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Stanley

The Sawtooths are my home mountains. When I was in graduate school, reading about them was a major factor in my decision to move to Idaho. I've hiked and climbed and backpacked in them for forty five years. The lodge at Redfish Lake is where I always take out of town guests to give them a sense for the mountains in Idaho. Stanley has been a stop before and after hikes for gas, snacks or a post-hike pizza. Because of the pandemic, Sandy and I had not done an overnight trip there since 2019. Now we both wanted to get back up there again for a few days.

In the old days we would always go in the fall. The days were cooler. There were fewer people and no bugs. But for the past ten years, once fire season starts there is so much smoke from forest fires throughout the West that it is no fun to go. Each year the fire season seems to start earlier so we scheduled our trip for the last week in June. The high trails would still have snow but the air would be clear and the weather should be good.

In early May I looked at availability but Redfish Lake Lodge was already completely booked for the season, except for a few odd days here and there. We wanted to stay for at least two nights so I looked at alternatives. I found that Redfish Lake Lodge has two sister properties. One is the Redfish Riverside Inn. Located in Stanley, it's right next to the Salmon River. It had nice patios overlooking the river. The rooms looked nice and were reasonably priced. Best of all, they had availability for late June. All we needed to do was get a dog sitter lined up to stay with Abby while we were gone.

We used to have two different friends we could call on when we wanted someone to stay with Abby while we were gone on a trip. Unfortunately we lost one of them recently. She was hired at the new Amazon fullfilment center that was just built out in Nampa. Her new job doesn't have the flexibility she needs when she stays with Abby. We felt that we needed to find another dogsitter. Fortunately Sandy has a friend that she met through the sewing classes that she teaches who said she would be happy to give it a try.

We had Deborah come over to meet Abby a few days before we left. They got along right away so we thought a trip to Stanley would be a good first run. It would only be three days and we could get home in just a few hours if there was an emergency. Deborah signed up to stay with Abby and I booked the hotel. We were set to go Monday through Wednesday of the last week in June.

We didn't plan to do intense hiking all three days. Sandy was having some foot problems and my knee had been bothering me during the past winter. Since we are old codgers, we wanted to ease into longer, more difficult hikes gradually. There were only limited opportunities anyway because this early in the season the high trails would still be under snow. Besides, since we were paying for a room at a nice place, we wanted to spend some time enjoying it. This would be more a fun/relaxing trip than a hard core hiking trip.

Golf is another activity that we used to enjoy before it was interrupted by the pandemic. Since we started to play again this spring, we decided to include some golf in our Stanley trip. Terrace Lakes Resort has a course that is set in the mountains near the remote town of Crouch. We had never played there before but wanted to try it. It's over an hour from Boise but requires only a short detour while on the way to Stanley. We made a tee time online for the morning that we were leaving and packed our golf clubs in the car along with our hiking boots.

At least I thought I made a tee time for the day that we were leaving. When we got there they didn't have our reservation. When the lady double checked it turned out I had screwed up. I made the reservation for the day that we were going back to Boise. Fortunately they weren't too busy and the lady wasn't bothered by letting dorks play on their course. As soon as we loaded our clubs on the cart we were able to start out. We didn't get paired up with anyone either, which is nice since sometimes our shots can be a little embarassing. At least mine can.

The course was really pretty - very green, set in the trees, with a mountain backdrop. The weather was perfect. The sky was sunny and blue and the temperature was just right, probably high sixties with very little wind. The other groups on the course were twos or threes so we could play at a good pace. We almost never had to wait for the group ahead of us and were never pressured by the group behind us. I had a few bad shots but a lot of nice shots so I felt pretty good. Our scores were high (some of the greens were nasty) but we had a lot of fun.

After our round we stayed for lunch. We ate on their patio and since the weather was nice we didn't mind that they were slow. There was a little excitement while we were eating. An elderly gentleman (when I say elderly that means someone older than me) was walking towards the patio and tripped over a slight rise on the sidewalk. He tumbled forward and went face first into the step leading up onto the patio. I jumped up to see if he was ok. He was stunned for a few minutes but eventually got up and said he was fine. He did have a big bruise on one cheekbone where he had hit the step. He looked like he had been in a bar fight.

There were no further mishaps and we finished our lunch. Sandy bought a nice ladies golf top with a Terrace Lakes Resort logo and then we were on our way.

