Had a wonderful chance to catch a Fish & Wildlife boat up to Stehekin earlier this week to photograph our Stehekin power plant operator. I've never been all the way to the end of Lake Chelan and everything cooperated for us to have fantastic, crisp, beautiful Fall weather and scenery. A full, active day of tromping through the forest, meeting very pretty neat people and seeing some really cool things. From Left to right, top to bottom:
- Lake Chelan from the Stehekin end. We put in at Twenty-five Mile Creek, half-way up the lake. Lake Chelan is 54 miles long, so it takes a good while to get to Stehekin.
- Original equipment, left as is on the Buckner Orchard. Run by the NFS, open to the public, though was not staffed when we there due to the government shutdown.
- Can't imagine a prettier place to have a home, can you?
- What used to be the Stehekin one room school house. Closed in 2005 (when a new one was built), this remains open to the public and remains exactly the way it was the last day it was used. Lessons still on the chalkboard, children's artwork on the walls, books and desks (check out the variety of time periods covered by the desks).
- Lucerne, another Lake Chelan community, is about 3/4 the way up lake and, like Stehekin, only accessible by boat.
- Buoy and scenic haze looking out from the Stehekin dock towards Lake Chelan.
- Petroglyphs, estimated to be at least 10,000 years old. Depicting a man and Bighorn Sheep. His arm is raised and I imagine he is saying "come down here, sheep, so I can eat you!"
- My BFF Stephanie Fry, also a photographer extraordinaire was on the boat too. Couldn't imagine a better person to spend this day with. Her love for getting outside with a camera and just hiking around is parallel to mine. Notice she is dressed warmly. Not knowing what mid-October on a long, mountain boat ride would entail, we hedged our bets with lots of waterproof layers. It was cool, but we lucked out to a beautiful day.
- I could look at the water all day. So relaxing.
We'll go back next summer, taking the Lady of the Lake shuttle, which you catch in Chelan. In Stehekin, we'll rent bikes at the docks (you can also catch a shuttle or just hoof it,) and spend the day, or maybe even a night, at the Stehekin lodge. There is a fantastic bakery to visit too, though it was closed for the season when we visited. Next time.
