Happy Campers
Ok, most people's jaws hit the ground when they hear that this high-maintenance, prim-and-pris gal likes to camp. I grew up spending our summers outside, whether it was at the lake, camping, or hiking. Not to mention the PNW (Pacific North West) is drop-dead gorgeous with so many amazing places to get out and explore. Every time we do, I'm Just truly blown away by the beauty. Tall statuesque mountains, raging rivers, glass-like lakes so clear you see straight to the bottom; it's incomparable. I love taking my kids out and letting them discover it for themselves and build the same love for the outdoors that their mama has. Plus, most days, my north face and Patagonia get used for school drop-off and grocery pick up, so it feels good to get outside use them for what they were made for!!
Our adventure began as all good adventures do….. with a TikTok. No, seriously, I saw the most beautiful lake at the base of a mountain in a man's video and told Aaron I wanted to go there. After doing some research, I happily found out the video was of Stanly, Idaho, and my dream quickly became a reality. Aaron is my personal in-house travel agent, and as any good husband does, he jumped right on trying to piece together the outdoor camping trip I had been dreaming about.
We started our adventure by driving for 4 1/2 hours to Philipsburg, Montana. We stayed at the Philipsburg Bay Campground. This was our second time here at this campground; we were even able to get the same site (46C). This is a gem of a campsite hidden in the trees. It has a direct access to lake Georgetown, and the views from the lake are beautiful. This campsite has both first come / first serve sites and reservations. It's a busy place, so I would 100% recommend making a reservation. The town of Philipsburg is close by and has a fun candy shop for the kiddos if you need a fun activity.
From Montana, we headed to Stanley, ID, which is a 6-hour drive. We took a shortcut mountain road that is not for the faint of heart but had the most beautiful views, one amazing waterfall, and a heard of rams. We had high hopes of stopping at goldbug hot springs to break up the drive a bit, but it did not work out (mama did not want to have to set up a tent and try to feed hungry kids that had been in the car all day at the same time while the sun was setting and we were losing daylight. I know total buzzkill). We did get to catch a glimpse of the Dutton ranch from the TV series Yellowstone as we drove through Darby, MT. We were coming in hot when we finally got to Stanley a bit later than anticipated. We may have gotten lost, there may have been some choice words, but nothing a night sleeping on the ground in a cold tent won’t fix.
We stayed at the Stanley Lake Campground at campsite #9. It was right on the lake with the most beautiful view of the mountains.
There were tons of trails to hike, swimming, kayaking, hot springs, and the darling town of Stanley within minutes of us. We had so much fun exploring this area. There were also many general stores in the area, which came in handy more than once for supplies we may have forgotten. We may have sprung a leak in our air mattress and, in a desperate attempt to replace it, spent a small fortune on a new one to not sleep directly on the 30-degree ground. The town also had a few restaurants that got great reviews if you do not like to cook over an open flame (which is surprisingly more difficult than I thought).
I can not describe how beautiful Stanly lake was. I was truly in awe the whole time we were there. We stopped by two hot springs that ran along the Salmon River. The Cove Hot spring and Sunbeam Hot spring. Sunbeam was our favorite. It had lots of pools, and in the afternoon when we went, it was shaded.
From Stanley, we drove to McCall, ID, to stay at the Shore Lodge. This is one of our absolute favorite resorts; we usually try to go annually. It was about a 3-hour drive from Stanley, and we stopped at the Kirkham Hot Springs along the way (yes, we all really enjoy a good natural hot tub!). This one was a little bit of a trek to get to and involved a lot of climbing over rocks and pools to find a good spot to soak. It was much like the tale of Goldielocks looking for the pool that felt just right. This was a little difficult with my little Georgia Jean, slippery rocks, raging river, mom holding a wiggly toddler… I mean, really, what could go wrong. This was also the busiest of the three we stopped at, so we tried to maneuver around other people. I'm not gonna lie though, I was grateful everyone got a dip in the spring, so they did not look or smell homeless when we rolled up to the resort. All though, I'm sure the smell of the campfire was still very strong. I had packed each kid a few outfits to wear on this part of our trip, so they did not have to wear their filthy camp clothes anymore!
This was the perfect way to end our trip; the resort is lovely and has tons of fun family activities. It sits right on the beautiful Payette Lake and has great beach frontage for playing in the sand and swimming. They also have a great pool and multiple hot tubs to help ease my gang back into civilization.
The Shore Lodge has campfires and s’more roasting available every night. They also have a full-on movie theater with a concession stand along with a kids arcade and a huge fish tank. The activate are endless. We also love all the hiking the area has to offer. Not to mention the cute town with all kinds of fun shops and yummy food. One of our must-stops is My Fathers Place. It’s a cute roadside burger place that is worth the wait. The menu is huge, and the marshmallow milkshake is one of my absolute favorites. Mccall is one of the best-hidden mountain towns in the west, its clean, very walkable, and so friendly. We’ve had the best time exploring here over the years and have made amazing family memories each time!
Happy Camping Babes
XOXO
