The Stanley Basin offers hundreds of miles of singletrack, doubletrack and dirt roads to explore in every direction. If you're looking to get away from the crowds and see the Sawtooth Valley from a different perspective, this is a great way to do it.

There are few things better than basking in the sun at the base of the Sawtooths with your feet in the clear, cool water of a lake. The Sawtooth Basin is dotted with mountain lakes. There are big, deep lakes accessible from the car, small shallow lakes a two-days hike away, and everything in between. For those of you looking to cross the lake a little faster, Cedar Lake camground rents everything from jet skies to motor boats.

From day hikes to alpine lakes to multi-day traverses and loops to limitless peak bagging and world-recognized rock and alpine climbing, Stanley is a true backcountry mecca. Hundreds of high mountain lakes are linked by maintained and marked trails in all three ranges with trailheads a matter of minutes from downtown Stanley. World famous alpine routes on the region's bomber granite attract climbers from all continents while families revel in the plethora of shorter hikes to a multitude of pristine mountain lakes.

Ride deep into the mountains, don't shave, and live like it was a hundred years ago or get the family out on a pony ride. Either way the experience of the Sawtooths, White Clouds and Salmon Rivers on the back of a horse is to be set free amongst the most inspiring ranges on earth. Trail options splinter in all directions for hundreds of miles from downtown Stanley. A great group of outfitters operate locally and can take you and your group on anything from a day ride to a high mountain lake to a multi-day journey through the wilderness.

Stanley is the jumping off point for running through 100 miles of wilderness canyon on the world-renowned Middle Fork of the Salmon "River of No Return" and boasts the highest per capita river guide to redneck ratio in the United States. Here you can do everything from get your feet wet on the local "Day Stretch", with single and half day rafting and kayaking trips though Class II-IV whitewater, to embarking on a six day backcountry adventure through the largest wilderness in the lower 48 states.

The Sawtooth Mountains which bump up against Stanley to the south and west hold some of the most aesthetic and radical ski terrain in the western United States. Cold, long winters are punctuated by massive storms with intermittent patterns of warm air and sun periodically pushing in from the south and west. During late spring and early summer, the range becomes even larger with long days and typically more stable conditions that allow for deeper exploration.