All right I'm gonna take this because this is one of my favorite spots in
Idaho. We've traveled a lot around Idaho, I come
to this very place quite often with my family. It's right at the south end of
the Sawtooths, absolutely beautiful up in this little canyon here. I've actually
never been to Grandjean so I don't even know where we are right now.
We are, this says South Idaho 21 which I know takes us to Stanley.
That does not take us a Stanley, that's South. Okay so North takes us to Stanley.
You're gonna want to go that way, don't listen Jon. Go north that way to Stanley or
you can go right down here six miles you end up in Grandjean. Okay so how far away
from Stanley are we? We're approximately 40 miles from Stanley. Stanley does get
busy this time of year. That's a very good point. What we often like to do
because if you don't like the crowds and things like that and kind of be a little
more secluded. Is you can camp anywhere along this road where it's
State Park Campground or stay at the actual Sawtooth Lodge, and Stanley is
just skip up the road. Go up there spend the day at Stanley, spend the day at
Redfish Lake, you're back in your camp at night. And there's a natural
Hot Springs called Sacagawea. Nice little rock pools right along the beautiful
crystal clear absolutely awesome South Fork of the Payette River. Okay I'm glad
I have you because you actually know where we are and what we're doing. Let's go
with that. What I'm gonna tell you people out there that I learned the hard way a
couple of times is, Idaho has a lot of places that have zero cell range. This is called
an Idaho gazetteer. Gazetteers are made for all states. So you can actually find
your way around the old-fashioned way without a phone. I've never seen one of
these before and if you're Chad's age you're like yeah, totally, what the hell,
I have four of those. So that takes us to Grandjean? Yes. And that takes us to Stanley? Right.
So we're heading six miles down this way. It's a dirt road, but it's nice.
Any two-wheel drive car can make it. Alright let's go find this place.
The valley was originally settled more or less settled by Emile Grandjean.
In 1909 he built probably this original structure and then it's been in
continuous operation as a lodge since 1927. Wow.
So these logs were probably put here by Emile himself. Probably. Two weeks ago so
early June of this year we had a landslide after an inch of rain in an hour.
So that blew out Grandjean Creek above us, which opened up the
waterfall. So what was a small waterfall is now multiple large waterfalls. It's beautiful.
Ya it's gorgeous it's a great improvement. And it just gives us an opportunity to
kind of move dirt around, play with what we've got, and then work with the Forest
Service on some things that have been outdated or need updates. Most folks that
come up, just the family hang out and geothermal pool
is the main attraction. We have a small nature trail that's great for
families with little kids, it makes a good short bike loop. And then on
site we have an outfitter who runs trail rides and RV sites that are available
for nightly, weekly rentals. And then we have a whole bunch more that are on
seasonal rentals. We have a full-service restaurant, runs breakfast
lunch and dinner. Milkshakes all day. Very important, milkshakes all day any time. Any time.
Thank you. Thank you.
I thought you were gettin a milkshake? I decide to have an oat soda instead.
I'm staying, enjoying my beer. God once it hits your lips it's really good.
This is the sweetest damn milkshake.
I'd say most folks just come to have the rustic getaway experience, but
you're definitely in a quieter, older space on the edge of the wilderness.
that's really like no place else.
So this is my first time in the valley because I
think Stanley gets, you know Redfish Lodge, Redfish Lake, and I love Stanley
but I've missed this, I've missed this. I've driven by this a thousand times
and this is an incredible valley. You can see the Sawtooths right there.
It's a little bit quieter slower paced... very secluded... It's very secluded.
Yes very secluded. And I dig that. Yeah.
Looking at this valley now, it's beautiful, its green,
its luscious.
you said its luscious. It's luscious, the valley is luscious.
I mean maybe, I would think like, your girlfriend is luscious, and maybe
the valleys lush. I've never called a woman luscious this must be an age
difference thing. The Sawtooth Lodge has these cabins, like the one we're sitting in
right now. Rustic accommodations. This is classic Idaho, which I love.
I think it's cool. You know personally for me I love history you can touch. So I love the
fact that you can go down there and probably Emile Grandjean
placed those logs. Sometimes I don't want to pack up you know, set up my tent.
So something like this is really nice if you just wanna almost set it and
forget it. They do not have air conditioning so be aware of that.
They also have another couple cabins that have multiple beds. Kitchen, kitchenettes, plumbing,
a hot shower. You can go hop in the geothermal pool which is right there.
Everything's within close walking distance and you know I'm sure we would bring
food with us. But I just smelled the most and saw the most amazing hamburger that
came out of that kitchen. I think you would really appreciate the double cabin.
You and Kathleen could sleep in the one side and then lock the door to your
children who would be on the other. It's your own private Grandjean Idaho.
They should make a shirt that says that.
About a quarter mile away from
Sawtooth Lodge is this natural hot springs called the Sacagawea Hot Springs.
It's right along the gorgeous South Fork of the Payette River.
These little rivulets from the hot spring that are coming out are super hot.
Don't take your dog down there my dog got his paws burned a little bit. Watch
your kids down there. Wear footwear. Any of these things that are coming directly
out of the wall you do not want to stand or sit in okay. People take time to
build these different pools and different little rivers of these super
hot water mixing with the river water. Oh yeah that's nice. Oh yeah this is the
perfect pool. The other really weird thing about this is that you'll find. You can
see it in the water, is the hot water separates towards the top and the cold
water goes towards the bottom. So if anytime you get really hot and you feel
a hot channel coming, just reach down to the bottom of the pool and start washing
up that cold water and it'll cool you off. Let's be honest not all natural hot springs
are built the same. Some of them can get a little bit nasty. They're muddy,
they're icky, they smell bad. This is not that. This is very nice, very clean, it has
a nice sandy bottom. I'm not uncomfortable sitting here. I could
actually fall asleep here honestly. The smell, I think it has something to do
with this river running but I can't smell that sulfur, that rotten egg
smell you kind of get in some natural hot springs. One thing is, Chad was right.
I have to sometimes do a little movement because if I sit here still, the
temperature at the top of the pool gets up to an unbearable level. But I just
kind of wiggle about a little bit and it becomes the right temperature for me.
So, Sacagawea Hot Springs, doing it right.
To book your stay visit www.SawtoothLodge.com
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Man it's like the perfect temperature right now. It is very nice in the higher elevations of Idaho this time
of year Chad.