Little Redfish Lake is a name given to two different alpine lakes in central Idaho

Idaho

Idaho is a state in the Rocky Mountain area of the United States. The state's largest city and capital is Boise. Residents are called "Idahoans". Idaho was admitted to the Union on July 3, 1890, as the 43rd state....

, both in the Sawtooth National Recreation Area

Sawtooth National Recreation Area

The Sawtooth National Recreation Area is a National Recreation Area located in central Idaho, within the Boise, Challis, and Sawtooth National Forests. The recreation area is managed by the U.S. Forest Service and includes the Sawtooth Wilderness...

 and Custer County

Custer County, Idaho

Custer County is a rural mountain county located in the center of the U.S. state of Idaho. Established in 1881, it was named for the General Custer Mine, where gold was discovered five years earlier . The population was 4,342 at the 2000 census; it is estimated to have fallen to 4,166 by 2007...

. This article refers to the lake on Redfish Lake Creek downstream of Redfish Lake

Redfish Lake

Redfish Lake is an alpine lake in central Idaho, United States, located in the Sawtooth National Recreation Area, at the base of the Sawtooth Mountains in Custer County....

 and south of Stanley

Stanley, Idaho

Stanley is a city in Custer County, Idaho, United States. The population was 100 at the 2000 census. The center of population of Idaho is located in Stanley.-Geography:...

. For the article on the other Little Redfish Lake see Little Redfish Lake (White Cloud Mountains)

Little Redfish Lake (White Cloud Mountains)

Little Redfish Lake is a name given to two different alpine lakes in central Idaho, both in the Sawtooth National Recreation Area and Custer County. This article refers in the Big Boulder Creek Watershed of the White Cloud Mountains...

.

Little Redfish Lake is a picturesque mountain lake (photo) on the northeast edge of the Sawtooth

Sawtooth Range (Idaho)

The Sawtooth Range is part of the Rocky Mountains, located within a few miles south of Stanley, Idaho, in the Western United States. Much of mountain range is within the Sawtooth Wilderness, part of the Sawtooth National Recreation Area...

 mountain range in central Idaho

Idaho

Idaho is a state in the Rocky Mountain area of the United States. The state's largest city and capital is Boise. Residents are called "Idahoans". Idaho was admitted to the Union on July 3, 1890, as the 43rd state....

, five miles south of Stanley in and less than mile from State Highway 75

Idaho State Highway 75

State Highway 75 is a two-lane highway that travels through the Sawtooth Range of central Idaho from Shoshone to Challis. The road is designated as one of Idaho's scenic byways and provides access to Sawtooth National Recreation Area...

.

Its surface elevation

Elevation

The elevation of a geographic location is its height above a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface ....

 is 6489 feet (1,977.8 m) above sea level, and is about a mile (1.6 km) downstream from the significantly larger Redfish Lake (6547 feet (1,995.5 m)). Both were named for the red-scaled sockeye salmon

Salmon

Salmon is the common name for several species of fish in the family Salmonidae. Several other fish in the same family are called trout; the difference is often said to be that salmon migrate and trout are resident, but this distinction does not strictly hold true...

 that returned every year to spawn

Spawn (biology)

Spawn refers to the eggs and sperm released or deposited, usually into water, by aquatic animals. As a verb, spawn refers to the process of releasing the eggs and sperm, also called spawning...

 via the Salmon River

Salmon River (Idaho)

The Salmon River is located in Idaho in the northwestern United States. The Salmon is also known as The River of No Return. It flows for through central Idaho, draining and dropping more than between its headwaters, near Galena Summit above the Sawtooth Valley in the Sawtooth National...

. The lakes flow into the river via Redfish Lake Creek.

Besides the red-scaled salmon that come to this lake, Little Redfish Lake also has a clay pit

Clay pit

A clay pit is a quarry or mine for the extraction of clay, which is generally used for manufacturing pottery, bricks or Portland cement.The brickyard or brickworks is often located alongside the clay pit to reduce the transport costs of the raw material. These days pottery producers are often not...

, located at the bottom of the lake.

External links

• Photoseek.com - photos of Sawtooths and Little Redfish Lake
• Light in the Landscape.com - Mt Heyburn & Little Redfish Lake