The Meeting Place in the Mountains
From its headwaters just west of 11,153-foot Galena Peak, Idaho’s Big Wood River rushes 25 miles southeast and south by the small towns of Sun Valley, Ketchum, and Hailey. It then winds its way through mellower, flatter terrain, flowing through Bellevue and on to the Magic Reservoir. A prime fly-fishing river that averages 75 feet in width, the Big Wood gives life to spacious and starkly beautiful Blaine County, a place that Progressive Farmer magazine recently identified as one of America’s best places to live.
In the springtime, the Big Wood rages, fed by snow melt from the spectacularly jagged peaks of the Sawtooth Range of the Rocky Mountains. Its rocky path rushes through vast wilderness areas, and then by the star-studded, rich man’s land of Sun Valley. In this northern part of Blaine County, the world’s best ice skaters mingle with Hollywood stars and the richest of the rich, and tens of thousands of people gather each year to ski some of the nation’s finest downhill terrain.
As the river flows further down through a valley of pines and more gentle snow-covered slopes, it passes by some of the most beautiful and charming small towns in the region, including busy Ketchum. Once a mining town, Sun Valley’s sister city is now home to endless condos, gift shops, trendy restaurants, and a plethora of funky art galleries.
Past Ketchum, the valley widens, and the colors fade from startling winter white and lush spring green to the burnt yellow of the grazing lands that have been home to ranchers for more than 100 years. Numerous small communities have sprouted up between the farms and National Forest lands, and those, coupled with the largest town in the region, Hailey, and its smaller neighbor, Bellevue, house the majority of hard-working people who keep the tourist economy of the northern towns alive.
These folks may have settled here tens of decades ago to make a living off the land, or more likely, they’re recent transplants, come for water sports on the Big Wood and other rivers, hunting, skiing, hiking, biking, and every other recreational opportunity that can be imagined. Still, although not ultra-wealthy like their northern neighbors, their proximity to Sun Valley’s countless, in-demand million-dollar properties means that Hailey/Bellevue homes cost twice the national average. On the other hand, residents throughout Blaine County earn more on average than the rest of the country, and their schools are some of the best in Idaho. Despite a high cost of living, locals know that money flows down valley as fast as the Big Wood.
Lizzy Scully
Managing Editor
http://www.FindYourspot.com, the Internet's best source of relocation information.
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