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June 2003

Eastern Idaho

David Aaronson
2005-09-29 13:00:35

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We spent the first day and a half in Idaho in the Sawtooth National Recreation Area. The Salmon river flows out of the Sawtooth mountains to the east, north and eventually back to the west. There are a vast number of campgrounds in the area (1). We stayed along the Salmon in a campground in which only 1 other site was taken (contrast this to Yellowstone a few days later). In the morning, elk came down to the river to drink not too far from the tent. Trails in the area are best suited for multi-day backpacking but you can always manufacture a day hike out of them.

The Sunbeam dam was started early in the 20th century to provide power to a mining camp which was a ghost town before the dam was ever finished. The company that owned the dam (the concrete wall on the left in this picture) refused to destroy it a decade later when salmon ladders were ineffective in restoring the fish population of the river. The US government took the unusual step of circumventing the dam by blasting a hole in the cliffside next to it. The result? Well, the dam still stands, the river flows freely, and there's a very nice rapid leftover for white-water rafting. There is unfortunately no scale in this picture but that curling wave in the center easily dwarfs any raft that fails to stay to the right side of it (2).

Stanley is the nice little town in the center of the Sawtooth Recreation Area. It consists primarily of guides for rafting, kayaking, backcountry hiking and fly-fishing and the associated businesses to support them. (Liquor store notwithstanding). The Sawtooth mountains loom behind the town (3).

Just south of Stanley is Redfish Lake which is a bit of a camping mecca in the area (4). The lodge at the lake serves a nice breakfast and there are scenic boat trips and kayak rentals as well. We also noticed a few kids swimming in the lake. Apparently they have no nerve endings to speak of given the temperature of the ...

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