Sawtooth National Recreation Area
ID-75
Stanley, ID
A wall of granite peaks over a valley of alpine lakes and wild rivers, some of the most dramatic mountain country in the Lower 48.
The Sawtooth National Recreation Area protects more than seven hundred fifty thousand acres of central Idaho's most spectacular mountain country, a landscape of jagged granite peaks, hundreds of alpine lakes, and the headwaters of the Salmon River. The Sawtooth Mountains give the area its name, their serrated crest rising above the broad Stanley Basin, but the recreation area also takes in the White Cloud, Boulder, Smoky, and Salmon River mountains.
Congress set the area aside in 1972 to keep this country intact, and the protection has held it as a place of alpine lakes and wild rivers rather than resorts and roads. From Stanley to Ketchum, a single highway threads the middle, and everything else is trail, water, and rock.
What Guests Love
- The Sawtooth skyline, a saw-edged wall of granite peaks above the Stanley Basin
- Hundreds of alpine lakes reachable by trail, from easy walks to backpacking classics
- The headwaters of the Salmon River, with whitewater, hot springs, and roadside pullouts
- Dark skies, wildflower meadows, and the wide-open feel of a valley ringed by mountains
Worth Knowing
- This is high country; snow can linger into summer on the passes and high trails, and nights are cold year-round
- Stanley is tiny with limited services, so fuel up and stock up before heading out
- Popular trailheads and Redfish Lake fill on summer weekends; go early or midweek
- Store food properly in bear country and be ready for fast-changing mountain weather
Details
Stanley, ID
Learn about Sawtooth National Recreation Area
The story of its protection
By the middle of the twentieth century the Sawtooth country was a patchwork of national forest, mining claims, and grazing land, and there were real proposals to develop and mine parts of it, including the White Cloud peaks. A hard-fought campaign to protect the region instead led Congress to create the Sawtooth National Recreation Area in 1972, along with a designated wilderness at its heart.
That decision preserved the open valleys and the peaks together, which is why the drive up Highway 75 still crosses ranchland and river and then climbs into raw mountains without a wall of development in between.
The country has been home to Native peoples for thousands of years, including the Shoshone and the Tukudeka, sometimes called the Sheepeater people, who lived in these high mountains, and their descendants remain part of the region's tribes today.
Peaks, lakes, and rivers
The Sawtooths are carved from pale granite, lifted and then sculpted by Ice Age glaciers into spires, cirques, and basins that now cradle hundreds of alpine lakes. Dozens of peaks top ten thousand feet, and the trails that climb to the lakes are the heart of the hiking and backpacking here.
This high divide is also a birthplace of rivers. The Salmon River, the famous River of No Return, begins in these mountains, and other drainages feed the Payette, Boise, and Big Wood rivers. That combination of granite, lakes, and moving water is what makes the country feel endless.
Wildlife of the high country
The recreation area holds elk, mule deer, pronghorn in the valleys, mountain goats on the high crags, and black bears in the forests, along with the returning sockeye salmon that climb all the way to Redfish Lake to spawn.
Forests of lodgepole pine, Douglas fir, and Engelmann spruce give way to wildflower meadows and, higher still, bare granite and snow. Sandhill cranes nest in the valley wetlands, and the rivers hold trout.
When to go
Summer is the prime season, when the passes are clear and the high lakes thaw, usually from around July into September. Wildflowers peak in mid to late summer, and the long days are made for hiking and paddling.
Fall brings gold to the aspens and quiet to the trails before the snow returns. Winter transforms the area into deep-snow country for skiers and snowmobilers, with the high roads closed. In any season, come ready for cold nights and mountain weather.
Closest Boutels
The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.
Things to Do Near Stanley
Redfish Lake
About 5 miles from Stanley
The signature glacial lake beneath Mount Heyburn, with beaches, a historic lodge, and trailheads into the Sawtooth Wilderness.
Stanley
North end of the area
A tiny mountain town at the foot of the Sawtooths, gateway to the Salmon River and the hot springs along Highway 75.
Ketchum and Sun Valley
South end of the area
A historic resort town and America's first destination ski resort, with dining, galleries, and trails at the southern gateway.