One of the coolest parts about hiking through the Wilderness is the wildlife one sees.
There are mule deeres and mountain squirrel:
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The small rock mice.
And, of course, there are the occasional black bears:
(same bear – just a different picture.)
Note we are standing about 200 yards away on the other side of a small valley across the creek with the bear. 
Not one to give up too easy, I tried my hand a fishing the South Fork of the Payette River Wednesday morning near Grandjean. This was after the 20 mile hike – so I was pretty tired, but since I was having a hard time sleeping, I decided to try my luck.
It may sound crazy – but I carried my fly pole with me on the hike across the Sawtooth Mountains. Some folks had told me that there were fish in there hills – and I aimed to find a few.
The first lake I tried was Alpine Lake (see pervious post for picture) – but the wind was too strong to really cast a fly line. So we packed up after lunch and headed up and over the pass to the Barren Lakes.
That evening I caught a small brook trout at the main Barren Lake (there are three of them). The picture to the right was taken from our camp site the next morning – but it shows the place where I was fishing – near the log dam on the main lake (at about middle point in the below picture)
[@more@]Early the next morning, I rolled out of my sleeping bag and tried to find some more of those trout – preferable some big ones as I was hungry.
I spend all morning working around the north side of the lake trying to find some fish. At one spot I found a lot of fish – but none of them would bite. Shoot, I stood there for a few hours watching them play with my fly hook, but not takers… 
After I made it half way across the lake, I turned back towards the campsite. As I past the spot where the fish had been taunting me early that morning, I decided to cast my hook one more time…. That was it. I caught one!!!
Granted, it wasn’t that big. But boy did it taste good!! 
As promised, here are a few pictures from my latest adventure – a 20 mile walk from Redfish Lake to Grandjean over the Sawtooth Mountains.
I have tons of other pictures to share concerning this trip and as such, I will be posting them up occasionally along with some more stories. Blessings.
By the time you read this, I will be about 10 miles into the backcountry of the Sawtooth Wilderness.
The crazy thing is that I will also have about 10 more miles of trail ahead of me before the return to civilization. Yelp – I’m attempting a 20 mile backpacking trip across the Sawtooth Mountains.
I have pasted a map below that shows my route – please come find me if I don’t come out. 
Nah – I’ll be alright – plus I’m taking three other folks with me on this adventure: two gals from England and a friend from Boise.
Em will be sitting high on a hog at base camp (ie. at the end of the trail) with her mom and the gals’ parents. Shoot – they might even be on a trail ride this very minute!! 
Well – that’s about it – see you guys when I return.
You have to have danger in order to have an adventure. If you don't…then it's just a walk in the park (granted, not Central Park as that can be dangerous).
Of course, some would say that going backpacking in the Sawtooth wilderness is not dangerous. Well… we didn't have a map? 
ok… we did get one before we entered the wilderness due to the enticing aroma of a pizza place near a hiking outfitter.
This is Idaho. We like our pizza joints near the great outdoors…about seven miles
Moving on to the "adventure" – we climbed a mountain and saw some pretties; took some pictures (below) and went home. All and all, I think I can live one more day in this crazy world for at least there's one place on earth that is calm.
Βασιλεία τοῦ Θεοῦ"Adventure with all its requisite danger and wildness…"
Goat Lake, Sawtooth Wilderness: deep, blue and bone chilling cold
Who needs a tent when you have a plastic bag?
