Idaho Travel Diary

A guest entry by Matt …

If it wasn’t for Jeff and Leah’s wedding, Cecilia and I might never have gone to Idaho, which would have been a shame. Our in-car navigation system could not have been more wrong when it said the state had no points of interest (the navigation system was otherwise very helpful), when in fact there are many.

The wedding was in Idaho because it was a central location for friends and family, who traveled from all over the states and beyond, and because the ultimate destination, Redfish Lake, is a favorite spot of Jeff’s, which he came across when doing research during his undergrad.

We arrived in Boise Thursday morning, rented a Subaru Tribeca (which was fun and comfortable, but soft and fuel inefficient) and took a leisurely drive up and into the Sawtooth Mountains to Stanley and then on to Redfish Lake. The lake is large, home to kokanee and sockeye, and sits in the evening shadow of a large mountain called Grand Mogul. We stayed at Redfish Lake Lodge with the rest of the 50 or so wedding guests. The lodge has a bunch of different cabins and a main building right on the lake with cheap draft and good food. Elk was in season and I managed to eat it as a burger, sausage and stew.

Just before arriving at the lodge, we had stopped at a ranger station to pick up a hiking map. The ranger was helpful, but unimpressed with our total ignorance of our destination. In our defence, we came for a wedding and the rest was gravy. Turns out, Redfish Lake is 6400 feet above sea level and as the ranger put it “all the hiking is up from there”. He seemed concerned that we had no idea what we were in for. This was true, but the hiking turned out anyway.

On Friday, we hiked up, up to 8500 feet and the clear cool waters of Sawtooth Lake. It was a moderate 11 mile round trip and, as the pictures show, beautiful. Besides the panoramic views, my favorite thing was a small spiky orange flower, for which, so far, I haven’t been able to find the name.

Jeff and Leah had their marriage ceremony Saturday. The weather held. It was 80, clear and sunny. In the morning, Cecilia and I made an easy hike to the base of Bridal Vale Falls. We couldn’t find a spot to take a good shot of the falls, but we did pass through a pretty meadow on the way. We also cut it a little close, and had to negative split the hike to get back in time for the wedding!

In the afternoon, a friend of Leah’s from Michigan who is a minister, performed the ceremony on the beach of Redfish Lake. The Utah crew ran security, clearing the beach, and the Seattle-ites took pictures and made sure there was music. After the ceremony there was a dinner in a large tent near the lodge.

In true Idaho style, trout was the dish of the day. When in Idaho, order the trout (when not eating elk). The cake, three tiers in three different flavors, was delicious, and Jeff and Leah added local touches to the dinner. The wine and beer were from Idaho and Washington State and Leah also made trail mix wedding favours. The dinner was a lot of fun, kegs were floated, and the party went into the night.

Sunday opened with a continental breakfast and then the guests began to head home. Cecilia and I flew out from Boise late in the day. Before the flight, we got to see a bit more of Idaho. In the morning we went for a short paddle on Redfish Lake. In the afternoon, the navigation system in the rental car proved its stuff. It smoothly navigated us into the heart of Boise, where we saw the capital building and had supper at a good local brewpub, BarDeNay.

From the historical markers, we were happy to learn the Boise was in fact founded by Canadians (The first Europeans to explore the area were French-Canadian trappers working for the Hudson’s Bay Company. Granted, this was before Confederation). We were surprised to learn there is a large Basque population in Boise (BarDeNay is in the heart of the Basque “district” (i.e. street) of Boise).

For a place we never would have thought to go, Idaho is a place we’d definitely go to again.