Stanley, Idaho with the Laughlins

Well, there simply aren't words to describe the beauty of Stanley, Idaho.  We could have stayed here for a summer, but, sadly, had to move on, after a week, to the adventures ahead.  Stanley is a quintessential western town-it's population is about 70.  It is surrounded by the craggy Boulder-White Cloud Mountains and the Sawtooth Range, where the Salmon River begins.  The town seems to be made up mostly of rough hewn log buildings.  There are few stores, two gas stations and alot of outfitters.  Backpackers, hikers and boaters make up the primary visitors, although, this year, The Solar Eclipse is the big draw.  They are expecting up to 30,000-40,000 extra people for the Eclipse.  Already, people are arriving to claim space and gas stations have run out of gas already.  There are horror stories of traffic jams and high prices for needed supplies.  (In Sun Valley, the woman at the grocery store there told Jim that they were selling spaces in their parking lot to people for $400/night during the Eclipse).

Our friends, Jack and Linda, from California, were planning to meet us here.  We arrived early and scouted out the area around Redfish Lake to the south of Stanley.  Even though it was a Tuesday, all the campgrounds were full.  We spent several hours trying to make something work, finally found one site big enough for the two families only to find that it was a single site and doubles were not allowed.  So, we met and scoped out a dispersed site in the woods, which we lovingly called our homeless campsite, as it appeared that many homeless people were holed up in the vicinity.  We were greeted by Karen, a lady who worked as a maid at the lodge in town, who lived out here.  She seemed able to fend for herself quite well in an elaborate old and shabby tent set-up with her 3 cats.  I should have taken a picture of that!  She was very kind to us in telling us of good available spots.  We had a great meal, spent the night,  and hightailed it out of there first thing in the morning.

Our first glimpse of the mountains

and the beautiful hillsides

Redfish Lake

Our homeless site in the woods

Linda, a very happy camper, even here

 AROUND TOWN

We decided to run down to the Salmon River Campground and found a perfect site, right on the river.  Jack and Linda let us have the best site as they would take ours when we left.  They are staying in the area for the Eclipse, arranging camping spots for about a dozen friends.

A huge campsite with Jack and Linda just across the way
It always looked like rain in the afternoons but we always barely got a sprinkle.

You can barely see the river in this picture, but, stay tuned.

The Salmon, by our doorstep

Lots of sage for our ambiance

 One day, we had an adventure on Little Redfish Lake.  We prefered that to the big lake, as no motorboats were allowed.  It was quiet and peaceful and absolutely gorgeous.  We would love to camp here the next time, as you could have your boat right by the lake and go kayaking every day.

The picture doesn't do the lake justice.  The water was clear and a light green

color.  

No one was there except a blue heron we ran into at the far end of the

lake.  It was caught in a fisherman's line by the foot and was under huge

distress.  Jim and Jack got out of their kayaks and tried to loosen it, but

it was not a happy bird and kept trying to get away but couldn't.  Finally,

we elected Jack to go back and get a knife from his truck and we kept watch,

trying to keep the bird calm.  Jack held his head with a paddle and Jim cut

the line and the bird tried to fly away.  We hope that he was just in trauma

and would fly when we left but, sadly, we think his foot might have been 

broken.

Such a good sport!
He is happy sitting between my legs in front.  I think J and L are a
little horrified about how spoiled he is!

Linda

Jack has a rudder on his, experimenting with using it to keep his
kayak straight while fishing.  Their river-running kayaks are much
bouncier than our ocean one.

Loving the views

Just hanging out in the beauty of the place

That's me and Boo hanging out while Jim calmed the poor Blue.

 Afterwards, we took showers at the Service Center here, got a little dressed up and went out to dinner at the Redfish Lodge at the big lake there.  We sat outside with drinks first, listening to the music and drinking wine and beers and then went in for a scrumptious dinner.  We would highly recommend this, especially for families and those looking for crowds.  It looked like a lot of fun but we were glad that we had the kind of day we did.

Our camp host told us of a wonderful hot springs just a mile down the road.  I have never seen anything like it:  It was great fun and felt like a million dollars.  We have no idea how or why this
tub ended up here but it must be a great story!

We had it all to ourselves for awhile until the couple in
back came and jumped in the shallow hot spring by the river.

Another day, we rode the Salmon on a pretty mild patch of river down about 2-3 miles.  It was our first time on a river in our kayak but felt emboldened by Jack and Linda who have been running rivers forever.  (I was still scared!)  We also had a leak in our kayak which we have had since Flat Tops.  We have patched it numerous times but I could always hear the high pitched leaking sound coming from the patch when we kayaked.  It would lose a little air, but not enough to scare us too much.  However, running a river is a different kettle of fish!

Linda has all the good pictures.  We were in no condition
to take any.  But Jim did take this of me and Boo at the end.
(I was afraid I was going down the rest backwards-don't know
where the smile came from.)

YAY!  We made it.

 We went back to our campsite and celebrated with margaritas and a dip in the river!  Note the walking stick-otherwise, impossible to stay grounded and not float away.

Linda was first, of course!

Jack planning how he was going to dunk.

This is right at our campsite but on the river.

Very seriously considering how he was
going to do it.  He finally went out into the
middle of the river with a rope tied around him
and me holding on to the other end!  Try to
picture that because I do not have evidence,
but I thought it was pretty crazy!

Love how Jack thought of getting in!

Dinner at our campsite- 

 Jim has tried fly fishing a few times and has excellent equipment but no lessons.  Jack is an old hand at fly fishing and showed him a few maneuvers in the morning.

This is Vern, our old cowboy camp host, right out of
a Lonesome Dove movie.  He is talking to Jack
about Broncos, something he can't get enough of,
apparently.

Our next big adventure was to take the kayaks over to Stanley Lake, a magnificent spot with the most amazing views, and only one motorboat that we spotted.  The pictures speak for themselves!  What a glorious day.

Boo and I taking a break

Linda and I discovered that we both loved doing some kind of creative thing.  While the guys fished, I did a watercolor of the scene and she colored in her coloring book.

Next Stop:  Salmon, Idaho