Posts Tagged With: Sawtooth Hotel

Driving to the Sawtooth Mountains
Salmon, ID Sept. 25

Sunday would be a travel day. We were going through mountainous regions of Idaho with those hilly, curvy roads and with such fantastic scenery. The distance was not far, but it would be slow going. We only had one stop planned, at Idaho City. We would be following Idaho Highway 21, also called the Ponderosa Pine Scenic Byway. Our final destination would be the city of Stanley Idaho.

Sunday morning traffic was not heavy, and we had no major tailgaters following us up the highway. It is hard to repeat, over and over again, but the road alternates between several basic types of scenery. First, is a plain with agriculture evident on both sides of the road. Usually the plain is framed with some higher terrain on either side. Second, would be a narrow gorge, usually with the river on one side, and hilly, even mountainous slopes covered with pine trees. Third, would be a more rocky, steep, high mountainous area with few trees, and sometimes with valleys opening up briefly for agricultural pursuits.

Colors would vary between the yellowish sage brush and the deep green of irrigated fields. Deep green of the pine trees was periodically, but infrequently, interrupted with a few fall colors from deciduous trees. Rock formations would intermingle brown, red, green, gray, white, and beige variations.

The road itself was always two lanes, sometimes with a reasonable shoulder, usually without. Passing lanes were very infrequent, but there were some turnout lanes where slower cars were supposed to move over for faster cars. 45 mph was a standard with a few sections of 65 mph. No matter the basic speed limit, the road was constantly interrupted with curves that needed to be taken at a speed between 20 and 40 mph. Compared to other roads, there were not a lot of really steep, several hundred feet or more, drop offs from the edge of the road side. Drop offs were for only 2 to 100 feet.

Almost the entire area is a national forest or pieces of several national forests. Periodically, land owned by the Bureau of Land Management will also be interspersed. Given the limited space between the roadway and the mountains, camping areas are frequent and close to the roadway. Recognize that there is still private land, called in-holdings, that are located within acreage owned by the Forest Service or Bureau of Land Management.

Idaho City Museum

Our one stop was to be the city of Idaho City. Idaho City now has a population of about 500 people. However, during the time of the Civil War, it was the largest city in Idaho and the site of the largest gold rush outside of California. It had a population of over 7000 with about a third of those Chinese. Today’s situation in terms of population is much different. The situation in terms of buildings is very similar. Wood buildings, with sidewalks, dirt roads, and yes, some tourists, constitute the current Idaho City situation.

We spent an hour inside the Idaho City museum with its panels and displays harkening back to the good ol’ days. For a Sunday morning, the museum was pretty busy.

Stanley is at an elevation of 6275 feet above sea level. It’s listed population is 63, but that must be year-round people, because there seem to be a few more than that running the restaurants, rafting adventures, and lodging locations. Like Idaho City, sidewalks are practically nonexistent, most roads are dirt, and the buildings are all wood or log structures. It is located in the middle of the Sawtooth Mountains. These are the mountains that Lewis and Clark saw, and wisely decided to avoid and go around. The pointed peaks of these mountains are strictly different from the rounded edges of most other mountain ranges.

Stanley Lake

Redfish Lake and Stanley Lake are two of the lakes in the region that are written up as being quite beautiful. They are alpine lakes with mountains surrounding them. We stopped at each for pictures, and at Redfish for a walk around to explore the lodge and attractions it offers. We considered a one hour boat ride on Redfish, but the temperature was dropping, the wind picking up, and we did not think we would really enjoy it. So we passed. As usual, we seem to run into Minnesota people wherever we go. This time it was people from Mendota Heights just across the Mississippi River from our house. In addition, we ran into a Nebraska Cornhusker fan who was working in the gift shop. She’s been doing that for several years now where she works for five or six months up there and takes the rest of the year off to travel around the world. She was appreciative that the current Huskers football team is doing well, although not as well as those from the Tom Osborne era.

Our lodging is at the Sawtooth Hotel, a small hotel with about a dozen rooms. We were on the second floor, no elevator, and a room that was not large, if you understand my drift. This hotel has been around since 1931. Five nights a week they have dinner served downstairs and I must admit, the food was excellent. We ate early, and then came back two hours later for dessert. They do not offer breakfast, but this morning we walked three blocks over to the Stanley Baking Company. I believe there is some inter-ownership between the two, but in any event, the baking company is well known and deservedly so. Our food was excellent and the place was quite busy at 7:30 AM. Even for a town of 63.

Ed and Chris Salmon ID Sept. 26