2 weeks ago, I attempted Braxon Peak with Zach. I had cracked a rib and was on a pain killer and anti-inflammatory to treat it. For some reason, I never even thought that either would affect me while climbing and the rib didn't hurt anymore. After a couple hours of exertion, I was getting dizzy on steep pitches. I bailed on the peak and decided to wait at a lake while Zach finished off the peak. I would later be told by a pharmacist that both medications cause dizziness (sure enough, it even says so on the bottle). Lesson learned... don't hike while on drugs?

Now that I was off the meds and the rib was fine, I needed some Sawtooth redemption. So I headed up on a Saturday night and slept in the back of my Chevy Traverse for the first time. When I left Boise, it was 94 degrees. When I parked to sleep for the night near Redfish lake, it was 55 degrees. Quite the temperature range! I woke up around 7:30am. I arrived at the marina just before 8am. Unfortunately, there was not a second passenger for the shuttle. So I waited until about 8:30am when one arrived. At 8:41am, I hit the trail at the Redfish Inlet dock.

Instead of going for Braxon, I decided on Redfish Peak, an unofficially named 10212-foot peak that sits about 1.5 miles southwest of Elephant's Perch. I decided to follow the trail to the Saddleback Lakes and then follow the inlet to the upper Saddleback Lake to Redfish Peak. If I stayed on route, this appeared to be a doable route with a class 3 finish.

The hike up to the Saddleback Lakes is pretty wild. It is a climber's trail and in spots is steep and loose, but it gets you there in a hurry. What was a beautiful morning suddenly turned dark, windy, and rainy. So there I sat in a cluster of trees below Elephants Perch listening to thunder crashing and avoiding the rain. As I reached the first Saddleback Lake, I filtered some water only to have to run for cover as another storm rolled through. This one wasn't as intense and dissapated quickly. I then spent about 30 minutes going around the lakes until I found the creek feeding into the uppermost Saddleback lake. I followed this creek into the basin that leads to the saddle that separates Decker Peak and Redfish Peak. The basin was beautiful and the terrain was fairly easy going. At around 9600' another storm rolled in. Thankfully, there was some shelter among the trees (the topo shows no trees this high) and I kept dry and felt somewhat less exposed. I liked the timing though, as this gave me clear skies to finish off the peak.

The last 580 feet went smoothly. It was steeper, but the boulders were stable. However, the last 20 feet were a challenge. I could not figure what the highest point was. So I scrambled up a few towers. On top of the first one I appeared higher than anything else and there was a rock cairn, but I couldn't find a register I heard was up there. I was intimidated by the exposure, so I got down without looking too long. I then headed south a bit and climbed another steep pinnacle. Again, no register, but I didn't look too hard. I even found a 3 pieces of wood over the top of a cairn down lower I though might contain a register, but it didn't.

Views were terrific. Decker Peak to the south, Elk Peak to the north. Braxon Peak and Thompson to the north. I could see the Cramer lakes below me in a huge valley to my west. I could also see that the thunderstorms were over for now, as I had a vast view of the western sky.

I headed down, hoping to make it to the dock by 5pm for the shuttle boat. I pushed it hard, but ended up at the dock at 5:15pm. UGH! So I swam, ate, and waited until 7pm for the last shuttle of the day. Thankfully my wife hadn't called for SAR when I finally called her from the lodge just after 7pm.

Make your way to the Redfish marina/lodge. Take the shuttle boat across the lake to the Redfish Inlet transfer station.

From the Redfish Inlet transfer station, follow the Redfish Creek trail southwest toward Alpine Lake/Flatrock Junction. After 2.3 miles (just after you cross a small creek), look for a trail heading left towards Redfish Creek. This is the trail to Saddleback Lakes. It immediately crosses Redfish Creek on logs. There is an initial section to an island and then another shorter section to cross. This could be intimidating to some.

After you are across the creek, the trail is a bit tricky to follow, as the ground is mostly rocky slabs. However, after the initial 200 yards, the trail is easy to follow. Follow it to the lakes.

From the lakes, I went to the inlet to the upper lake. I then followed that drainage to the basin below Redfish Peak.