VALLEY CREEK LODGE (Spring)

At VALLEY CREEK LODGE in Spring!

Sawtooth Mountains with Meadow Creek in Foreground

The Sawtooth's in Spring... a new beginning! Spring Steelhead usually arrive in the Stanley area in late March or early April. These "sea-run" rainbow trout weigh-in at 4 to 12 pounds and provide anxiously awaiting anglers, a battle they won't soon forget.

Opportunities for photography abound!

All the mountains above 7,500 feet are still covered with blankets of deep snow, but the vast open meadows begin to turn green and lush, which beckons large Elk herds to feast day and night. Late May and June is a wildlife watcher's paradise... seeing newly born Elk calves close by their mothers and the re-emerging velvet antlers of the mighty bulls.

Carpets of white, yellow and purple wildflowers abound in the meadows beginning in June. Though all of the lakes and the Salmon River are open to fishing year round, the various streams and creeks that wind through the Sawtooth Valley open for angling on Memorial Day weekend.

Spring is a time when birds are most active in the Sawtooth National Recreation Area. There is the return of the Mountain Blue Bird (Idaho's State Bird), the Osprey, and the magnificent Sand Hill Cranes. Bird watchers will find birding a rewarding outdoor activity in the SNRA.