Sun Valley is a dog town. It’s impossible to walk down the street, go on a hike, or even visit someone’s office without getting a friendly greeting from Ketchum’s favorite furry residents. And many businesses and areas strive to be as dog friendly as possible, making it even more fun for our fur babies to live alongside us in this beautiful place. In the May edition of 24hrs in Sun Valley, we’ve asked local dog Otis to describe his perfect day. How does your day start? Otis: Woof! I’m very happy to be sharing my favorite day. Though all my days are my favorite in Ketchum. But after waking my mom up with my cold snout, she feeds me breakfast and takes me to the dog park where I get to run around with all my other dog friends and eat grass and drink from the river. It’s huge! Then I got to go in the car with my mom to Java. She tied me up outside and lots of people gave me pets and she came back with a puppicino for me! We both enjoyed our treats sitting outside on the deck. Many people told me I was cute. …
116 articles by Hayden Seder
How to Recreate Responsibly
There’s no wonder that folks such as John Muir have been preaching the benefits of venturing to the wilderness with its fresh mountain air, views for days, free recreation, wildlife abound, and so much more. While many have been drawn to these attributes for a long while now, an influx of others are discovering the incredible offerings out there. Like anything new, there tends to be a learning curve for figuring how to do things the right way. There’s no exception for recreating. To give you a head-start and ensure that everyone heading outdoors here has a good time, it’s important to recreate responsibly which means following trail etiquette, Leave No Trace, and geotagging responsibly principles. Trail Etiquette For the majority in the Wood River Valley, their first and most frequent access to the outdoors is through the area’s vast system of trails for hiking, biking, and horseback riding. With so many users, trail etiquette is of the utmost important to make sure the trails stay pleasant for everyone. Stay in control Know your limits, slow down around blind turns, step to the side to let others pass when appropriate. Maintain awareness of your surroundings by keeping music volume low …
24hrs with a Local: The Flourish Foundation’s Ryan Redman, March
Flourish Foundation’s executive director and co-founder (with his wife, Paige) Ryan Redman leads the kind of calming, wellness-centered lifestyle many in Sun Valley strive for. From dedicating hours of his early mornings to himself before work to just truly cherishing every part of living in this town, Ryan exudes contentment. Ryan’s Flourish Foundation is no different, with its vision to inspiring systemic change through heartmind cultivation, promoting personal well-being, benevolent social action, and environmental stewardship. Since its conception in 2010, the Flourish Foundation has facilitated programs that nurture life skills and transformation through ethics and values like meditation. Ryan has studied meditation and Yoga from an early age and teaches yoga in Sun Valley in addition to his work at the foundation. We asked the passionate leader, yogi, devoted husband and father of two boys what his perfect 24hrs for March in Sun Valley looks like. How does your ideal day in Sun Valley start? Ryan: After an incredible night’s sleep, I open my eyes and feel tremendous gratitude to have a human body, to live in such a beautiful place, and to be healthy and capable of providing service to the world and serving myself. Then, after my thoughts …
24hrs with a Local: 5b Fruit’s Katja Peller, February
Wellness-focused couple Parker Morris and Katja Peller have taken their passions and turned them into two thriving businesses, 5B Fruit and 5B Floatation. After hiking Baldy on a hot summer day, the two were craving a healthy smoothie. Not finding one that satisfied them, the two opened what they thought would be a small smoothie stand and turned it into the popular shop it is today. While their days are busy behind the counter at 5B making delicious smoothies and bowls, they still have time to enjoy raising chickens and their dogs Tilly and Garth on their farm south of Bellevue where they’ll be getting married this summer. Learn how Katja spends the perfect day in Sun Valley! How does your perfect day start? Coffee/breakfast somewhere? Easy morning at home? Katja: Usually, mornings start very early to make sure things are taken care of around the farm. The drive from my house to Ketchum is about 40 minutes so I listen to a podcast to start the day off. Then I stop at Lizzy’s on my way into town. A day can’t start and is not complete without a cup of coffee. My favorite way to start the day is …
McCall Vs Sun Valley
When visiting Idaho, there are plenty of different options for where to go: Boise, Stanley, Pocatello. But when deciding between a small resort town, you might come down to the decision between McCall and Sun Valley. Which to choose? There are many similarities between the two small resorts towns, but a bevy of differences to separate the winter experiences you might have in each. The populations of McCall and Ketchum are roughly the same (just under 3,000) though “Sun Valley” as a whole area encompasses a much higher number. McCall’s terrain focuses on lake life (Payette Lake being a major draw for the area especially in the summer) with more subtle mountain peaks surrounding it and a greater density of Ponderosa Pines. In Sun Valley, the terrain is ALL about the mountains—jagged peaks at high elevation surrounding you in every direction. McCall definitly sees peak traffic during the summer holidays with its large lake and boating activities. On the other hand Sun Valley is a winter Mecca that sees thousands of skiers descend on the town during December. Both towns are about 2.5 hours from the state capitol of Boise. Although the Boise airport is the main access point for …
