How to Take a Mini-Cruise in Stehekin!

Smooth as glass--a perfect "Craig Cat Day!"

How to take a peaceful, beautiful cruise

while at the head of the lake in Stehekin: 

1. Find the Log Office north of the Stehekin Landing

2. Talk to the nice person behind the desk about renting 

a "Craig Cat"

3. With her/his assistance, learn the SIMPLE operating instructions

(my six year old granddaughter can operate them)

4. Board your mini-cruise vessel and you are off on

your adventure with the barely noticeable purr 

of an electronic motor as a backdrop to the amazing scenery...

A canopy is provided for shade

A calm day is best for touring the quiet marshes of the head of the lake. Look for Blue Heron, many kinds of ducks, beaver, fish jumping for bugs. You can even bring your fishing pole!

      

Keep your eye out for pirate ships along the way, and the Monster of Lake Chelan!!

Could this be the Lake Monster?

Homes at the Head of the Lake--yes people actually live here!

Silver Bay Inn at the mouth of the Stehekin River

Log drift at the mouth of the river--easy to find your way through--watch for a few shallow sand bars!

Weaver Point Campground --a nice place for a picnic lunch

                                   

You will find some wonders to behold directly across 

from the Landing, 

A popular spot to visit...

Check out Kayaking on Lake Chelan

Near the Painted Rocks--Head of Lake Chelan

Painted Rocks -worth the visit--Read about them here: The Painted Rocks

You may even see the passenger boats arrive. 

Waves expected. No worries, this craft cannot capsize! 

5.  After absorbing the beauty of the Lake, return your vessel

to the Log Office, and the nice person will be happy to accept your rental fee!

Ahh, your own personal cruise on Lake Chelan!

**Craig Cat Electronic Catamarans cruise at 7 miles per hour. 

Life Jackets are Available at the office

Two comfortable front seats

Two smaller back seats facing backwards

Operator Friendly

**Fair Weather is recommended

                                                               ($30.00 per hour) l.c.

The Painted Rocks

Most Stehekin visitors never see the Painted Rocks. Approximately three-quarters of a mile separates the Lodge porch from where early people placed pictographs.

During the summer months the pictographs are visible near the waterline. During the winter when the lake drops twenty-one feet, you lift your eyes upward to see these drawings. An observer might wonder, "If the lake is raised twenty-one feet and pictographs are viewed near eye level, the people who created the pictographs either scaled the wall to create their work or the conditions of the lake were quite different when this white faced wall was used as a message board."

Crossing the lake in any season can offer an exquisite play of light on the water.

A trip across the lake during the winter might offer the opportunity to see some swans.

Some of the symbols painted on the wall. The figure on the left is intriguing. 

If you get the opportunity, visit the Painted Rocks.

Growing Up Stehekin Style: Swimming

A neighbor asked the little guy recently "What do you like best about living in Stehekin?"  "Swimming" he replied.  When asked if it is cold he says "As cold as snow!". True.  I once spent many hours standing on the steps at "the Cabana" while oldest girl learned to swim without her life jacket.  I didn't think I would ever feel my feet again! Went home and put on wool socks and warmed up a rice bag while the outside temperature creeped over 90. Crazy!

Friends swimming at one mile park

Same dock 4 or 5 years earlier..photo by Nancy Barnhart

When the oldest 2 were young, we spent many afternoons at the swimming place near the post office. Those days had moms watching young kids, snacks being shared, sometimes a spontaneous idea to grill burgers for dinner.  Lots of good memories down there.   Logs made into boat with a stick for a paddle.  Wanting to go out to "the log" with the older kids.  Making it out there at last.  Rolling the log to make others fall off. Trips to the store for an ice cream or take out nachos from the restaurant.

At "the log" with friends at the post office swim area

Life jackets and a float tube...hours of fun

 

Things change. Kids grow up and are given permission to go on their own.  The girls will often bike down the road to see who is around swimming.   Sometimes little guy and I go to the park alone, but soon some of our friends will show up and join us.  We watch for Dad to row around the river mouth at the end of his fishing trip.  He can see and hear us from there and comes down to join us.   It's hard to remember those winter days with 5' of snow and 9 degrees! What a wonderful life here in Stehekin.

