Red Fish Lake is an alpine lake in the Sawtooth National Recreation Area in central Idaho. The lake is named for a species of fish, the sockeye salmon that once frequented the lake in such quantities that the lake would shine with a red glimmer during the salmon spawning season. These days the salmon are much fewer in number due to a number of dams along the route that once brought them to the lake. If you’ve come to swim, there are sandy lakes along the shoreline that are popular for wading, swimming, and sun bathing. However, the lake is quite cold most of the year with temperatures reaching a high of only about 62 degrees in late summer, and the lake completely freezes over in the winter.

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