Stanley
On the trail at Cape Horn Lake
I try to go to the Sawtooth Mountains every year. They're my home mountains. For many years, overnight trips meant staying at the rustic Redfish Lake Lodge. Built in the 1920's, it seems to fit in the wilderness atmosphere of the mountains. Unfortnately in recent years it has gotten very crowded. The small beach in front of the lodge is usually packed with people all summer. My old trick of waiting till September or October doesn't work anymore. For at least the last ten years, the smoke from forest fires arrives mid-summer and is bad enough that it ruins the view of the mountains. Now Sandy and I usually plan a trip at the end of June, before the fourth of July holiday crowd arrives, and we always go mid week (it's one of the benefits of being retired). We have also looked for alternative places to stay. Redfish Lake Lodge has two sister properties in the town of Stanley, so back in 2019 we stayed at the Stanley High Country Inn for a couple of nights. It was very nice but right in the town of Stanley. It was conveniently only half a block from downtown Stanley, where there are a couple of places to eat. Now lest you get the wrong idea, the main street in downtown Stanley is a dirt road and is only one block long. Still, there were no views from the hotel. No special feeling of being in the mountains.
Salmon River view from our patio
Last year we tried their other hotel, the Stanley Riverside Inn. It's also in town but it's right along the Salmon River. It looks out over the river to pastureland that leads to the foothills of the White Cloud Mountains. The rooms are nice and there's a patio along the back of the building. It's very peaceful and relaxing to sit beside the river. We really liked staying there so we decided to go back again this year. We even made our reservations six months ahead of time to make sure that we got the last week in June. We picked Sunday through Wednesday to avoid any people that were just up for the weekend.
One drawback to going so early in the season is that sometimes the weather in the mountains is still unsettled. The forecast for our trip didn't look that great when we left - mostly cloudy with thunderstorms in the afternoon. But the weather for mountain trips is never certain. You just have to make your plans and roll the dice. You get what you get.
Dogs having fun at Redfish Lake
It was cloudy when we left Boise but some patches of blue sky appeared later in the morning as we got close to Stanley. We hadn't been optimistic because of the forecast but I had picked out a short hike just in case the weather improved. It was in the Salmon River Mountains, which are the next range north of the Sawtooths. I've zoomed by the turnoffs for the dirt roads that lead into those mountains many times as I've driven to Stanley. Those roads provide access to some of the trails of the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness. At 2.3 million acres it's the largest Wilderness area in the lower 48 states. By comparison, the Sawtooth Wilderness is only 217,000 acres. And while I say "only" 217,000 acres, it's still forty miles long and varies in width from a mile at the ends to over twenty miles in the middle. So while the River of No Return Wilderness does not have spectacular, alpine mountains, it is a huge chunk of wildland. In all my years in Idaho I've only done one hike in the Salmon River Mountains. In 2018 Abby and I hiked the Red Mountain Trail near Lowman. I figured I was overdue to explore a little more of the area.
View of Mt. Heyburn from the Bench Lake Trail
The hike I picked was the Cape Horn Lake Trail, a short hike with little elevation gain. Easy, but at least we would get an idea of the area. We turned off Hwy 21 past Banner Summit and drove about four and a half miles to the trailhead on a maze of dirt roads. The first half was easy but the last two miles were challenging. I'm not a fan of driving rough roads and besides, it gets my car dirty. But the reason I own a Suburu is so that I can get to trailheads like this, so we really didn't have any trouble.
The road ends at Cape Horn Lake. Although we were only four miles from the highway, there was no one there. Places always seem remote to me when you have to drive a rough road to reach them. The lake was pretty, surrounded by wooded mountains, although most of the trees had been destroyed by a fire. It was probably some years ago, but not long enough ago for the forest to have recovered yet.
Grand Mogul, Elephant's Perch, Goat's Perch, Eagle's Perch
The trail just followed the lake shore so we expected it to be easy, but frequent downed timber make it challenging. It required either climbing up and over obstacles or making difficult detours around them, Sometimes this wasn't possible without wading into the lake. We didn't even make it to the end of the lake before we turned back. Still, it was worthwhile for me to at least get a glimpse of the Salmon River country.
When we reached Stanley after our hike, there were a lot of cars and people there. We thought everyone would be heading home at the end of the weekend but there was a music festival that continued through Sunday night. Apparently quite a few people were staying to the end. Since it was too early to get into our room we went to Redfish Lake. It was crowded of course but we were lucky enough to find a parking spot close to the lodge. And crowded or not, it's still really pretty. We got ice cream cones from the pavilion and then walked over to the Visitor Center. That took us by the Dog Beach (dogs aren't allowed at the lodge) and that had plenty of people and dogs too. Abby doesn't know we went to the Dog Beach without her so hopefully she doesn't read this.
Mt. Heyburn from second Bench Lake
After our walkabout at the lake we checked in at the hotel, then went to Sawtooth Luce's for linner. We both had sloppy joe's and they were really good. We had to sit inside because the predicted thundershower did roll through while we were eating. Afterwards it cleared up and we spent the evening sitting on our patio enjoying the sights and sounds of the river while we watched the Brewer game on my pc.
The next day we were surprised to wake up to clear, blue skies. Weather Underground had predicted overcast in the morning with thundershowers in the afternoon. In my experience it isn't usually that far off. We weren't complaining though. We packed up and headed to the Redfish Lake trailhead. We did the Bench Lake Trail, which we've done many times but it's such a good hike, I would always do it again. It started to cloud up just when we reached the end of the trail at the second lake so we didn't stay long. Besides, although there weren't any bugs while we were hiking, there were mosquitoes at the lake which didn't make us want to linger.
Breakfast from Stanley Baking Company on a cloudy morning
Although we saw very few people on the way up we saw quite a few on the way down. It still didn't seem like many for an awesome hike on a beautiful day. The only negative was that my knee did bother me more than usual on the way down. Getting old, I guess.
We had dinner at Papa Brunee's, Abby's favorite pizza place because she can sit on the porch when she comes along on hikes. This time we were able to sit outside as the predicted afternoon thunderstorms never materialized. After dinner it was back to our patio to watch another Brewer game.
The predicted not-so-good weather finally showed up and the next morning was totally overcast. There was no need to hurry so we went to the Stanley Baking Company and Cafe to get doughnuts. They serve breakfast but it is impossible to get in unless you line up before they open at 7 am. Even their express window, where you could get their baked goods to take away, had a long line. We got ours and took it back to our patio for breakfast by the river. It was good but not exceptional. Not sure why they are always so crowded. They're the only game in town, I guess.
Chillin' out at Redfish Lake Lodge
Since it was cloudy we didn't do a hike, just checked out the shops in Stanley and at Redfish Lake. I got a couple of tshirts, a pair of sandals and a replica Sawtooth Wilderness sign. Sandy got some cool stuff as well. We had linner at >Mountain Village Resort and then went to Redfish Lake Lodge. It wasn't quite as crowded this time. I guess the morning clouds had discouraged most people. We even had some blue sky while we were there, so it was nice just to sit and admire the mountains while we had a glass of wine. That evening, we watched another Brewer game.
Next day we packed up and headed back to Boise. It had been another good trip to the Sawtooths.
