Stanley Lake, Idaho

July 24, 2022

Beautiful Stanley Lake--just steps from our campsite. 

Our drive to Stanley Lake was short and quite scenic, as it followed the Salmon river upstream. We stopped for a quick visit to the Sunbeam hot springs along the way.

Most of the hot "pools" were quite shallow, so we just waded.

We found a convenient spot to park right across the road from the hot springs.

Approaching Stanley

We also stopped at what must be a top contender for the most scenic dump station ever. 

Even the adjoining sewage pond was scenic!

Stanley Lake Campground is situated along the shores of the lake.  The shore was mostly sandy, and the lake was relatively shallow for quite a distance out. One of the nights we just spent the evening down at the lake reading.

Our campsite was close to the lakeside trail.

We did our usual bike ride around to whatever gravel roads we could find, totaling about 15.5 miles.  We started out with a hill climb which had a great view from the top, but the loose gravel was a bit more sketchy than we would have liked.

Hill climb was to the left of camp - boondocking to the right

Julie couldn't decide which shot of the wildflowers was best, so she included all three 😊.

After coming back down from the big hill, we just rode around to the different boondocking options in the area.  One of the areas is right next to the end of the lake where we found a creek leading to a small dam. We also followed the creek to a nice beach along Stanley Lake.

A scenic creek.

A secluded beach.

Another day, we took a hike to Lady Face falls (5.3 miles out and back - we must be getting into better shape as neither one of us were exhausted after this hike). 

The loop at the end is where we followed the river down and then cut back to the trail.

From the trail, we scrambled down some rocks through the falls area. Since we didn't want to climb back up, we went rogue cross-country back to the trail.

Rick is in his element when he gets to ignore the trail 😉.

Julie was surprised how this burned area had its own unique beauty.

Since our actual 30th wedding anniversary dinner back on February 22 was kind of lame, we decided at the time to have a "proper dinner" someplace special during our travels. Thursday night was  proclaimed the "Official 30th Anniversary Dinner" at nearby Redfish Lake Lodge.  We ended up making a day of it by riding the roads around the lake (about 10 miles), hanging out at the beach, and then having a great dinner at the lodge. Redfish Lake has a very "resort-y" feel to it, in contrast with the sleepier Stanley Lake. There were lots of beachgoers, boaters and general partiers everywhere (including a wedding reception), giving the area a festive atmosphere.

oops - forgot to bring the regular GPS and had to use my phone!

We found a relatively quiet beach near one of the tent-only campgrounds.

Almost any kind of watercraft could be rented.

Quaint little Redfish Lake Lodge

This was an amazing heirloom tomato salad. The whole dinner was excellent!

We had a very pleasant after dinner stroll along the beach.

Our major hike for the week was up to Sawtooth Lake, including a stop at Alpine Lake on the way down.  This was an absolutely spectacular hike which had excellent payoff for the effort. 

It checked lots of "ideal hike" boxes:  

It was a reasonable length (11.5 miles total) 🗹; it was steady uphill with reasonable switchbacks (so downhill almost all the way down) 🗹; it didn't have a lot of unnecessary ups and downs just for punishment 🗹; and it had interesting views almost the entire way (which just kept getting better and better) 🗹 .  

It was a pretty challenging hike in that  the total altitude gain was 2605 ft. But, we took our time and enjoyed a long break at the top.

As you will see by the quantity of photos and photospheres, we had trouble paring them down--there was just a lot to see and enjoy!  To keep it simple, the photos appear first and then all the photospheres are on a new page linked at the end of this section. 

Near the trailhead.

Going up...

...and up.

But what scenery!

Overlook of Alpine Lake

We reached the snow line!

Another small, unnamed lake along the way

Our first glimpse of Sawtooth Lake.

A bit of snow to cross (or avoid) on our way to the other side of the lake.

The water was so beautiful--but ice cold!

Time to head back--one last parting shot of Sawtooth Lake

A closer look at the small neighboring lake.

Can't believe how high we climbed!

Photospheres of the hike have been moved to a new page so they will work - CLICK HERE TO VIEW (It turns out that there is a limit to the number of photospheres on a page before things don't quite work right!)

After our stop at Alpine lake, it was now just a matter of getting back to the car.  Even though it was mostly all down hill, it still felt much farther than when we came up (probably the mileage was starting to get to our legs, and view overload was starting to take effect).

We took it easy the rest of our stay at Stanley Lake. On Saturday, Rick made bread and we sat around all day. And of course, we walked the beach trail a couple of more times before we had to leave.

Rick managing the bread while it rises.

Next up-- the Ketchum/ Sun Valley area.

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