24hrs with a Local: Gather Yoga’s Danielle Fuller, January
Going into the new year, Danielle Fuller has her intentions set around being mindful and grateful, especially for this beautiful town we live in. The mom of three (and three step kids!) is often busy running errands, doing the pick-up/drop-off for her kids, as well as running her business, Gather Yoga & Studio. After completing her yoga teacher training in 2009 and moving from Portland to Ketchum the same year, Danielle opened her studio in 2013 and since then has been teaching yoga alongside her studio’s other teachers. See how this busy woman does it all while still having fun and staying healthy in this editions of 24hrs in Sun Valley, January edition. How does your morning start? Danielle: Just coming off the holidays, I’m trying to stay true to my New Year’s intentions around health and well-being. I start the day early, around 6:30, with a morning dog walk in the sunshine and snow out East Fork, where I live, while listening to my favorite podcast. I walk my favorite loop and get in the mindset for the day before heading up to town to catch a yoga class with Cathie Caccia at Gather to get my body, mind, …
24hrs with a Local: Susan Nieves, December
Originally visitors to Sun Valley from Seattle, Susan and Mark Nieves, the owners of retail shop Independent Goods, were so enthralled with the area that in 2013 they packed up and came to Ketchum to live, raise their family, and open their own store. Ever-present in their store is the importance of connection: to customers, to craft makers, to each other. And that same priority of connection is apparent in Susan’s perfect 24 hours in Sun Valley where much of the day is spent forming and strengthening bonds to others in this town. How does your perfect day start? Susan: We start by playing vinyl—anything from Mary Popins to Blondie—having coffee, and possibly a special treat of pastries from Hank & Sylvies or Konditorie or a Bigwood Bread Ham & Cheese croissant. That gets us and our 4-year-old going. After that, I head into the shop to help customers find gifts for themselves, loved ones, or clients. What’s a day in the shop like? Susan: People hang out here for a really long time and we get to know our customers or tourists really well. Mark and I write the story cards on display with each product; writing them connects …
Salt Lake City to Sun Valley Travel
A fellow ski resort town, Salt Lake has lots of great winter activities to keep residents happy. But at such close proximity to Sun Valley—potentially just a one-hour flight—it’s worth it to invest in a little winter vacay time at this Idaho resort. Whether traveling here entails flying or driving, it’s a quick trip to come experience a fellow western ski resort, albeit one with its own delights and attractions. Flying Direct to Sun Valley If you want to book a flight to Sun Valley, you have two options: fly direct into Sun Valley’s Friedman Memorial Airport (actually located in Hailey, 13.5 miles south of Sun Valley) or into Boise which is 2 ½ hours away by car. The easiest and quickest way from Salt Lake to Sun Valley is the direct flight from Delta, flying nonstop three times daily this winter. While this option is the easiest, keep in mind that occasionally extreme winter weather will affect flights into and out of our airport (SUN). Weather-related diversions into the Friedman Memorial Airport have been drastically reduced thanks to new landing system approach technology. As a result, there is no longer a winter busing program. If you are traveling by …
Zoom Town Guide to Sun Valley – Winter Edition
Covid certainly changed things for all of us, but notably for the town of Sun Valley, aka a “Zoom Town,” it brought lots of remote workers looking to enjoy all the splendors of the area that were previously limited to short vacations. With so many new folks in town, we at Visit Sun Valley wanted to create a helpful zoom town guide for how to do things the “local” way. It’s a delicate balance that keeps Sun Valley a great place to live. Sun Valley Culture When coming from a big city or even just a town bigger than ours, it’s easy to forget that what was once common practice in your life is frowned upon here. Our small town prides itself on a slower pace of living, where errands might take longer because you ran into old friends in the grocery store, where you might pull over to help someone with a flat tire on the side of the road, where a car honk doesn’t mean you’re angry, but means you saw someone you knew walking on the sidewalk. It’s easy to get frustrated with this slower pace—especially if you actually have somewhere to be—but remember that this is …
24hrs with a Local: Wild Rye’s Cassie Abel, October
Cassie Abel is the CEO and co-founder of Wild Rye, a company dedicated to creating mountain apparel for women of all sizes, ages, and skill levels—an area she saw was decidedly lacking after spending years working in the outdoor apparel industry. Though Abel didn’t found the Ketchum-based company until 2015, she has been living here fulltime for about 10 years and spent much of her life in and out of the Valley; she’s held down jobs at local favorites like Java, the Cellar Pub, and Smith. As the kind of woman her brand targets—mountain biker, skier, busy mom—Cassie is the perfect mountain lady to tell us how to spend an ideal day in Ketchum, Idaho. How do you start your ideal day? Can I give you two ideal days? Cause one’s going to involve my toddler, and one will not! So if I don’t have my toddler, I wake up and drink some coffee on my porch. If I’m heading out for coffee, go to Lizzie’s or Maude’s and get a really delicious latte. Then I’d go for a big bike ride like Osberg’s, Alden, or Greenhorn/Imperial. How do you refuel after a long bike ride like that? Probably grab …