August 26, 2013

We began the day by backtracking to the Perrine Bridge in Twin Falls, Idaho. We wanted to see if anyone was base jumping off the bridge. Yesterday's high winds kept potential jumpers from taking the plunge over the Snake River. There weren't any jumpers yet today, but the early-morning sun made for a beautiful view of the bridge and the canyon, so our return to the bridge was worth it.

 

Then we headed north toward the Sawtooth Mountains. Along the way we stopped in the middle of the lava fields leading up to the mountains at Shoshone Indian Ice Caves. We were greeted by some giant dinosaur statues and a couple dogs at the front of a store where we purchased our tickets to go into the caves which were formed by underground lava flows from volcanic activity in the area thousands of years ago. 

Our tour guide was running late, so we had to wait about 15 minutes to go on the tour. We played fetch with one of the dogs during that time.

Above ground, we saw areas where the ceiling of the lava tubes had caved in and our tour guide gave us a nice lesson on how the tubes formed and how the collapses happened. 

 
We descended stairs at the entrance to the cave and went through a door into the cave. We were blasted by sub-freezing temperatures that are a unique feature of these caves. The lava flows create a nearly perfect arched ceiling and the floors were covered in water. 

 
If you reach into the water, you'll feel a solid ice floor below about four inches of water. 

 
Our tour guide told us the ice beds were dozens of feet thick.  

Our drive became more scenic as we got closer to the Sawtooth Mountains and their neighboring mountain ranges. There was evidence of the wildfires in the area that had made national news one week prior. Some mountains were charred black near Hailey and Ketchum. Firefighters were still in the area and we passed two camps where the firefighters were staying at night to fight the fires during the day. There was a hint of smoke in the air and some haze as we climbed over a ridge and descended into a wide valley bordered by the Sawtooths. The 10,000-foot peaks had jagged peaks like none I'd ever seen before. The views were beautiful. 

 
At amazing Redfish Lake, we hiked 2.2 miles into the wilderness to a meadow where several of the Sawtooth's most amazing and jagged peaks loomed large over us. The view was well-worth the long hike. 

The one-way 2.2 mile hike out was worth it to see this!

 

We made it!

 

Being reflective

After the hike we visited a fish hatchery where we saw salmon of all sizes. 

 
Our favorites were the large salmon who had made their way upstream from the Pacific Ocean to return to the hatchery. They were jumping out of the water trying to get in. Many found their way into a trap where they continued to jump against a wall that kept them inside the trap where they would be held until workers had a chance to figure out what breed they were and get them to the right spawning tanks. 

If only you could hear the slapping sound these fish made when they hit the wall. For this shot, we got two at once!

We returned to Redfish Lake to sit along the picturesque waterfront before we drove back to our hotel in Hailey and grabbed dinner at Sun Valley Brewing Company and ended our day with a swim in the hotel pool.

On our drive, we were surprised to read that Ernest Hemingway's burial site is in Ketchum, Idaho. On a whim, we tried to find the cemetery and GPS helped us find it. After just a few minutes wandering through the site, I found the grave. Who knew?

Indian Ice Caves  B+

Sawtooth Mountains A