Day 11: Goat Lake, Sawtooth Mountains
Monday 11 August 2014
91 °F
Before I dive into the post for the day, a few notices:
1) Yesterday I didn't go birding at all so I didn't have anything to post about.
2) I am really tired from today's activities (see below), so this will mainly be a "picture story" post.
Today my dad, my sister, and I hiked the 8-mile, 2000-foot-elevation gain hike to the scenic Goat Lake, a beautiful alpine lake nestled in the stark, snow-covered peaks of the Sawtooth Wilderness in central Idaho.
Ten minutes into the trail I found two GRAY JAYS, a species rarely found this far south:
The trail forded a creek about thirty minutes into the hike:
Pretty soon we were afforded some nice views of the majestic Sawtooth Range:
Pearl and my dad hiking up the trail:
More mountains along the way:
At one point, I spotted this Whitebark Pine tree, and endangered species, perched precariously on the side of a tall rock face: 
Three-quarters of the way up to Goat Lake, the trail afforded great views of Goat Falls:
TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRE, a nice species of upper-elevation mountain forests in the western states:
Finally! We made it to the amazingly scenic Goat Lake after nearly four hours of strenuous, uphill hiking and scrambling:
I was stunned by how much snow was around. This mini-glacier fed into the lake. So that's why the water was freezing cold!!
A happy trio posing in front of the lake:
It was the most challenging, but the most rewarding alpine hike I have ever done. Full avian species list for the day is below.
Good birding,
Henry
World Life List: 686 Species (no life birds today)
50 species today:
Canada Goose
PIED-BILLED GREBE (FOY)
SWAINSON'S HAWK
Red-tailed Hawk
PEREGRINE FALCON (FOY)
Mourning Dove
LEWIS' WOODPECKER
Northern Flicker
OLIVE-SIDED FLYCATCHER
Western Wood-Pewee
HAMMOND'S FLYCATCHER
WESTERN KINGBIRD
GRAY JAY
Steller's Jay
CLARK'S NUTCRACKER
Black-billed Magpie
American Crow
Common Raven
Violet-green Swallow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Cliff Swallow
Barn Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee
Mountain Chickadee
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Brown Creeper
House Wren
AMERICAN DIPPER
GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLET
RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET
Mountain Bluebird
TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRE
SWAINSON'S THRUSH
HERMIT THRUSH
American Robin
European Starling
Yellow Warbler
Western Tanager
Chipping Sparrow
Song Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
LAZULI BUNTING
Red-winged Blackbird
Brewer's Blackbird
Brown-headed Cowbird
House Sparrow
CASSIN'S FINCH
Pine Siskin
American Goldfinch
