Lake Chelan

A wonderful trip to Stehekin, on Lake Chelan, in the dry eastern part of Washington State!

Eric poses in front of the 3D relief map at Fields Point, where we caught the ferry.  What a long lake!A guy from the park service gave a little talk on the ferry.  He's a school teacher from Missouri, who works for the park service each summer.
Notice people trying to huddle behind the enclosed area.  It was actually quite chilly out in the open, exposed to the wind.Most of the landscape along the lake was like this...quite dry, with scattered pines and lots of rocky outcrops.
We saw the occasional snow-capped peak as well.Eric managed to sneak into this one...he's right under the flag.
We were dropped off at Moore Point, from where there's a trail to Stehekin.  The ferry beached itself on the rocks, and then the crew dropped off a walkway for Eric and I  to get to the shore.  Then they backed out...
...and took off without us.
We had lunch right at the Moore Point campground.  It's a former resort, with swimming pool and all.  The swimming pools is now all filled in, and really all you can see of the resort is some flat areas with no trees.These are the remnants of the old dock.
We found some monster dandelions right off the trail.  They have a funny concave shaped seeds.
This is one of several streams that flow into the lake.About 2 seconds after I said "I wish there were some other people around so that they could take our picture!" these 2 folks came up.  We of course immediately asked them to take our picture.  They took the first one while I was taking Eric's glasses off...
Eric got some blisters.  The bandages didn't stick very well, unfortunately.
At least there was a good view while we were adjusting footwear.This picture is pretty washed out. However, that boat in the water is a high-speed catamaran that does the whole distance from Chelan to Stehekin in 45 minutes. That's about 4 times faster than the ferry we took.
This is some kind of parasitic plant. Notice the complete lack of leaves, or anything green.  Usually this type of plant lives off the roots of other plants.  The stalk was somewhat sticky.This shrub was very common--it's called the Mock-orange.  You could tell that it was around before seeing it because it had a very strong sweet scent.
The water looked so inviting that we took off our boots and socks and dipped our feet in when the trail dipped to the shore.  Chilly!  But very refreshing.
When we got to Stehekin, we got the last spot at the Purple Point campground.Dinner was Ramen noodles with cheese, cooked on a super light-weight stove that fits in a container that was about 4" by 1.5" by 1.5".
Me and the lake.Sunset in Stehekin.
This is the exact same spot where, last summer, Hans and Holly got married!If this shot looks posed, that's because it is.  Eric balanced the camera on a fence post, set the self-timer, and then rushed over to sit on the bench with me.
This is about the cutest little cabin that they have in Stehekin.  Wonder if they rent it out?This is the Honey Bear Bakery Express delivery van...I don't think it's been driven for a while.
The next morning we rented bikes and wandered around.  This was at the playground of the Stehekin School.Eric's inspecting the apples at Buckner Orchard.
Lots of old apple processing machinery was laying around.Eric risked life and limb and camera to take this picture of me while biking.
All too soon, it was time to leave on the ferry, back to Fields Point.  In the background are the "3 B's", Mt. Boston, Mt. Buckner, and Mt. Booker.Eric snuck this picture of me, asleep on the ferry.