LAST DAY IN SAWTOOTHS - STANLEY LAKE, STANLEY, TORREY'S RV

July 1, 2013 - 95 degrees

Stanley Idaho is at 6200 feet elevation.  We were expecting 60 to 75 degrees, not 95.  It is hot and our RV site has full sun all afternoon.  We decided to go sightseeing on our last day here and find somewhere to cool off.  Stanley Lake is just five miles west of Stanley and that's where we headed for the day.

STANLEY LAKE

Stanley Lake is as picturesque as advertised.  There are several camping sites and a boat launch.  We stopped at the overview site for lunch.  Everyone went in the water to cool off.

Yep, that's us trying for a photo opt with a wet dog.

STANLEY CREEK

Stanley Lake was getting busy as campers arrived for Fourth of July.  We decided to try to find another spot to cool off.  We spent the remainder of the afternoon in a day use area by Stanley Creek.  First fishing and then just sitting in the creek cooling off.  Another prefect day.










ONE LAST GLIMPSE OF STANLEY

 Favorite store in Stanley - McCoy's Tackle and Gift Store.  Jane and her staff are very knowledgeable about fishing.  Store is well stocked - a must stop even if you do not fish.

Downtown Stanley - don't blink!












For all the conveniences Stanley doesn't have, it scenery is priceless.










TORREY's BURNT CREEK INN AND RV - Milepost 210

Torrey's RV has been our home for the past 10 days.  We recommend it as RV park for folks who prefer full service.  (There are plenty of Forest Service Campgrounds without electricity, water, sewer.)


We liked Torrey's because we felt like we were roughing it without giving up modern conveniences.  There is no cable TV nor cell service.  However, our Dish TV worked great and we didn't miss an episode of Storage Wars...

The there are only 12 sites and there is plenty of space between sites.  All spaces have grass.  We were in site 8.  Sites 6 and 7 have views of the river.   We felt this was the best RV park in the Sawtooth Wilderness area.










The downside of site 8 is the full sun in the afternoon.  The upside, I had views like this from almost every window.












Torrey's has cabins for rent as well as the RV sites so it is perfect for all types of travelers.  It is on the Salmon River and you can watch rafters float down the river. We also had access to the river by the horse pasture which sits below the cabins and RV park.








TOMORROW IS A TRAVEL DAY
                           - ISLAND PARK, IDAHO AND YELLOWSTONE HERE WE COME!

SUNDAY, A DAY WITH FRIENDS ON THE SALMON RIVER

June 30, 2013 - 95 degrees

The reason we came to Stanley Idaho and the Sawtooth National Recreation Area was a recommendation from a friend on mine, Mary Ann Dozer.  Mary Ann is a Fly Fishing Guide for this area as well as the McKenzie River in Oregon.  She is also  FFF Master Casting Instructor.  I met her last year at a beginning fly casting class and she awakened my love of fishing that I had suppressed for years.  If Mary Ann says Stanley is the place to go, that's good enough for us.


Mary Ann's guide schedule opened up on Sunday and we were excited she and her husband, Dave, were available for a visit.  It was a great afternoon of hamburgers, chips, and swapping stories about experiences on the river and life.  Ironically, Mary Ann is from the same state as Ray -

Had to check out the river in front of our camping site.  It was fun to fish again with Mary Ann.  Her enthusiasm is catching.

Went on a road trip and checked out the scenery in the area.  Mary Ann showed where she drops in the river with her drift boat and pulls out.  Ray got a few pointers on how to read the river from Dave.  Even though I love Ray's company, it was so much fun to meet up with friends.  It was a great afternoon.

It was still hot hot hot at 7 p.m. so Ray and I headed down the road to cool down by the river.   We grabbed the dogs and went to two of our favorite fishing holes.  The first one already had 3 people working the hole so we moved on and found a spot of our own.  Enjoyed being cooler but no fish.

We arrived back at Torrey's RV to view the beautiful sunset.  The temperature had cooled down enough we could enjoy sitting outside.  We looked at each other and realized this is the dream we had talked about for so many Sundays sitting on our deck in Portland.  We're living the dream.









Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families of the 19 firefighters battling the Arizona blaze that lost their lives.  Their dreams ended too early.

We will always appreciate the work fire crews perform to save the beauty of the national parks, forests and wilderness areas that we will be visiting along your journey this year.

BAYHORSE GHOST MINE

June 29, 2013

Before we arrived in the Sawtooth Mountains, we assumed that Idaho was full of potato fields.  We realized that there would be cities, towns, farms, cows, mountain passes, rivers, etc but the vast amount of area set aside as scenic and wilderness is impressive.  

