Stanley 2024
A beautiful day at Redfish Lake
The Sawtooths are my home mountains. I've traveled and hiked in mountain ranges all over the world, but I still love the Sawtooths. I make lots of day trips up there (and they are long days) but Sandy and I have established a tradition of going up at least once every year and staying a couple of nights. In years past we always stayed at the Redfish Lake Lodge. It's a rustic old hotel that seems to fit in the mountains. The main building is a hundred years old. And It's on the shore of Redfish Lake, one of the most beautiful places in Idaho. We always enjoyed staying there.
But time moves on. More people have moved to Idaho and that means more people go to Redfish Lake. There is a small beach right in front of the lodge and now in summer it is packed with people. They also have a small marina where people rent kayaks and paddle boats. Now in summer the lodge and the area around it are packed. Sometimes you can't even find a place to park at the lodge. Because there are so many people, we don't go to the Lodge very often anymore. As Yogi Berra said "No one goes there any more. It's too crowded."
Salmon River from the patio at Redfish Riverside Lodge
A few years ago we tried an alternative - the Stanley High Country Inn. It was a nice hotel. New, but low key and rustic looking. It's not garish or out of place. It fits into Stanley's small, mountain town look. The location was right in Stanley, so it was close to places to eat and get supplies or souvenirs. But for being in such an amazing place, there were no views from the hotel or the rooms. So as a place to crash after a hard day of hiking it was fine. But it's not really a place to hang out, to spend time.
Next we tried the Redfish Riverside Inn. It's also in Stanley, but is right next to the Salmon River. The entire back side is a huge patio that is right next to the river. True, it looks out towards the foothills of the White Clouds rather than the Sawtooths, but the patio is still a wonderful place to just sit and look at the river and the mountains. We decided that we really like it and have been going back there each year ever since Covid ended.
Fishhook Creek Meadow and Horstmann Peak
We usually do our Stanley trip in June. This is another change from years ago. Back in the day, we would go in September because once school started not many people went to the mountains. The cold nights also killed off bugs so they weren't a problem. But in recent years forest fires have become much worse. Usually some time in July or August the fire season starts and from then on there is heavy smoke in the mountains. So now we go in June, while the air is still clear and the skies are bright blue.
The weather is usually good, but it is less dependable than in summer and fall. This year we were going for three days in the middle of June. We reserved the rooms several months ahead of time so we just had to take our chances with the weather. The week before we left it looked like we were in trouble. The extended forecast was for storms on our first day and very low temperatures after that. But by the time we left that had changed. The storm front actually came through a day early, so we just had clouds on our first day. Temperatures were still forecast to be low. Some days the high would only be in the mid-fifties. No problem. We just packed warm clothes and some extra blankets.
Enjoying Redfish Burgers after our hike
When we got to Stanley it was mostly overcast but it didn't feel that cold. Maybe it would be ok after all, especially while we were hiking. We checked in and then drove to the Redfish Lake Trailhead. This early in the season there was still snow on the higher trails so we started with the Fishhook Creek Trail. It's at lower elevation. It's flat. It's easy. The round trip is only four and a half miles. It would be a good starter hike for my new knee as well. Most of the way the trail is next to Fishhook Creek and this early in the season it was roaring with all the snowmelt. We didn't see any other people on the hike in, although there were a couple of people at the end of the trail at Fishhook Creek Meadow. By the time we got there most of the clouds had dissipated and there was quite a bit of blue sky.
The view of Horstmann Peak from the meadow is spectacular. A lot of snow still lingered on the high peaks and made the scene even more beautiful. Although I've reached a lot of summits in the Sawtooths, I never have climbed Horstmann. Even though it is very visible from the highway, the mountain is quite remote. There are no trails that go anywhere close to it. It's not climbed very often. Over the years I've tried to climb it twice, once from where we were now at the end of the Fishhook Creek Trail, and once from the fifth Bench Lake. I didn't even make it to the base of the mountain either time. Oh well. Maybe some day.
Sandy on the trail at Petit Lake
After the hike we went to Redfish Lake. We were pleasantly surprised that there weren't many people there. It was like the old days. Mayber it was because of the bad weather forecast. Maybe it was because we were a week earlier than other years and not so close to the fourth of July holiday. Whatever the reason, it was nice.
Of course we checked out the store. It was the start of a new season so they had just gotten all their new designs in. Sandy got a nice Redfish Lake logo jacket and a tshirt for Brooklyn. I got a tshirt too (of course).
We celebrated our hike with a drink in the bar and then had Redfish Burgers for dinner. That was nostalgic because years ago when we worked for HP we used to have network printer program meetings at Redfish Lake Lodge. People would come from California and Colorado and we would spend a couple of days working together at the lodge. Since there isn't anything like a meeting room, they would close the bar off for us during the day and we would have our meetings there, enjoying the view of the lake and the mountains out the window. Yeah, those were the days.
Climbing over down timber on the trail
By the time we were back to our hotel it was getting pretty cool so we didn't spend time on the patio. Instead we stayed in our room, turned on the electric fireplace, and watched the Brewer game. They were in LA playing the Angels and looked to be cruising to an easy win with a 6-0 lead going into the bottom of the ninth. In the end it turned out to be a cliff hanger. The Angels scored three runs and had two men on base with two outs. The tying run was at the plate now. Taylor Ward hit a drive deep to right center that looked like it would tie the game. But Sal Frelick jumped up and caught the ball just as it was sailing over the wall to take away a home run. A dramatic finish to a game that almost had a comeback for the ages. As Yogi Berra says, "It ain't over till it's over."
The next day was beautiful with a clear blue sky. We spent the morning on the patio enjoying our view while we ate breakfast. It was a little cool but we had brought some blankets from home so we were comfortable sitting out there all morning.
Petit Lake looking up drainage towards Alice Lake
In the afternoon we drove south to the Petit Lake Trailhead. We figured we would start out on the Alice Lake Trail and see how far we got. For well over a mile it follows the shore of Petit Lake and is very pretty. It's low elevation (so no snow) and very easy, but there were a couple of down trees across the trail that we had to climb over.
When we reached the far end of the lake the trail went through a boggy area. In a very short time the mosquitoes found us. There were a lot of downed trees too. Instead of one every fifteen or twenty minutes, now they seemed to be every hundred feet. We could have continuted, but it wasn't fun anymore so we decided to head back. That was ok. The first section of the trail had been a great hike.
We had linner at Papa Brunee's Pizza. When I hike with Abby we always stop there because it's the only place in Stanley that allows dogs on their patio. We share a pizza after our hikes so it is her favorite place. Don't tell Abby that we went there without her.
Afterwards we had Happy Hour on our patio and watched the cows that were grazing across the river slowly make their way back to the barn way off to the south. You know the old expression "till the cows come home". Well, I can vouch for the fact that they do, in fact, come home. Then it was time to watch the Brewers again. They won 2-0 to win the series from the Angels.
That was our trip. Next morning we packed up and headed for home where Abby was glad to see us.