Raft on a rope

plw

Buckner Lane - A Lovely Stroll

There are many hikes in the Lake Chelan National Recreation area, and a wide variety of skill levels required. But, there is a little gem of a hike in Stehekin that is often overlooked - the Buckner Lane.

a little bit hard to find - just past the bridge over Rainbow Creek

Whether you are walking up the road to go visit the Buckner Orchard, biking with friends, or looking for a small adventure, this short trail is a pleasant excursion. I recently took my three-year-old grandson for an outing and, since he wanted to "hike", we enjoyed the Buckner trail.

starting out with enthusiasm

This short trail goes from the road just past the Rainbow Creek bridge, along the irrigation ditch, into the Buckner Orchard. The irrigation ditch has been established for such a long time that it looks more like a creek than a "ditch".

If visitors to the Orchard are planning to walk in via the long, dusty driveway from the road, this small, shady hike is a much more pleasant alternative. Even bikes can be left at the "trail head" and the coolness of a walk along the creek is the reward for choosing the path less traveled. 

one of the many little bridges on Buckner Lane

As the irrigation ditch carries water into the orchard, meandering around roots and rocks, its babbling is soothing in the quiet of the surrounding forest. There is no need to hurry. 

a resting spot along the stroll into the Buckner Orchard

With bridges and benches, the overarching feeling is that this little trail is here to provide an opportunity to slow down and enjoy the beauty. And, if it's a hot day, sitting on one of the many bridges and dipping feet in the water is very refreshing. 

Right after I said, "don't let your croc fall in the creek", and just
before I had to race along the irrigation creek to try to capture the floating croc! 

If strolling with children, a contest to see whose twig can travel from one small bridge to the next can be an fun competition. Counting the bridges, or benches, or downed trees along the way help to teach powers of observation and get the children to engage with their surroundings. It's not uncommon to see deer in the area, or squirrels, woodpeckers and other birds, too. 

'Here comes my stick!"

If you get the chance, slow down and stroll along the Buckner Lane. Remember, you can choose to not be in a hurry when you're in Stehekin.

Evening Program on Saturday night, July 22nd!

When – Saturday Evening, July 22 Where – Stehekin Pastry Co.
Time – 8:00-9:00

Complimentary Transportation – a van will pick up guests at the Landing





Stehekin Heritage Summer Presentations

Lodging in the Early Years

Field Hotel

A Saturday evening audience of approximately thirty guests gathered at the Stehekin Pastry Company  to learn about early lodges established in the Stehekin Valley. Patty Wilsey and her husband, John, put the lodging program together and will share it with valley visitors several more times this summer. 

Guests were reminded of the extraordinary imagination, labor and tenacity it took to construct and maintain the valley's historical lodging on homestead land. Today valley visitors are served by a new era of food and lodging choices. Just as in the early years of Stehekin's lodging history, contemporary services are fueled by the same extraordinary imagination, labor that inspired early valley residents. Today's private lodging exists on Stehekin's few remaining acres of private property.   

Next Saturday evening's presentation: "Stehekin's Heritage: A Gift Worth Saving" by Liz & Tom Courtney

Rainbow Lodge (site of Stehekin's New School)

Rainbow Lodge 

Rainbow Lodge

Who would have thought that the school’s basketball court, where we have so much fun today, used to be the location of Stehekin’s Rainbow Lodge? It was here that Lydia George, her sister Althea Rice and nephew Donald Rice operated the lodge along with handyman, Jamie Jamison. The Rainbow Lodge started as a boarding house in 1911 for miners, hikers and Stehekin visitors. The lodge was closed in 1946.

Lydia George was the owner of the Rainbow Lodge. She was born in 1872 in Iowa. Lydia lived in Stehekin as early as 1905 when she worked for Henry Buckner as a telephone operator. At the time, a telephone line strung to Horseshoe Basin. It must sound very strange that they had a telephone line that went to Horseshoe Basin in 1905 and that there is none now.