Today we explored the Bay Horse mine.  About 30 miles east of our camp site. This ghost mine is off Hwy 21 and 4 miles up a narrow dirt road.  In 1864, prospectors met a man with two bay horses who told of rich mining ground.  They couldn't remember his name so they called the site "Man with Two Bay Horses and then it was shorten to Bay Horse.   Silver and copper mines brought many people and the town was created.  Today, you can see old mines, mining structures and buildings.

There was one stone building.  The marker said that it was a Wells Fargo store.  In the background is the mill and smelter site.  It was built on the hill side to use gravity to process the silver and copper.

Notice the storm clouds - it started raining half way through our walk.  Huge rain drops - even though we paid $5, we abandoned the tour and ran for the truck.

There were several buildings to view.  Most of buildings were saloons, cabins, boarding houses, etc.  It was common to have fourteen saloons in mining towns...that is until women and children arrived. . .

It was five by the time we reached the RV.  The rain had stopped and it was 95 degrees.  Ray moved the chairs to the edge of the campsite to relax and enjoy the view of the Salmon River while I prepared dinner.

LAUNDRY DAY IN STANLEY

June 27, 2013

Yesterday was fix windshield and clean trailer day. Nothing to write home about.  Ray traveled about 30 miles to Tunnel Rock Glass and Tire Store  in Challis and replaced the windshield.  He came home with several stories about bigger rocks and bigger problems.  I tried my luck fishing about 5 pm and Ray watched with the dogs.  He was exhausted.

We do laundry about every two weeks.  Typically this not a subject for a blog....but this has turned into an adventure.  We traveled 11 miles to Stanley (pop. 63) for an afternoon of laundry, shopping and poking around.  We past more people fishing on the river than we had seen all week and wondered if we should postpone laundry and fish instead.

Stopped at the one grocery store in town  for soap, because Ray left ours in the basement of the RV, and I searched on the Internet for the coin opt laundry location.  Ray returned to the truck with soap and fishing spinners... Asked if I knew where the laundry was.  "Yep, next to the pizza place."  Ray smiled and said "It burnt down."  Here comes the adventure in doing laundry in Stanley.

Next stop was the Fly Shop where we stocked up on more flies and purchased a cute pair of socks.  (I mention this  because I usually purchase flies and Ray is the one buying glasses, shoes, anything but flies.) While there,  we found out the closest place is Redfish Lake for laundry.  Another six miles down the road.  I become instantly worried about how many people from the area as well as campers will be doing laundry.   I had visions of people lining up to do laundry.   

The directions were to go to the horse corrals and turn right.  Of course, laundry next to the horse stables.... I knew that?  Two young women pulled in right before us and Ray said a bad word.  Now it was going to get competitive.  Everything turned out fine.  There were six washers and we shared them.  Some boys had left their laundry in the washers but I had no problem putting them on the counter.  Felt like I was back in college.  The girls were worried about pulling out the boys laundry so I figured the must be cute boys. 

And again we got through another crises.

GALENA SUMMIT - WATCH FOR ROCKS!

June 25, 2013

Halfway between Ketchum and Stanley is Galena Summit (8,701 feet).  This is the highest summit of a highway in the Northwest (according to Wikipedia).  Ray commented on the way to Ketchum that this was not a friendly road for RVs our size (24,000 lbs truck and trailer total) and he was glad we didn't select this route to Stanley.  He always comments "Put that in your blog."  Ray is confident 1000's of full time RVers are reading my blog -- I don't think so.

One the way back to Stanley, Ray found another reason to dislike Galena Summit. A falling rock hit our windshield and shattered it.  Neither of us saw the rock hit.  Ray saw a bright light as the windshield shattered and I just heard the loud noise.  There was a pullout 10 yards away and we pulled off - far enough away from the cliff so no more rocks could hit us.  I spoke first and asked Ray if he was alive (Of course he was alive, he was driving but the noise was that loud).  

The windshield had huge sunburst. I looked down in my lap and there was pieces of glass.  Ray and I jumped out of the truck and assessed that we were ok and went into cleaning and shoring up the windshield.  

What I love about Ray is he always has stuff tucked away that we might need.  Out came duct tape and we used it to pick up glass and stabilize the windshield.  We were lucky that we are self sufficient and were not hurt because NO ONE stopped to see why we had emergency flashers going.  A total of seven trucks/cars passed us including three forest service rigs.  A courtesy stop to check we were ok or offer to relay a request for emergency services would of been appreciated.  

We had no idea where to go to get the windshield repaired.  So we decided to go to Stanley (home) and figure out our next steps.  Its a little unnerving to travel with a shattered windshield but what choice did we have?  This was not the type of adventures we were talking about when planning our year of full-timing travels. 

 We arrived in Stanley at 5:30 p.m. Mountain Time.  Thirty minutes before our insurance company closed in Oregon (pacific time).  We met up with our friend, Mary Ann, who went into overdrive to help us find resources to repair the windshield and a place to sooth our nerves.

