Heckel's Adventures

The wolves are in the marsh on the far end of Elk Lake, very small and nearly impossible to catch with a camera without a good zoom lens. Little yellow bellied marmot stood up at the last minute when we were hiking up The Temple pass. Little chipmunk was begging for treats.

Smaller Fringed Gentian Spirea Splitleaf Indian Paintbrush Pussy Paws Big-Pod Mariposa Lily

Jen and I (Mary) set out on our hike into the Idaho Sawtooth Mountains from the Grand Jean trailhead at 1020 AM on Wednesday, August 11, 2010 (Day 1). We started in a light drizzle, with rain gear on and ominous clouds. This loop would typically start up to the Trail Chain Lakes and require 7-8 days. Due to having only 6 days available, we opted to cut a corner, and hike up the Baron Creek Trail to Baron Lakes. 1 hour and 20 min into our hike, we had the weather improve, so we stopped to get out of the rain gear. We hiked until 4:30 PM, getting into camp (large enough for one tent and one small tarp) in time to break camp just before the weather turned south again. We covered 9 miles and climbed more than 2,500 feet our first day. We woke on Day 2's (Thursday's) morning to fog in the valley. What a beautiful setting for our breakfast! We started hiking Thursday at 9:30 AM, and broke for an early snack at Baron Lake. Again, so beautiful! We resumed our hike, and quickly came to...