Autumn in Idaho, 9.22.19 - 9.28.19, Part 4 of 4
Between the sunrise and the hike up Fishhook Creek, I felt like I had seen a good sampling of what I came to see so everything else was gravy. We had no plan at all for our last full day in the Stanley area and with another clear forecast for that morning, Bridgit joined me to watch the sunrise from the meditation chapel. It was nice getting there early. This time we hit the Stanley Baking Company for hot coffee and scones which we ate in our warm car staring at the Sawtooth Mountains waiting for the sun. It was an amazing sunrise and we toasted another in a long line of amazing sunrises we have seen together on this most incredible journey called marriage.
Sunrise from Stanley
A new day
We went back to camp, picked up Dana and Bob and we all drove back into Stanley to show them the viewing spot and go out to breakfast. The restaurant was great. They had mounted three huge wooden panels along the far wall. A woodburning artist was working on creating a mural of the area. He had finished one panel and was working on the second. I asked him about it and he wasn’t even going off a planned drawing. He was just winging it and was doing an amazing job. While we were there I saw a photo of the Sawtooths with Stanley below them from up on a bluff. It was pretty easy to figure out roughly where it had been taken from so after dropping off everyone at camp I headed back down into Stanley and took a left on 75 to the much smaller town of lower Stanley. Parking at the edge of town, I figured I could just climb up the hill behind the town. I slipped between two buildings and soon I came across a trail which I followed to the exact spot I was looking for. I was on top of a bluff covered with rocky pinnacles looking down across the Salmon River to the town of Stanley with the entire Sawtooth Range as a backdrop. I was so glad I found this spot and it hardly took any time or effort to reach.
The Salmon River
Stanley, Idaho
Back at camp, Dana and I wandered across the highway and down a short trail to the banks of Valley Creek. Everywhere we had gone so far the river banks had the most fall colors and Valley Creek was no different. It was your classic western fish stream. The grassy trail along the bank ran four miles all the way into Stanley and that was the charm of this place. No paved bicycle path, no signs, no nothing. Just a footpath along the banks.
Valley Creek right across from our camp
Fall colors on Valley Creek
Another great thing about the river was that being across the highway we had space between us and the trees so we had great Sawtooth views from the river.
Valley Creek and the Sawtooths
I’ve looked at clouds from Sawtooths now…
Morning light above our camp
We still had a half a day to kill so we drove back to Redfish Lake. We drove down the other side of the lake from the lodge where there were several campgrounds. Most were closed for the season and the ones that were open had tons of open sites. I love fall camping! We went to the day use area by the boat launch and it was a great beach with views across and down the lake.
Redfish Lake from the day use area
That last night in Stanley I brought out the guitar to the community campfire and played for several people who were just hanging by the fire. It was a nice way to wind things down before heading for home. We saw some rain that night and snow was in the forecast so we were extremely grateful the weather had been so spectacular while were there. We left Stanley at sunrise and headed back up the extremely beautiful Salmon River Scenic Byway. Along the way we passed a natural hot spring that had a steam vent on the hillside right by the road.
Bridgit and steam vent
We drove up to Missoula Montana where Hwy 93 met I-90 and stayed one more night near Coeur d’Alene before driving the rest of the way home. We were just barely dodging the edge of a monster winter storm that was dumping feet of snow in northern Montana. Luckily, we just skirted the edge of it and made it home with no issues. And interestingly enough, but no surprise, the finest fall colors of the entire trip came when we left Leavenworth, drove up Tumwater Canyon, over Stevens Pass and down to Skykomish. I love traveling but I’m not lost on the fact that our home state of Washington can run with anywhere in the world and easily hold its own. It had been a really great trip and I can hardly wait to go back to Stanley again and do some backpacking!
Lewis, Clark and the bears sure had a good time