Big Wood River, Idaho

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The Big Wood River flows through the Wood River Valley of central Idaho, rising in the Boulder and Smoky Mountains near Galena Summit and running south past the towns of Ketchum, Sun Valley, Hailey, and Bellevue before joining the Little Wood River to form the Malad River, a tributary of the Snake. Along its upper reaches the river winds through sagebrush slopes, cottonwood and willow bottomlands, and stands of aspen and conifer, framed by the peaks of the Sawtooth National Recreation Area and the Pioneer Mountains. The river is prized as a freestyle trout stream, known for wild rainbow trout and for productive hatches that draw fly anglers from across the country. Its clear, cold water riffles over cobbled beds in summer and autumn, while spring brings high, fast runoff from the mountain snowpack. Paths and greenbelts follow stretches of the river near the valley towns, and the surrounding landscape offers hiking, cycling, and skiing on nearby Bald Mountain. The valley was long used by Shoshone and Bannock peoples before mining booms in the 1880s brought settlers and a railroad to Hailey and Ketchum. In 1936 the Union Pacific Railroad founded the Sun Valley resort on the river's doorstep, transforming the area into a famous destination. Ernest Hemingway, who fished and hunted here, spent his final years in Ketchum and is buried in the town cemetery.