Today was our first full day in the Sawtooths, and it was another gorgeous day. Although the day started out cool
at 27 degrees, we were dressed for the cool weather for sunrise at Stanley Lake.
Our campsite was only about 4 miles from
Stanley Lake and the overlook was well-marked, so not having time
to check out our sunrise spot last night wasn't an issue.
Ground fog hovered over the lake when we arrived, and the sun was
just touching the tops of McGowan Peak. We were
the only ones on the lake. It was incredibly peaceful standing
there watching the sun come up and lighting up the scene before
us.
As we drove back toward Stanley, we saw a fence line that looked promising as a foreground to the Sawtooths. We got out and started shooting when two guys from Boise joined us. They're familiar with the area and gave us some additional tips on what to shoot while we're here. He has sold photos to a stock agency, and he seemed to know what he's talking about. The lighting wasn't great, but it was still a nice place to shoot. The only action was a herd of elk way out in the distance. They turned out to be the only elk we saw in the Sawtooths. They got the memo about hunting season being open.
Our next stop was Redfish Lake. I had seen lots of shots from Little Redfish Lake, but when we drove by the lake, we were shocked at all the dead trees along the lake shore. Some beetle has re-infested the area and has killed 800,000 pines since 2003. We continued on to Big Redfish Lake and ran into the guys from Boise again. We checked out the spot he suggested and decided it would be our sunrise spot for tomorrow.
After Redfish Lake, we returned to camp for lunch and relaxed through the middle of the day.
As the light began to improve, we headed off to Bull Trout Lake, which was south on Highway 21. The guys from Boise said they saw a big bull elk right along the road in that area in the morning, so we thought it was worth a look toward sunset. Bull Trout Lake was a very tranquil little lake between pine-covered ridges. The lake was an absolute mirror. Although it didn't have the scenic value of Stanley Lake, it had a character of its own that made you feel good just being there. There were two groups camping around the lake. All the rest of the campsites were empty. This would be a theme of our time in the Sawtooths. We had the the place nearly to ourselves. On the way back to the road, we stopped at a small lake with water lilies lingering into the fall weather. There was a huge meadow behind it, perfect elk or moose food surrounding it, but we saw no wildlife. Very strange.
The biggest surprise of the day occurred on our way back to camp. We were nearly back when I saw 4 cranes
out in a meadow beside the road. They were probably 75 yards
from the road when we started, and pretty intent on feeding.
We slowly approached them, always walking at an angle away from
them but constantly getting closer. From time to time, they would
get anxious about our proximity and give out a warning call.
We would immediately stop, and they would return to feeding.
When we lost the light behind a ridge, we were probably within
30 feet of them. They were very entertaining and were a real
kick to photograph. I had shot them in the Tetons on previous trips, but they'd always
been so skittish that it was hard to get any good shots. We not
only got close, but we had golden light on them as well.
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