2025 Western Trip - Idaho Sawtooth Range

View of The Elephant's Perch from our campsite

On Friday, August 1, 2025 Wes and I drove from Ketchum, Idaho to the Redfish Lodge near Stanley, where we parked our car, paid $24 each for a round-trip ticket on the ferry/shuttle, and took the 10-minute boat ride across Redfish Lake to the trailhead for the Redfish Creek-Baron Creek Trail in Idaho's Sawtooth Range. The hike in to our destination, The Elephant's Perch, was shorter (4 miles) than our hike into Deep Lake the previous week, but it still took us longer than expected (almost two hours) because of the intense elevation change in the last mile (about 1,200 ft). This hike took us through woods, across a creek, and up a rocky trail to the base of the Perch, where we camped on the far side of the Saddleback Lake. After pitching our tents and generally getting our camp set up, we decided to climb the first few pitches of Astro Elephant.

View across the Saddleback Lake from our campsite

Astro Elephant (5.10c)

P1 (5.10-) - Wes led this. Liebacks and awkward hand and fist jams with bad body position.

P2 (5.10-) - I led this. More liebacks (Wes did more stemming here than I did). Thin gear in places. Then an arching corner.

P3/P4 (5.8) - Wes led this as a single pitch. It was easier than the first two pitches but still solid 5.8 liebacking. The roof pull was awesome. This pitch led us to a large ledge.

On the ledge we traversed right, still roped up (but short roped), until we felt comfortable. Then we hiked down the descent gully. This gully was OK, but not great - it was filled with loose dirt and rocks. Near the bottom is a single rappel (two solid bolts) that allowed us to avoid downclimbing the very hardest portions.

The following morning (August 2) we left our camp around 7:00 AM and had started climbing by 7:45 AM.

Direct Beckey (5.11b)

P1 (5.11b) - Wes led this, the crux pitch. There was a layback and press move to get standing under the roof. Lots of gear was placed near the roof. Eventually we both both cleared the roof with a bit of gear pulling. So, I guess this pitch went at 5.10 C1 for us. After the roof there was another traverse.

P2 (5.10c) - My lead, a left-facing corner layback on reasonably small fingers. I screwed myself near the top of the crux corner section by plugging a cam (BD 0.3) into the key handhold and was force to hang on it briefly. Above this the pitch continued for another 20 ft or so.

P3 (5.10b) - Wes led, a thin crack in the face starting right off the belay. 

P4 (5.10-) - I led. Blocky easier climbing. These blocks seemed tenuous but at the same time we felt they were secure enough.

P5 (5.10-) - Wes led, he moved right from the belay and then ascended a huge flake back to the left that you can literally straddle. There was more handcrack above this.

P6 (5.10-) - My lead and one of my favorite pitches. Started with a short chimney, then a stem box, followed by easier climbing up to a roof. There is a nice sharp flake just below the roof to sink one's fingers into. I placed a BD #2 cam under the roof and pulled it without trouble on the right side.

By now both Wes and I were starting to cramp in our arms, and we had to decide if we wanted to make a summit push or start rappeling. We took a break, drank some water, had some snacks, and decided to go for it!

P7 (5.10-) - Wes led. Twin parallel cracks, we climbed the left one. 

P8 (5.8) - Wes also led this, a bit of blockier, ledgy 5.8 climbing. 

P9 (5.9) - My lead. A right-facing dihedral up to an arete and face moves protected by ancient hardware (the Beckey Bolts). The trick here was to move right and use the arete in combination with small hands and smears to get above the bolts. This pitch ends at the "Beckey  Tree".

P10 (5.8) - Wes led this, a long, long traverse. 5.easy with a short 5.8 corner. A full rope length the way we did it. 

P11 (5.8) - My final lead, a low angle corner up and then moving left to steeper but still easy terrain. A final traverse under a huge horizontal crack brought me around the corner to 3rd class ground, and from here I ran the rope to its end.

P12 (3rd class) - 20 feet of simul-climbing to the top. 

The descent was pretty straightforward. We followed the ridge easily to the south where we located a saddle which dropped us into the same gully we had descended the day before. From here we walked/slid down the scree and loose gravel gulley and did the final rappel.

Kenton clipping gear from a solid stance

One of several bolts we found on the Direct Beckey which did not inspire confidence

The next morning we packed up, left camp at around 9 AM, made our way back to the boat across Redfish Lake, and drove south to Twin Falls, Idaho to spend the night.