Every 4th of July, we visit our uncle and aunt’s property at Lake Chelan. This year, we came a couple days early to join them for a day trip to the remote little town of Stehekin.
Lake Chelan is a long, 55-mile, narrow lake. It is the largest natural lake in Washington; it is also the 3rd deepest lake in the USA. At the south end of the lake is a town called Chelan. This is a popular vacation town, with lake resorts, shopping, and water activities. Roads heading uplake on both sides end about 25 miles. At the northernmost tip of Lake Chelan is the town of Stehekin (population 75, although it increases seasonally in the summer). The only way you can reach it is by seaplane or boat. Along the way are waterfalls, camping spots, and some remote private properties.
We left our place early for a lovely boat ride. Here is a picture of the boys patiently waiting to board the boat.
Sometimes, the water can become too choppy for little speedboats to navigate uplake. Not this time. The water was PERFECT! And we had the lake practically to ourselves!!
We took a short break at a campground. Check out this campsite. Idyllic?
We saw a variety of animals along the way. It was almost surreal. People that live here say they have seen one set of the animals, but not all that we saw on this single trip. It truly was a gift!
We saw a llama, then a couple of deer, and then…mountain goats!
Arriving….
The Ministry of Silly Walks…
Renting bikes…
…and riding along a lovely road to a bakery…
Church.
The most picture-perfect cabin ever. Located where the lake meets a river. Contains a potting shed to the left, the garage on the right, and a large deck, and covered porch.
After fortifying ourselves with cinnamon rolls, we continued to ride our bikes along the road and stopped at the old Stehekin school. They no longer use it for school, and the doors are left unlocked for people to visit.
This picture does not show the detail, but this is a map of Africa from 1916. Most of the countries have different names.
‘A’ teaching class…
Auntie’s turn…
Went on to Rainbow Falls. The falls were intense and we were drenched in seconds!
Continuing on to an old orchard homestead…
We decided to do a little trail riding and followed some cross country and snowshoe trails. It was a fun little detour…
DH found an old Root Beer can that was a solid tin or aluminum and required a can opener to open it.
On the ride back, we stopped at the bakery again and picked up some pie. Then, my aunt and I stopped at The Garden and had a nice talk with the owner/gardener. We bought some of his homemade goat cheese. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that he was the original owner of the Honeybear Bakery, a place DH and I enjoyed going to when we lived in the Wallingford neighborhood of Seattle. Apparently, he sold it and it is now in Lake Forest Park.
Bees are kept up high for two reasons. To keep the bears at bay and to keep the hives above the snow banks in the winter…
More pretty views heading back to the boat…
The trip home…
Look at what we saw! Incredible!!
Two tuckered out boys!
Deer.
A little vacation…um… castle. It’s for sale 🙂
Another awesome encounter with nature. Big horn sheep!!
Back in civilization, we saw the boat ‘The Innamorata’, a 56 ft. Chris Craft that was once owned by Dean Martin. It was used for a while for dinner cruises on the lake. Now, it just sits on the lake and gets moved every once in a while. It is falling into disrepair and the cost to fix it outweighs the value of the boat. So it sits.
A fantastic bonus was running across two families from our church family in North Bend while they were boating. It was fun to yell ‘hi’ between our boats.
An incredible, blessed day. One we will always treasure.