Later on, IRL

September in Western Washington brings mixed emotions. Strong feelings come for everyone with the change of seasons. Children go back to school, the outdoor concert season ends, tomatoes fail to ripen, smoke fills our skies from far away wildfires, the Mariners fail to make the playoffs, the chants of “Sea—Hawks” begin. Birthdays for us Virgos… I’m not quite ready to go boldly into autumn. While we do have the very best summers of anywhere, they are a bit short. We decided to get away to the high desert town of Chelan, Washington to enjoy a warm, dry weekend of late summer and pretend that it will never end- and celebrate my impending birthday.

Chelan is a small town on the southern tip of a very big lake, Lake Chelan, known as the third deepest lake in the US. I didn’t see any signs proclaiming ‘We’re number 3!’ but people sure did talk about it a lot. Seriously though, it’s a beautiful, 50+ mile long, snake-shaped lake surrounded by the foothills of the Cascades. Driving into the area, we enjoyed the high-desert feel. Warm-ish, dry air combined with an abundance of fresh water from the rivers, lakes and streams provide optimal conditions for growing a variety of fruits. While apples are by far the largest of the crops, the foothills are planted with row upon row of some of the best grapes known to vintners, along with peaches, apricots, cherries and pears. The bright green orchards stand out against the dry brown hills.

Lake Chelan is well-known by folks who enjoy the outdoors. All kinds of water sports, yes – fishing, for sure. However, if you’re hiking the Pacific Crest Trail, the 2600+ mile scenic trail that takes hikers from the US-Mexican border through some of the most beautiful yet grueling hiking in the country all the way north to British Columbia, you know Lake Chelan provides a unique opportunity. As PCT hikers head to the North Cascades to finish the final leg of the journey, they must take the ferry – the Lady of the Lake – from the town of Chelan at the southern tip of the lake up to Stehekin on the north end of the lake. Stehekin isn’t accessible via trail, so the hikers get a lovely 3-hour trail respite where they can put down their packs, sit on an actual chair and enjoy the views. While I’ve hiked a few minor spots of the PCT I have no intention of traversing the whole thing, but what I really wanted to do was get a chance to see the terrain, and being a somewhat avid wine drinker, I didn’t need an excuse to visit.

About 3 and a half hours outside of Seattle, the town of Chelan feels a world away. We arrived on a Saturday afternoon and grabbed lunch at a cute diner in the quaint but popular downtown village area. As we dined, we noticed a park outside the building with a nice walkway along the Chelan river -a sign we should take a well-deserved after-lunch walk. The river looked clean and inviting. In fact, so clean that we could see fish at different levels in the water as we watched kayakers and paddle boarders enjoying their afternoon. We strolled along the lazy waterway and learned a bit about the local area from signs along the path. With autumn less than a week away we began to notice the shadows along the path growing long. We wanted to check out some local wine so we high-tailed it over to one of the wineries that had been recommended by friends.

Set in the rolling hills just above the lake, the winery felt like an Italian villa overlooking vast fields of grapevines. The late afternoon sun tinged everything around us with a golden hue. We were warm, carefree, and enjoyed chatting with several knowledgeable folks about the various wines we sampled. We made reservations for dinner at the winery’s restaurant for the next evening, and left with more than a couple bottles of wine we couldn’t live without.

As the sun grew closer to setting, we left for the 20-ish mile drive to the private cabin we had reserved using a vacation rental app. It was literally at the very end of the road on one side of the lake. Neighbors nearby but not too near, no noise, no problems. The place had everything we needed for a quiet weekend, not the least of which were spectacular views of the lake. We arrived just before sunset and found ourselves speechless. Just no words for the views from this rustic little cabin…

The place is amazing and the photos don’t do it justice. But I tried! The cabin had access to the lake and the water was cool, but not too cold, and clean. We learned during our stay that the area prides itself on conservation of natural resources, and caring for the water in the lake is a top priority. That water is precious and respect for it is of prime concern. We enjoyed a home-cooked dinner and spent the evening enjoying the views: Sunset, starlight, a bottle of wine and the lake. The weather was a perfect 70 degrees. Knowing our 70-degree days are fading fast, we savored it. We began the next day by waking up to warm sunshine and coffee overlooking the lake on our cabin’s little patio.

