First let me state that you really should get to Stanley,
Idaho, before the tourists, real estate agents, and fast food restaurants
descend on it and ruin its rugged character.
It’s in the middle of the Sawtooth Mountains and looks and feels like a
frontier town that hasn’t changed over the years. It seems to have its share of “characters”
lurking around town. It probably doesn’t
matter where you stay since all the few hotels/motels are log cabin structures
with minimal amenities but be sure to eat at the Sawtooth Hotel and have
breakfast at the Stanley Bakery which is owned and operated by the same
people. Our room was clean and we
arranged to get one with a private bath rather than share the bath down the
hall. There was no telephone or TV but
that made it all the better. The town
streets are still not paved so enjoy the beautiful scenery and surroundings
before it becomes another Sun Valley or Vail.
Today we had planned to take highway 21 south to Lowman and
Idaho City but as we were having a delicious breakfast a forest ranger came in
and I asked if the highway was still closed due to a local forest fire. He confirmed that it was and they would meet
at 1:00 pm to make a decision on opening it back up. We couldn’t wait that long and there weren’t
many options for getting from Stanley to Lewiston where we had hotel
reservations. So we re-routed ourselves
and did a long day of driving.
Our trip today was long but it certainly was scenic. First we headed east on highway 75 along the
Salmon River. Sometimes we would be at
the river level and then climb up with beautiful views from on high. We encountered occasional hot springs and
since the temperature had dropped into the 40s overnight there was plenty of
steam coming out of the ground. We saw
antelope, big horn sheep and mule deer along the way plus the occasional chipmunk. We saw moose crossing signs but, alas, no
moose. At the town of Challis we headed
north on highway 93 still along the Salmon River and this route also follows
the Lewis and Clark Expedition trail. We
passed a sign saying we were crossing the 45th parallel (latitude)
meaning we were half way between the equator and the North Pole. It certainly seemed to us that we were closer
to the North Pole than the equator. We
headed through the town of Salmon which bills itself as the birthplace of Sacajawea. This highway also follows the Nez Perce Trail
and climbs up over the Chief Joseph Pass at 7000 plus feet. We also crossed the continental divide and
entered Montana which wasn’t planned but nice anyway. Just before the mountain pass we encountered
rain accompanied with lightning and thunder but it didn’t last long.
In Montana we traveled along the Bitterroot Valley with the
Bitterroot Mountains to our west. We
passed through Darby, Hamilton, and Stevensville before we arrived at the town
of Lolo where we turned west along the Lewis and Clark Highway, another scenic
route that those pioneers took many years ago.
We crossed the border again into Idaho at Lolo Pass and laughed at the
sign which promised “curvy road – next 99 miles”. Indeed it was a windy road along the Lochsa
River which kept the driver on his toes.
We did the occasional stop along the road to admire the scenery and snap
some photos.
Eventually we arrived in Kooskia, made our way to highway 95
at Grangeville and headed north along vast wheat fields. We arrived in Lewiston around 6:00 pm (having
moved into the Pacific time zone) and made our way to the Hells Gate State Park
where we toured the Lewis and Clark Discovery Center. There wasn’t much there so our visit was
brief. By now the temperature had risen
to 100 degrees – a big difference from this morning. We found our hotel, checked in and drove a
short distance to eat at a local establishment called Zany’s where we had good
hamburgers and Fat Tire beer.
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