slack-jawed looking at the slopes. Our portable kitchen is not nearly so portable when you have to stow it after every meal, as bear country requires, so we gratefully took advantage of the nearby restaurant for dinner. Upon return to home base, we packed up what we could. This was the first time Cindy packed up the gear under the bed, partially to spare my back and partially as an experiment, and I look forward to discussions on the road tomorrow of how we might improve the layout.

The weight of the trip is becoming clear. The threat of 60 more days with something we already hate on day three has us making plans to shuffle equipment at some random Target or REI along the path. It’s still hard to conceive of being gone so long.

This isn’t a very good post. It was a great day, but captured poorly. Yesterday’s flailing with the camera turned into what is one of the best set of photos today that I’ve ever taken. The setting obviously helped, but I did all the right things, and it was a joyous contrast.

I will write daily, but not post on such a schedule. Or at least, I don’t think daily updates will be compelling to write or read. It’s only day three, though, so the freshness is still demanding.