Vacation Day 11

I figured the snow storm from yesterday would slow the starting of my day this morning and I was right. There’s supposed to be a mountain here, but there’s too much fog!

I hung out at the hotel until 8am, when I saw the fog had lifted to reveal the mountains. I first headed to Stanley Lake to get some morning pictures of the mountains reflecting in the lake. There were a few turnouts that had some really good views of the fog still lingering.

As I got closer to Lake Stanley, the deeper into the fog I got. I kept going anyway, because fog can create some really nice pictures, especially over a lake.

With the fog covering the mountains, I decided to go south to Redfish Lake, a spot where photos are great in the morning. However, when I got there, they were not only doing construction on the main road that comes in, but all the trails that went by the lake! I didn’t get a single photo here. Lame.

Thankfully there were a few turnouts coming back into town where I was able to get a few nice shots.

Next I headed north of Stanley, then north of Sunbeam to the Yankee Fork Gold Dredge. It was built in the 1940s to dredge for gold in the Yankee Fork valley.

There’s a self-guided tour that’s only $5 and you get to explore the whole thing.

After that, I headed up the same road for a mile to the ghost town of Custer. It had a lot of buildings that were preserved, however, they were locked up tight and I could only get a peek through some windows.

These three children are buried in Custer. They died in a snowslide in 1890. The snow came down the mountain onto and into their house, removed it from the foundation and flipped it around, then pushed it down the valley. The parents survived, however, then kids did not.

It was weird how the houses were not all built the same. But it was clear who had wealth and who did not.

Next I went back past the dredge to Bonanza City. It’s another ghost town, but there are only a few remaining houses and a cemetery. There lots of ‘Unknown’ grave markers here as well as a handful of fancy grave markers.

I headed back down the road to Stanley. At the intersection where you turn north at Sunbeam is a turnout with lots of historical information on panning for gold that was done in the area, as well as a dam that was constructed in the 1930s.

I found some steps (73 to be exact) leading down to some trails that went right on the river for some good photo opportunities.

I continued on down the winding road, and remembered I had past some hot springs I wanted to stop at on the way back. I was not alone.

From what I could tell, there were pipes coming out of the mountain hot springs and they would put the water in one of those containers and sit in it (or stand).

This was such a fun road to drive as it weaves in and out of tight corners that hug large boulders, and on the other side the river/creek with little to no guard rails.

A little closer to Stanley was Cove Hot Springs. There was only one small spot, separated by rocks. There’s a small trickle of water coming out of the rocks leading into the pool to keep it warm. The water wasn’t hot, but more lukewarm.

After making it back to Stanley, I stopped and had some lunch, then decided to go west again out to Stanley Lake since the fog was gone. There was a trail to Bridal Veil Falls I wanted to go on too.

The trail was nice and easy and started out through a forest area, then opened up into a large meadow.

At 2.75 miles in, I had read you would need to cross Stanley Lake Creek twice in order to get to the falls. When I got to the “creek,” I was met with a roaring river at least 1-2 feet deep. No way I’m crossing that, especially when it’s 50 degrees out.

I turned back and headed back to the path I saw for Lady Face Falls.

Once I got to the falls, it was quite hard to see them. Steep ledges lead to cliffs that overlook the falls. I got as close as I could without risking falling in.

On the way back, I thought this was pretty neat. A tree had fallen perfectly on top of another tree.

On the way back, there was an ominous cloud coming in, so I decided to pick up the pace a little.

I finally made it back to Stanley Lake without a downpour, so I went over and got a picture of the lake with the mountains. Had the mountains been visible this morning, it would’ve been a perfect reflection. They allow boats on this lake, so there’s no way I’d get that now.

I made one last stop for the day on Iron Creek Road. The fence made a great foreground for this picture.

Unfortunately, that’s it for Stanley. Even though this town has a population of 117 people, the views and trails are spectacular. I’d like to spend some more time here in the future.

Tomorrow is not so spectacular, as I’ve got a 7 hour drive from Stanley to Coeur d’Alene. If there’s one thing I should’ve changed about this trip, it would’ve been adding a stop for the night on this leg. One thing’s for sure, the scenery will be nice the entire way!