We didn’t have much time to spare on Sunday morning, however because we were catching the one and only ride up the lake to Stehekin. The Lady of the Lake Express takes three hours to go up-lake once a day, so we hustled down to the boat dock to board.

We took off promptly at 8:30 am and headed northward on the lake. On the boat there were three distinct groups:

A couple dozen PCT through-hikers, young and excited to be meeting up with folks they’d met along their travels through California and Oregon. The boat had Wi-fi so many settled in to check their email, send messages to loved ones and catch up on the latest from the world.

A large contingent of older folks heading off to a Lutheran retreat known as Holden Village; and

Those random folks like us who were just out exploring.

After three hours on the boat and a couple quick stops along the lakeshore to drop off and pick up more passengers, we arrived at the village.

In Stehekin we had to make the most of the 90 minutes we had before the one and only return trip for the day. The folks in Stehekin made the 90 minutes pretty stress-free. We boarded a bus, and quickly made friends with our driver, Dale, who regaled us with stories about the wildfires that threatened the area most of the summer. Luckily not a single structure was lost. It was a herculean effort by more than 700 firefighters to wrap every structure in foil, dig trenches and clear brush before the fire got close to the town. It didn’t hurt that there was ample water supply from the lake, either. Having only recently being able to return after being displaced for over a month, the residents of Stehekin were glad to see us. Dale took us on a short two mile drive to Rainbow Falls for a quick walk to see the 312-foot cataract pouring out before us. While we didn’t see a rainbow, we’ll take Dale’s word for it that when the sun is at the right angle it’ll be there. From Rainbow Falls it was a quick drive to the most well-known business in town: Stehekin Pastry Company. We had lunch at one of the many picnic tables on the lawn, grabbed a treat for later and had just enough time to visit the gift shop in an attempt to assist the local economy.

Back on the boat for the 3-hour return trip, we settled in and enjoyed the views

After about an hour, the captain stopped the boat engine and made an announcement to have a look at the hills to our right – starboard? – side of the ferry, where we saw the rarest of rare sights – a family of mountain goats grazing along the rocks. The captain kept the boat still and quiet. We were still at least 100 yards from shore, but these creatures are so shy that he wanted to allow them some peace while we snapped away with our cameras. We were thrilled – this was truly a spectacular high point to our trip!

After a few moments, the goats moved on, so the captain started the engines up again and we left as quickly as we arrived. Nothing was going to top this and we all chatted about them for the remainder of our ride back to the town of Chelan.

After the 6 hours round trip and not moving much all day, when we returned to town, we decided to walk the entire one mile loop of the Chelan River Walk that we’d seen a bit of after lunch the day before. We stretched our legs and talked to a few friendly locals who were out for exercise or putting a line in hoping to catch something for dinner that evening. Sunny, blue skies warmed us and the fish were jumping.

Eventually, we made it to the winery for dinner, and enjoyed a delicious meal with a nice bottle of wine, capping off a long day of soaking in the beauty and splendor of the region. We headed off to our cozy little cabin in the hills above the lake and spent another evening gazing at the moonrise and the star shine from the quaint little patio. Jackets weren’t necessary, with temperatures hovering around 70 as we listened to the sound of waves as they slapped around on the lake below.

The next morning greeted us with more sunshine and warm air. We shared breakfast outdoors – strong coffee and the big sticky bun we’d purchased from Stehekin Pastry Co the previous day. It being my birthday Marshall presented me with a lovely card, but the real gift was his planning of the weekend and the time we spent together exploring.

After breakfast, we packed up and headed home, vowing to return in the not too distant future. The ride back was just as nice as the ride to Chelan, but filled with many new memories to savor.