Stanley/Sun Valley Where to stay/ride?

[SkiDooHoser]

Going next week . Will be skiing in Sun Valley a day or 2. Would like to ride around Stanley.

Any ride from the door type places?

Any area that I must check out?

Maps?

Thanks,
Rich

 

[HeadLever]

Rich,
Stanley still has snow and you can check out the webcam here:
http://www.sawtoothcamera.com/

As you can see, it is getting thin in town, but you should still be able to ride from any of the hotels in town. Here is a good site to see what is available:
http://www.stanleycc.org/pages_service_dir/lodging.html
Mountain Village is usually the place most folks stay, since it is right in town and you can ride from your doorstep. As a note, some of the places that are advertized in the link are a ways out of town.

As for a map:http://www.stanleycc.org/pages_vinfo/map_winter_rec.html
This map is not the best, but you see what areas are open and which areas are not.

For recommended places, you can try the Headwaters (of the Salmon River), Smiley Creek, Frenchman Creek, Pole Creek, or 4th of July Creek. These trailheads take off of Highway 75 near Galena Summit and are a ways out of town. These areas have medium to extreme type riding. This area has beautiful views and is usually considered the best areas around Stanley.

You can also ride from stanley and head on out toward Kelly Creek. This area is close to town, but has more moderate terrain. Snow may be getting thin in this area.

Lastly, you can head on out to Banner Summit on Highway 21. This area has alot of timber but usually has good snow and many little meadows that are just asking to be tore up. you can also trail out to Bear Valley and the Lowman area from here.

Sadly, I don't know much about the area on the Wood River side of Galena, but I am sure that someone will pipe up shortly.

Specifically, what type of riding are you looking for?

 

[mtnjunkie]

Well, on the WR side it's getting a bit thin. We rode Baker Cr. today, which is about 15 mins north of Ketchum. It's hardpack at the bottom, but up in the bowls there were several inches of powder. It had blown around a bit but was still pretty good. No tracks there except ours. If you're going to ride there make sure you have stickers. The cop has been checking the lot at least once a day and tracking people down. He saw our truck 30 miles south of there headed home and stopped us to see if we had stickers.

You can also go several areas out of Ketchum, but I don't know them as well. East Fork is one, Trail Creek I've heard is good too. Everything south of Ketchum is hardpack with a lot of bare hills. If you said what kind of riding you're looking for it would be easier to point out a good spot.

If you're staying in Stanley, Mountain Village is the cheapest I think, and has an ok restaurant. The Kasino in Stanley has very good food and a bar.

 

[SkiDooHoser]

We like the steeper terrain but I'm not above riding good trails that take you to something worth whlie. I live in McCall so I have a sticker.

I have only been in Stanley during the summer and its been a while.


Great info so far....

 

[mtnjunkie]

Ok, there are some decent bowls in Headwaters. Last time I was there we followed a couple tracks and got into them, not too hard, not for the beginner though. I don't think there's actually trails other than the main one but I haven't ridden it all. You could also ride out Pole Creek, there are some good climbs, bowls, a little bit of everything. The trail can get kinda hammered in the spring, but it's good riding so worth it normally. Lots of areas to explore in there and about any type of riding you want to do. Baker Creek on the Ketchum side has some extreme riding, also trails and lots of bowls. It is popular and a lot of people ride it, but today we rode and there were no other tracks.