We got to Stanley about two oclock and checked into the Redfish Riverside Inn, which turned out to be quite a small hotel. There is one building on the west side of the road with four rooms. Those are pet friendly and we might bring Abby up next time and stay there. Our building was on the east side of the highway and had seven rooms, three on the ground floor and four upstairs. The room was quite nice but the best feature was the patio out back. It ran the length of the building on both floors. We shared it with the other guests, but since there were only two other rooms on our floor we had plenty of space to ourselves. The river was only about ten feet from the back of the patio. It was a really nice place to just sit and relax while watching and listening to the river. But before we did that we wanted to check out if things had changed since our last visit to Stanley in 2019.

First we checked out the mountain shop right next door to the hotel. I was encouraged because they had several tshirts that I liked. I showed great restraint and didn't get any yet because I wanted to see what else was available around town. There was a small coffee shop in the store and Sandy got a latte while I got a Diet Coke. We enjoyed our drinks while sitting out back on their patio next to the river.

Next we drove through downtown Stanley. Yes, Stanley has a downtown. It's a block long, on a dirt street that's one block off of highway 21. Things looked pretty much the same as always. Then we drove to Lower Stanley, which is a mile down river from Stanley proper. I had read online somewhere that one of our favorite restaurants, the Bridge Street Grill, had shut down. Sure enough, it was all closed up. That was sad as they had the most incredible view of the mountains and the river from their patio. I heard that the previous owners had sold it last year and closed it at the end of the season. So far there was no sign that the new owners were opening it up again. Hopefully it will be back at some time in the future.

Finally we went to Redfish Lake Lodge. Over the years it has always been one of my favorite places to visit in Idaho. The scenery is spectacular and it's a major trailhead for hikes into the Sawtooth Mountains. The rustic main building is almost a hundred years old and always seemed to fit the image of a remote lodge beside a mountain lake on the edge of the wilderness. There were always more people at Redfish Lake than in the backcountry, but it was relatively uncrowded compared to places in the Sierras or Cascades. Each time that I went back though there were more people than before.

This year was the worst I had ever seen. The small beach area was filled with people. They had blankets spread over the ground and tents and lawn chairs set up everywhere. There must have been fifty kids playing in the shallow water near the marina.

I used to like to sit in one of the chairs in front of the main lodge and admire the view of the lake and mountains. Now every chair was taken, and there were at least as many people just standing around as were sitting. There was no way you could ever get a spot and if you did you wouldn't even be able to see the lake. The lawn in front of the lodge was filled with volleyball games and people chasing their kids or playing with their dogs. There was even a brand new parking lot that had been added beyond the lodge store to accomadate a lot more cars and therefore a lot more people.

After walking around for a while we stopped at the store, where I bought a Redfish Lake Lodge tshirt for old times sake. Then we left. I had no desire to stay. It seemed more like a crowded urban park on a Sunday afternoon than a remote mountain lake in the middle of the week. I guess I'm an old curmudgeon who will just remember Redfish Lake the way it was years ago.

We spent the evening on the patio behind our room, watching the evening light fading from the hills across the river. We had some wine with a little cheese and fruit. It was very pleasant.

After that I had one unpleasant task to perform. I had to sweep the room for bugs, baseball cap in one hand (for swatting) and Kleenex in the other (for picking up). I had to kill about half a dozen bugs including two great big ones. Although it was a nuisance, we didn't see any more bugs in the room for the rest of our stay. It only took a few minutes and it wasn't a big deal. I suspect that they got in when the housekeepers were cleaning the room before we arrived. My experience is that they leave the doors wide open while they work. That close to the river there were a lot of bugs flying around. Although they didn't bother us while we were out on the patio, they could have gotten in the room if the doors were left open for a long time.

Next morning we were up early and went right to the Stanley Baking Company and Cafe. There was a line to go inside for a sit down breakfast so we went to the bakery take out window instead. Sandy got a chocolate croissant and I got a cinamon roll. We ate them on the patio and they were delicious. Suitably fortified, we left for our hike.

It was 8:30 when we parked at the Redfish Lake Trailhead and set out on the Bench Lake Trail. I've done this hike many times, but it's very pretty and always worth doing again. There are five Bench Lakes but the maintained trail ends at the second lake. The first two lakes aren't that high so I expected them to be clear of snow. Just to be sure, I had checked at the Forest Service Visitor Center the day before and they confirmed that the trail was clear all the way to the second lake. But we encountered a different problem almost immediately. Only fifty feet from the start, a small creek had overflowed and covered the trail. To avoid wading through the water we had to cross the parking lot and walk along the side of the road to where we could rejoin the trail. The detour only added about a hundred yards but it made me a little nervous that we might have more problems with high stream flows later on. It had been a wet spring and now the warm weather was melting the snow really fast. As we drove to the trailhead I had noticed that Redfish Creek was as high and as fast as I had ever seen it. Where the trail crosses Redfish Creek the bridge had washed out a few years before and had to be replaced, so I knew high water could be a problem.

