Hike to Alpine Lake

Written on August 16, 2004 while on vacation in Idaho:

My first night at Redfish Lake Lodge was restful. I was so tired from all the activities over the last few days that I didn't realize how tired I was. We went to bed around 9:30pm and slept completely through the night. I woke at 6:30 and it was dead quiet. It was nice. We showered, went downstairs to the restaurant and had a big breakfast. We weren't going to take a lunch on the hike so I wanted to eat well before we left on our hike to Alpine Lake.

I've learned one thing this week about hiking. There is no standard scale for determining the difficulty of a hike it seems. I was told that the hike to Alpine Lake was moderately difficult. To me, it was difficult. Let me describe the hike.

We stated out around 10:00am. The trail started gently, but after awhile the trail started doing switchbacks, weaving it's way back and forth up the mountain. The huge mountains with their high peaks kept getting closer and closer to me and I realized that my elevation was growing closer to theirs. I also realized that breathing was becoming much more difficult. It took me three deep breaths to equal what used to equal one breath at the lower elevation. Climbing was becoming more labored and there were times that I considered turning around and going back. Kent's brother didn't think I would make it because he didn't consider me much of a hiker. That's the thing about me. No one tells me that I can't do something or achieve something. So every time that I thought about quitting and turning back, I thought of what Kent's brother said to me and I said to myself, "Keep goin!".

The scenery up the mountain was breath taking. It was worth all the pain and effort to get there. The mountains were magnificent. Before we reached our summit, we passed by a waterfall in the distance. It was the drainage from Sawtooth Lake, which is a bit higher than the lake we were going to.

We finally arrived at Alpine Lake around 1:00pm. It was even more spectacular than I imagined it would be. We sat down on a log over the cold lake water and dangled our feet in the water as we had our trail mix and fig newtons. It was absolutely quiet and serene. We stayed about 45 minutes before leaving to return to our car.

Getting down was more difficult for me. We were going down hill which should be easier. But, I was hiking with new hiking boots that I bought before coming to Idaho. They were fine on the way up the mountain, but by the time we returned, by feet were saying enough. I didn't get blisters. It was more like a constant cramp in my muscles. The trip down the mountain seemed three times longer than the trip up.

I was relieved when we got back to the car. We went back to the lodge, where I quickly showered. I was still aching from the hike. I took some medication for pain, and we went to dinner. It was there that I discovered that the lodge makes great Bloody Mary's.

After dinner, we sat outside on the porch for a bit looking at the lake and mountains. I tired quickly, probably from the Bloody Mary and went to bed at 9:00pm. It was a nice day.