Boondocking near Stanley, ID

When we left Ketchum we were unsure where we were going to be staying that night. Our backup was an RV park in Stanley, Idaho. We were hoping to stay only a single night there, and depending on if there was good Verizon or not we would stay longer if we found some boondocking. It didn’t take long to see people boondocking all along the highway, inside the Sawtooth National Rec Area between Ketchum and Stanley, so we figured our chances were good for the week. And so we spent day-1, with the trailer parked at the local Ranger station, exploring dirt roads in the national forest surrounding Stanley and finding many new-to-us places to boondock (all have been added to my map), so we picked one. Day-2 you have already read about; our visit to a few ghost towns nearby.

Just off the highway, almost directly across the street from the entrance to Redfish Lake, was the peaceful and quiet (minus a little bit of road noise) dispersed camping area along the Salmon River. With a view of the mountains to our North and the River running below us, it did the trick. Certainly not as scenic as our last two spots outside of Ketchum or Grand Teton, but we really had the whole area to ourselves and it was an easy jump into the Redfish Lake area for a few morning hikes, as well as into town.

I’ve been working on Kerri’s an my ability to wake earlier (she is getting better ow that I take the coffee back after an initial sip) so we can get out of bed and do things before work, like we use to do. Twice we set out for morning hikes. Both times around Redfish Lake and both times the dogs got to join us for some off-leash fun. Also, both times I forgot my camera so Kerri had to do all the photographing.

We saved one bit of outdoor activity for later in the week an for after-work. The Sunbeam Hot Springs were only a few miles down the road. Wednesday night we went out to soak a bit and everything was perfect. The river runs right past the soaking pools, the water temperature was perfect, and the stars were out. We soaked for an hour before taking the drive back home – very slowly as wildlife were out in force. We even returned the following night, but the rain and thunder didn’t help the once relaxing atmosphere. Add to it that the water seemed to have gained a few degrees into the uncomfortable range, we left sooner that night.

On Saturday we decided to head out of the area, both happy that we made the trek further into Idaho. This burned a week not originally scheduled, but we actually have 3 weeks of extra time anyway, so things worked out wonderfully. I’d even like to return to the Sawtooth Recreation Area in the future as there are so many more things to do in the area that we could not accomplish in just one week. Maybe next year we will get to drop in again.