A highlight for me was that Melissa and I got to climb the Mountaineer's route on Elephant's Perch. We wanted to climb Elephant's Perch on our first two trips to Idaho, and got smoked out on both. In the first case, we had our backpacks packed with 4 days of food, all the topos printed, and were about to load up on the boat shuttle, when a fire erupted in one of the campgrounds and the whole area was evacuated for 10 days (so we bailed to Canada and climbed Sunshine Crack in the Bugaboos that trip). The second time, another fire in the area resulted in thick smoke making being there highly unpleasant, so we also had to bail. At the time we were fitter and were looking at harder climbs like Myopia/Fine Line/Direct Beckey... which aren't really doable car-to-car for us and we were planning to spend a few days at camp. This time, we had a window of 1 day total - taking the 7am boat shuttle in the morning, and returning by 7pm at the latest (that's the last boat). As such, we decided the perfect objective is the much easier Mountaineer's Route (7 pitches, 5.9). It proved perfect! We'll be eternally grateful to the aunties for taking care of the kiddos so we could finally climb the perch!

Some details on the climb... we left around 7:10am on the boat, and the approach took us 2.5 hours (we wasted half an hour hiking up to the lake and back down to the mountaineers route start, I think there is a more direct way possible). The technical climbing took us 3.5 hours (averaging 30 minutes per pitch for both of us), and the descent (climber's left side) took us 2 hours to the point where we rejoined the ascent trail. The descent kind of sucked, because there were numerous footprints and dirt paths leading down the wrong gullies. In retrospect, the best advice is that you need to take skier's left when you go down, staying close to the formation - going straight down will lead you to cliffs. I wasn't able to find any information on the descent so it took us longer than I was hoping... anyway, as a result, we missed the 5pm boat which we were hoping to catch, and we had to wait for the 7pm boat. No biggie :) (We also stashed sleeping bags and pads at the boat dock area, in case we were to miss the 7pm boat... the hike around the lake would take at least a couple of hours). Dock-to-dock on the inlet side, it took us 10 hours to do the approach, climb and descent. More info on the climb is here

The Sawtooths are spectacular, and we can't wait to return already. (There was still a huge fire burning close this year, the Pioneer Fire, but we were lucky to have a north wind for 3 days, and got some clear skies as a result.)

	Campsite on the first night.	Late night dinner. Kiddos were rock stars on this long day!	Happy morning :)

	Smoke rolling in	Whoa

		Zoe photobombing	Live music at the lodge

	It has a cover on, so it's safe, right?		Django in camp

	Breakfast time!	Aunt Jess having fun with the kiddos

		Mountain biking some nice singletrack

	Idaho is pretty!

			Morning glass, perfect for paddling

		These two are so adorable!

			Aunt Allison mastering the SUP :)

	Our camp, only 30 feet from the water's edge. Awesome spot!	The playmat provided endless entertainment

		Early morning walk to the boat from camp	Catching the 7am boat across the lake

	Cold morning!

	Sunrise in the Sawtooths	The approach trail starts off gorgeous right away	Does it get more beautiful than this?

	Elephant's Perch is visible	Slogging up the steep and dusty trail. At least it was very cool in the early morning!	Our first view of the route

			Saddlebag lakes. One of the most idyllic spots you can imagine...

	The rock looks amazing at this part of the wall		The start of something steep and hard

		Meanwhile, in camp... :-)	The start of the route

		3rd pitch	Looking down at the third pitch - great featured rock

			Lots of traverses

	Near the top of the Mountaineer's Route, after the crux pitch	Meanwhile, back in camp :)

	Time to eat a snickers before the descent. :)		After the 3rd class, time to start the annoying descent

		Downclimbing some slabs on the way down

		A quick break to eat, since we knew we were going to miss the 5pm boat by 20-30 mins at this point...

	I planned ahead for the case of us needing to wait for the boat :)	Back to camp we go :) the end of a fantastic day!	Aunties on the boat!

	First time I have driven a fancy boat like this...	Django is excited about the boat ride

			Aunt Allison and Bodie chilling in the front

		Zoe protesting against the life jacket ;)

	Family portrait on the boat :)	A rare moment of Zoe wanting to snuggle :)	Delicious nachos for lunch in camp :)

	Packing up...

	Dinner at the lodge		Getting ready for bed :)

			Serious smoke from the Pioneer Fire

		Back at home, Zoe enjoying getting messy. Bath is next! :)