Eco-lodge & cabins
Nine cabins at the end of the road.
An off-grid lodge in Idaho's Sawtooth Valley — timber cabins warmed by woodstoves, dinner from the farm across the meadow, trails that start at your porch. No signal. No schedule. The valley sets the pace.
The idea
Stay still — the valley does the rest.
Look around
The place
The essentials
Stay, eat, wander, soak
Everything is close — bed, table, trail, and steam, all a short walk from each other.
From $340 / nightThe Cabins
Nine one-room timber cabins, each with a woodstove, a deep bed under wool, and a porch facing the meadow. No screens, no clocks — the windows are the entertainment.
Included with your stayThe Farm Table
One long table, one seating, whatever the valley gave: trout from cold water, vegetables pulled that afternoon, bread from the five a.m. oven. Dinner and breakfast come with the cabin; seconds are assumed.
From $60 / personGuided Trails
Forty miles of trail leave from the gate. Walk them alone with a packed lunch, or head out at dawn with Sol for the high lakes, the elk meadows, and the swimming hole the maps don't mark.
Included with your stayThe Bathhouse
A cedar sauna, two open-air soaking tubs, and the cold plunge — a bend of snowmelt creek. The circuit is simple: heat, river, stars, repeat until your thoughts slow down.
Your hosts
The people who keep it
Marta and Ben Alvarez came up the valley in 2006 to fix a derelict hunting camp and stay one summer. The summer never ended. They rebuilt all nine cabins by hand from standing-dead timber, planted the kitchen garden, and set the rules they still keep: the lodge stays small, the power stays solar, and dinner is whatever the valley gave that week.
These days their daughter Sol runs the trails and the two lodge horses, Ben starts the bread at five, and Marta chalks the night's menu after the growers call. You'll know all three by your first dinner — and the sauna schedule by your second.
The guest book
“We didn't touch the car for six days. Mornings were bread and river fog, afternoons the trail to the upper lakes, and by the third night I'd stopped reaching for a phone that had no signal anyway. Something in both of us got quieter.”
“The farm table alone is worth the drive. Trout in brown butter, carrots that tasted like a different vegetable entirely, Ben's bread still warm at seven a.m. We ate with strangers the first night and with friends every night after.”
“Sauna, river, meadow, repeat. I arrived exhausted and left with my shoulders down from around my ears — and next June booked before we'd pulled out of the drive.”
Good to know
Before you come
The practical side of an impractical place.
What does off-grid mean here, exactly?
The lodge runs on solar with a wood-fired backup, water rises from our own spring, and there's no cell coverage anywhere in the valley. Cabins still have warm light, hot water, and outlets for what matters. The office keeps satellite wi-fi for the things that truly can't wait.
Is dinner really included?
Yes — the nightly farm table comes with every stay, along with breakfast and a packed trail lunch if you ask by nine. The menu follows the garden and our neighbors' farms, and we can cook around most dietary needs with a few days' notice.
When should we book?
The season runs May to October and the nine cabins go early — June and September usually sell out by midwinter. Full-season and multi-week stays open first in November; single weeks follow in January. The shoulder weeks in May and October are the quiet secret.
Can we bring the kids? The dog?
Children, gladly — the meadow absorbs them for hours and the horses are patient. Dogs stay home for this one: the valley belongs to elk, foxes, and ground-nesting birds first. Service animals are always welcome.
How do we get there?
Three hours from Boise, the last nine miles on well-kept gravel — any car manages it May through October. Send your arrival time and the gate will be open, the stove laid, and a plate held from dinner if you're running late.
Reservations
Book a season, not a room.
The calendar opens in November, longest stays first — a week is good, a month is better. Tell us the month you keep daydreaming about and how long you can stay still; we'll hold the cabin that fits.
Find us