In the winter of 1909-1910, Lydia George cooked for a crew of thirty miners in the Horseshoe Basin mine. In March of 1910 Lydia and her brother hiked out of the mine. It took them two days on snowshoes. When they reached the valley Lydia’s brother left on the mail boat and was never heard from again.Lydia had a different idea.

Lydia decided that she wanted to work for herself so she bought eleven acres of land from Bill Buzzard. Lydia then hired Henry Buckner to build a six room house in 1911. The house became Rainbow Lodge, a boarding house for miners, fishermen, teachers and children.

In 1922, Lydia George went into partnership with Harry W “Jamie” Jamison. Jamie was a handyman, carpenter, gardener and a tour bus driver. He provided maintenance for the lodge and built private guest cabins for Lydia. He also drove a bus that brought visitors to Rainbow Falls and then went to the Rainbow Lodge for lunch. 

Lunch consisted of mashed potatoes and gravy, vegetables, roast beef, sliced tomatoes and cold slaw. Most of the food came from the lodge’s garden. The lodge’s cows provided fresh milk and butter. The lodge also had a telescope that visitors could look through that was sighted in on McGregor. Lydia would call the operator of the small forest service fire lookout on top of McGregor and he would come out and wave. Today this would be impossible.  You would not be able to look up at McGregor from today’s basketball court because there have been so much forest growth since the early to mid 1900s. After lunch, Jamie would take those guests not staying at the lodge back down to the landing and boat going down the lake. …The lodge was operated from 1911 to 1946…

Forty years later you can get off the boat, get on the Rainbow Falls tour bus and drive to Rainbow Falls. You would then stop at the bakery and then head to the boat. 

This is showing the similarity between the 1910-1946 and the twenty first century.

Evening on the Stehekin River

Starting out at Harlequin

Floating along in the evening light

Beautiful

Stopped for dinner and fishing as the sun slips down the mountain

 

 

The Stehekin River:  the "other road" down the valley.  From the river you can see sights you never see any other way.  We floated down with good friends the other night, stopped for dinner and some sitting, some fishing, some beaver watching and some picture taking.  Little guy was casting like crazy every which way.  No hook, lucky for the rest of us!  Big guy caught a couple of Rainbows while the rest of us lounged on the beach.

Peaceful parking

The fisherman

Beautiful waters

On one dinner trip we watched a beaver cross this channel several times

Mouth of the river looking downlake.  We watched a family of beavers along the shore

Nice evening

 plw

The Amazing Upper Stehekin Valley

Today we have a guest post from a long time friend of Stehekin, Jeffery Bilbro.

I worked in Stehekin for four summers while attending college, and most weeks I spent my days off hiking along the trails and ridges leading up from the valley. These photos are from 2007, my last summer working at Discovery Bikes, and feature a couple of trips I took in the upper valley. These hikes still require a longer approach as the upper road remains closed, but they lead through some of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been.

The first two pictures are taken from the top of Goode Ridge, a five-mile climb from Bridge Creek.

A great view of the backside of McGregor Mountain

Enjoying a rest on top of Goode Ridge

One of my favorite places in Stehekin is Trapper Lake. There’s no maintained trail to the lake, but you can access it via a scramble from Cottonwood Campground or from Pelton Basin.

A view of the lake from the west end

Many of the mountains around the lake are remarkably sheer

This is from the shoulder of Trapper Mountain, looking back down at Trapper Lake and the Stehekin Valley below

Horseshoe Basin used to be a popular day hike from Cottonwood Campground. Besides the beautiful waterfalls and wildflowers, there’s some interesting old mine shafts and equipment. On this trip, I climbed above the basin to spend the night in the meadows below Buckner Peak. 

The approach to Horseshoe Basin

The meadows above Horseshoe Basin, with the aptly named Ripsaw Ridge against the skyline

The meadows above Horseshoe Basin, with the aptly named Ripsaw Ridge against the skyline