The COOLEST Place in the US You've NEVER Heard of... 3 Days in Stanley, Idaho

Stanley, Idaho is known as the Gateway to the Sawtooth Mountains and we will be spending a few days exploring this area. There are so many fun outdoor adventures to do here…. hot springs, fishing, hiking, kayaking, paddle boarding, and the list goes on! We plan to do many of these over the next 3 days.

Day 1

We kick things off with a hike in the Sawtooth Mountains. We hike to Goat Lake which is around 8 miles roundtrip and gets started at the Iron Creek Trailhead.

We follow the trail for around a mile through the forest and turn left to follow the sign towards Marshall Lake. We cross a creek and then begin heading uphill. As we head up some switchbacks, amazing views of the surrounding mountains come into view.

We follow around the left side of the mountain and eventually come to an unmarked junction by a large rock band. There is a small trail going down to the left and I had read on a blog post, we are NOT supposed to go this way.

Instead we scramble up the rock band on the right. After the initial climb up the rock band, cairns and an obvious trail reappear. This last section of the hike is very steep and difficult. We continue up the boulder field until we reach the top of Goat Falls. We cross the river and make the final ascent up to the lake.

We are blown away once we reach the lake! The water is a deep blue and the lake is beautiful. We continue around the lake and find a perfect spot to hang out and enjoy the views. After around an hour or so at the lake, we make the descent back down to the car.

After the hike, we make the 15 minute drive back to Stanley and stop at the Valley Creek Hot Springs just outside of town. It is the perfect way to end the day. It is just one pool that we have all to ourselves, complete with an amazing view of the Sawtooth Mountains.

Day 2

Today we head to Redfish Lake to do some kayaking! We rent a kayak from the Redfish Lake Lodge and it costs $20 per hour.

Redfish Lake is the largest alpine lake in the Sawtooth Wilderness. It is a very popular spot and it’s easy to see why. There is an amazing view of the mountains and the water is crystal clear. There are a number of ways to enjoy the lake.. you can rent boats, paddle boards, kayaks, and there is even a beach for swimming.

We kayak around 3-4 miles to the opposite side of the lake which offers awesome views down the valley. We make our way back but are not done just yet today. We head a couple minutes from the lake to the Redfish Trailhead to do a short, 4 mile hike to Fishhook Meadow.

This is an easy, flat hike that is supposed to offer really amazing views. We hike through the trees until we reach the meadow and it completely opens up to 180 degree views of the mountains. We don't get to enjoy it for long because there seems to be a storm building even though there was no rain in the forecast for today.

We make our way back to the car and while it thunders the entire way back, luckily it does not rain on us. It actually seems like we followed along parallel to the storm the whole way. Once back at the car though, the sky opens up so we make our way back to Stanley and call it a day.

Day 3

Today we get started at the Sunbeam Hot Springs at sunrise. This is a very popular hot springs and it seems like sunrise is a great time to go because not only is it nice and cool outside, but we have the place to ourselves!

There are several different pools here and we find the perfect one to soak in and enjoy our coffee and watch the steam rising off the river. It really is the perfect way to start our last day in Stanley!

We have one final activity planned this afternoon and that is paddle boarding down Salmon River. We rent paddle boards from the Sawtooth Adventure Company and it costs $40 per paddle board for the 1/2 day plus $15 for a shuttle one way.

We will be paddling 6 miles down river and were told it should take around 2 - 2.5 hours. We both have paddled boarded in the ocean before, but never down a river. The water is fast moving and pretty shallow so at times it can be tough to navigate around the rocks. There are small rapids but nothing too crazy.

It actually starts to rain and even hail on us but the timing is pretty perfect because we just happen to be passing Boat Box Hot Springs at the same time. We make a pit stop to enjoy the hot springs and wait out the rain.

It takes us a bit longer than the 2 - 2.5 hour estimate to get down the river. It ends up taking around 4 hours total but we stopped a couple times along the way.

We make it to the take out point of Mormen Bend and then head back to our place.

We fit so much in this week, from hiking to hot springs, kayaking and paddle boarding. We have one final adventure planned for this area and we think we might just have saved the best for last! :)
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