Stanley, Idaho…a town that we will never forget …for very contrasting reasons! Our experience in Stanley was unforgettable, but not for the reasons most people might think.

The good

1. Stanley is amazing and beautiful we were able to spend so little money to take it all in (you’ll love the pictures below).

2. Our old neighbors from Georgia, the last place we lived in, came for a visit!

The Bad (it’s a lot!)

While Boondocking, aka dry camping, aka no extra water or sewer and minimal power....

1. The back of our RV side-swiped a 2 foot tall tree stump while pulling into our dry camping spot, bending the back left corner of the wall of our RV completely off (we could see our couch from the outside of the RV. Check out the picture below!).

2. We all caught a stomach virus. Calista and Lauren got it the worst. Just imagine a terrible stomach flu...and multiply that by 10 because....

3. Our generator broke! Which means that in 90+ degree temperature we had no air conditioning. We should just drive to an actual campground or maybe to a cooler location, but.....

4. We had a shackle snap under our RV, making our RV undrivable until we got it fixed (another picture below). It's actually a relatively easy fix except...

5. We were in the middle of nowhere and couldn't get the part shipped to us for days and days. That means a 6 hour round trip drive to Boise to pick up a $20 part.

6. Most importantly (at least to Aaron) is that the 6 hour drive caused him the miss MLB's All-Star Game Home Run Derby.

We are thankful that the sickness didn’t hit us and the generator didn’t hit us until AFTER our friends left! It was a rough week and honestly, probably the toughest week we’ve had on the road so far. 

Where We Stayed

We use Campendium to find boondocking spots, and we found one called Salmon River #2. The Sawtooth NRA Dump Station had a $5 dump & fill station and trash dumpsters which was super convenient. It was only a few miles from our boondocking spot and it just so happened to be the prettiest dump station we’ve ever been to!

Dumping with views of the Sawtooth Mountains is almost enough to forget about the stench (or so I’ve been told).

What We Did

There are some amazing hikes in the Stanley area that unfortunately we had to miss out on due to a groin injury that Lauren was trying to recover from (oh yeah, one more bad bullet point), But if you visit Stanley, you definitely have to check out all the beautiful hikes there are. Some of the best easy to moderate local hikes are:

• Sawtooth Lake via Iron Creek Stanley Lake Trail

• Bench Lakes Trail

• Lily Pond and Redfish Lake Creek Falls

We stuck with easier, relaxing activities and had a great time with our friends. 

Redfish Lake was the highlight of Stanley for us.

Redfish Lake Lodge was only a 5 minute drive from our boondocking spot. Parking is free if you park in one of the parking lots closest to the lodge, we assume to encourage you to spend money at one of their two restaurants, gift shop, or by renting a boat or kayak (it worked because we did all three!).

We loved the lodge area so much. It was a little crowded, but there was a nice beach to relax on, shallow water to play in, and docks to jump off.

The water is some of the prettiest water I’ve ever seen. It’s shallow for a good ways out so there’s plenty of space to play or float around with the kids. We even had a fun, spontaneous baseball game in the clear, shallow water one day!

Renting a boat…well worth it!

We couldn’t see the entire lake from the beach, and we really wanted to explore the entire lake, so our friends that were visiting surprised us by renting a boat for our crew on their last day! It was so much fun. We were able to access a different part of the lake that’s only accessible by boat and have a little fun over there.

Downtown Stanley

We enjoyed pizza at Papa Brunee’s in town, and had a great time just walking around the quaint downtown area. The grocery store doesn’t have everything you’ll need, and it’s pricey so stock up on groceries before you arrive. People rave about Stanley Baking Co & Cafe so we had to try it one morning. We found the biggest cinnamon rolls we’d ever seen and they were delicious! If you choose to go there on a weekend like we did, get there early or plan to wait a while. There was a line out the door to be seated, but there was also a separate to-go line for their pastries and coffee so we took ours to go.

Cell signal and wifi can be hit or miss, so we visited the public library downtown a few times to use their free wifi. It has plenty of outdoor seating areas and a restaurant nextdoor for food and drinks.

We had heard that Stanley Lake was a must-see, so we made a point to stop by on the day we had to drive 4 hours round trip to pick up a pice for our RV to be fixed (oh, did I forget to mention that one in the bullet points?!) It was stunning and we wished we had more time to spend there.

Despite all of the bad things that happened, we had some great times in Stanley and we will definitely be back! We know there’s so much more to explore there, and the insane beauty of the area will be remembered as we plan our next trek out that way!