The insurance company emailed us a name of a glass company.  Ray called them Wednesday morning from the land line at Torrey's office (no cell service at the RV park) and believe it or not, they had a windshield in stock.  It is twenty or fifty miles away -- Ray kept on changing the story.  He grabbed his rod, some flies from my box and headed for a day of windshield repair and fishing.

 I'm finishing this blog entry and going to do the laundry.  I might go down the river at Torrey's RV to see it I can catch my first fish.


NOTE:  Ray says 20% of his retirement has been dedicated to repair.  First the slide on the RV and now the windshield.  He is feels this is not the retirement he was expecting.  I reminded him that we could be sitting in a house and that would lower the risk of repairs but also lower the excitement of visiting new places and experiencing all sorts on new things...including a rock in the windshield.

SCENIC HWY 75 TO KETCHUM AND SUN VALLEY

June 25, 2013 - high of 55 degrees

Today we are heading to Ketchum/Sun Valley.  It is about 70 miles from Stanley.  Our goal is to get some great pics of the Sawtooth Mountains, experience Sun Valley, and see the Hemingway Museum and Memorial.

We head south of Stanley and immediately we can see the majestic Sawtooth Mountains to the west.  Today,  clouds kissing their peaks and we are hoping they will burn off by the afternoon.  

REDFISH LAKE


Redfish Lake was recommended to us while we were in Nampa as a great destination point while in the area.  The lake is just five miles south of Stanley.  There is a lodge and several campgrounds.  There are many indicators that this is a busy place during July and August.   We saw horseback riders, jet skis, walkers and fishermen.

Mt Heyburn (10,299 ft) and Grand Mogul (9,733 ft) are in the background.  There is a ferry service at the lodge that takes you to the south end of the mountains.


Hwy 75 has many turn outs and there are markers for historic events, creeks, gultches, and hot springs. This area has several hot springs.  We haven't explored them yet, but they are on our list.

HEADWATERS OF THE SALMON RIVER


Next stop was a quick photo opt on the north side of Galena Pass.  From this vantage point you could see the beautiful valley where the town of Stanley resides.   The Sawtooth Mountains are to the west and the White Cloud Mountains slightly to the east.







We also had a quick history lesson on the headwaters of the Salmon River:  In 1824, while searching the mountain wilderness of what is present day Idaho, known to them as Columbia District, for beaver, Alexander Ross came up the Wood River and discovered Galena Summit on September 18. Leading a large brigade of Hudson's Bay Company trappers, he wondered if he could get through unknown mountains and rocky defiles that obstructed his passage back to his base of operations at present Challis. Unwilling to turn back he pressed on to exploreStanley Basin and the difficult canyon beyond. When he reached Challis on October 5, 1924, he had traveled the route now followed by Idaho State Highway 75 from Bellevue to Salmon through mostly unexplored land.  (Thank you Wikipedia)

Ray's photo of the valley.

My photo of what I thought was the head water of the Salmon River - Ray disagrees.  He is might be right.  My second guess is a hot springs.

KETCHUM/SUN VALLEY

You know immediately that you are arriving in to an area of rich and famous...cell service.  Also, there are beautiful houses lining the highway to Ketchum.  My interest was Ernest Hemingway Museum and Ray's to replace a bike battery (The bike was manufactured in Ketchum).  We both failed.  The museum was closed just for the day - there was a note on the door.  The bike company was out of business.  Darn.

Ketchum reminds me of a town on the Oregon Coast.  It is full of shops catering to summer and winter recreation.  It also has galleries, restaurants, real estate, bookstores, and of course a Starbucks.

In the middle of Ketchum we take a left, stop at the first traffic light we have seen in 200 miles, and we're in Sun Valley.  The sign side the two towns were four miles apart but I think its more like one mile.

HEMINGWAY MEMORIAL

Best of all he loved the fall 
the leaves yellow on cottonwoods 
leaves floating on trout streams 
and above the hills 
the high blue windless skies 
…Now he will be a part of them forever.

Hemingway prepared this for a memorial he gave for a dear friend.

View behind the memorial.  Memorial is located on Trail Creek Road just beyond the golf course and shooting range.  

SUN VALLEY LODGE 

Our last stop was Sun Valley Lodge.  It was created in 1935 by the Union Pacific as the perfect American resort.  The lodge is grand. There is an ice skating rink, bowling alley, as well as restaurant, gift shop, etc.  We were not disappointed with our visit. 

Many celebrities visited the lodge over the years and their pictures line the hallway on either side of the lobby.  Ray is checking out the last letter written by Hemingway.  We really enjoyed looking at the pictures and seeing famous athletes and movie stars.

The village is next door to the lodge.  We did a quick walk though.  It is full of restaurants, gift shops, candy store and a fly shop.  Guess where we shopped?