The forecast had predicted low forties this early but the temperature was already in the high fifties. I didn't even bother wearing my long sleeve shirt. I left it in the car. There was no one else out this morning and we had the trail virtually to ourselves. The only people we saw on the hike up were three backpackers who were coming down after spending the night in the backcountry. When we reached the second lake there was no one there. We had a beautiful view of the snow covered mountains all to ourselves. Quite a contrast from our experience at Redfish Lake the day before.

It was different on the way down. We passed a lot of people heading up to the lake. I guess no one besides us believes in getting an early start. That seemed like a mistake since it was starting to get pretty warm by the time we got back to the trailhead. Even worse, on the way down we passed a group going up on horseback. From then on the trail was often covered with horse poop, very fragrant and with swarms of flies buzzing around. We only had to deal with it for about half of our return hike. The late starters had it all the way in both directions. I think it is pretty selfish when a small group of horseback riders really ruins the experience of ten or twenty times as many hikers. Not cool people.

After our exertions we felt that we deserved a hearty lunch. We ate at Sawtooth Luce's, which is kind of a strange place. Although it has been in Stanley for many years, whenever I go up there it always seems to be closed. I only ate there once and that was a long time ago. Sandy had never eaten there. I guess it has changed owners over the years. It was open now and we decided to give it a try. We found a seat on their large patio where we could enjoy the warm weather. Their menu was pretty much just burgers and fries for lunch. That wasn't a bad thing as burgers are one of Sandy's favorites and I am ok with them.

When we got back to the car, the GPS app on my phone said we had hiked 8.41 miles with 1256 feet of elevation gain. We hiked at a slow but steady pace and took about two hours each way. Although just a moderate hike it was still a workout and we were both pleased that we felt really good both during and after the hike.

After our exertions we felt that we deserved a hearty lunch. We ate at Sawtooth Luce's, which is kind of a strange place. Although it has been in Stanley for many years, whenever I go up there it always seems to be closed. I only ate there once and that was a long time ago. Sandy had never eaten there. I guess it has changed owners over the years. It was open now and we decided to give it a try. We found a seat on their large patio where we could enjoy the warm weather. Their menu was quite limited, pretty much just burgers and fries for lunch. That wasn't a bad thing as burgers are one of Sandy's favorites and I am ok with them.

After lunch it was back to our hotel. We hung out on the patio while Sandy did some school work. Later that evening we watched the Brewer game over the Internet, although a few times the data rate dropped so low that the screen became heavily pixelated to the point that you couldn't tell what was happening. The end result is what matters though and the Brewers beat Tampa Bay so it was all good.

The next morning Sandy didn't feel quite right. The burger the day before had tasted good but had been pretty greasy. It didn't agree with her. We scratched our plans for another hike before heading home. Instead we just drove back to a couple of viewpoints. We stopped at Little Redfish Lake and Redfish Lake to take some pictures. It was 8 am and once again, there was no one else there that early. The light was great so we got some beautiful pictures. After that it was time to head home.

Just after Banner Summit is a windy stretch of road where you can't see very far ahead. We were following another car when suddenly it just stopped dead in the road. We were wondering what was going on when the car slowly crossed the yellow line and drove on the other side of the road. Now we could see that there were four mountain goats in the road. Two were quite small, obviously very young, and one of them was lying on the ground. We thought that it had been hit by a car and the adult goats were staying by it. But when the car ahead of us passed the goats the driver really laid on the horn. The young goat leaped to its feet and all four of them darted off the road and up a steep slope, so the story has a happy ending. I have seen mountain goats in the Sawtooths several times but always far away. It wsa unusual to see them up so close.

Maybe it was a weird day for animals. Several times in the next half hour we saw deer on or next to the highway, crossing the road or looking like they were about to cross. After a while I got paranoid and dropped my speed about ten miles per hour. We managed to make it back without incident and Abby was happy to see us when we got home. Deborah said that her and Abby did just fine, so now we have another dogsitter for our travels. Our Stanley trip was successful at all levels.