Lake Chelan Lake Shore Trail

Memorial day weekend Ellie and I drove out to Chelan to backpack the Lake Shore Trail along Lake Chelan. We drove out to Chelan on Friday, stopped at a couple wineries for wine tasting, went out for dinner and spent the night in a hotel. This is usually the best way for us to be able to hit the trail as soon as possible the next day as we tend to be a little slow going in the morning. We couldn't hit the trail this time until the Lady of the Lake boat dropped us off, so we just needed to make it to the boat on time in the morning which was just under 2 miles away from our hotel. Sounds like we would be putting ourselves in a position for success. Sometimes tasks take as long as the alotted scheduled time, and we like to do things in a very short period of time. So after dropping our gear and Ellie at the dock, I quickly parked the car and was running down the dock towards the boat hoping I needn't do my best Indiana Jones impersonation and take flight off the dock to land on a moving boat. My childhood fantasy was halted as a woman stepped out of the office and told me to inform the crew that there were two more passengers boarding after us.




We chose the slow boat to travel to Prince Creek in order to soak up the scenery of the mountain ridges surrounding this 50 mile long lake whose greatest depth is 400 feet below sea level. The day was sunny and in the low 70's, and the boat was completely full. When we got to Prince Creek approximately 90 people got off with backpacks. Seems like a lot of people for what we hoped to be a remote backpacking getway, but the beach resembled the opening episode of Lost but with backpacks replacing plane wreckage. Ellie and I got our gear together and started the 17 mile hike to Stehekin. The plan was to do 11 miles to Moore Point and then the remaining 7 miles the next day. So 90 people hiking in the same direction might seem like critical mass of backpackers, and probably the number was less than the boat captain noted. We continually played a backpacking game of leap frog with a number of the other hikers. We'd hike, rest, get passed and do the same to them.



Just about 3 miles into our hike, I hear Ellie call my name from around the corner I just turned. I jogged back to her location glad to see nothing was wrong. She was of course peering through her binoculars in search of siting some critters, and this is when she showed me a black bear. The bear looked like it might be a teenager as it didn't seem thick as I might expect, but I don't know much about bears. He was approximately 80 yards away, but also down a ravine making our trail side view feel like a rather safe vantage point. The bear just stood and looked around for a few minutes and then walked a few steps back and laid down next to a tree for what looked to be nap time. At that point some other hikers caught up to us in our game of Leap Frog and we tried to point out the bear but he was somewhat obscured by a bush and was laying down so he didn't look like much more than a log if you had not seen him walk there and lie down.



The book we used for reference called this hike easy as there is little elevation gain, but put a 35lb pack on my back and I'm not calling 17 miles easy. Due to our start we arrived at Meadow Creek in the late afternoon and I have no energy to get to Monroe Point, so we elect to camp 7 miles in at Meadow Creek. It was somewhat disappointing at first as many of the backpackers stayed there that night. I counted 28 tents in the camp area we set up, and there were nearly a dozen in the area on the other side of the stream. At this point I'm hosed and can't imagine hiking 11 miles the next day. The only consolation is that I stashed two cans of beer in my pack. Sure to be warm but also tasty as these 2 little gems were Gubna Imperial IPA's.



We tied up our food in a tree hoping our bear friend or one like him didn't get the munchies during the night and come into our camp. There wasn't much to chose from in setting up our tent, and the area we did find while free of rocks, it was on an incline. Each time we woke up at night we would crawl back up to the top of the tent only to slide down in our sleep. The number of people in the camp didn't bother us and we tore down our site the next day to make the 11 mile trek. The second day was even more beautiful than the day before. Sunny and a little warmer, we started up the trail snapping photos and searching for critters at every turn.

Later in the afternoon we came to one of the many stream crossings. Most of the streams are small creeks one can just walk through or step on a couple well placed rocks or logs, but this time we came across one a little wider. The boy scout troop was taking a break on the other side and we saw them nonchalantly walk across a downed tree. The downed was wide and sturdy, and appeared very stable. The caveat was that it was 8 feet above the stream. Easy walk but if you make a mistake the consequences look to be much worse than a wet foot. I was about to walk across the log when I looked back and saw Ellie preparing to cross the stream in her sandals carrying her pack. I returned to help her just in time for a boyscout to offer to carry her pack for her. She's elated and hands him her pack warning him how heavy it is. He slips it on and walks across the big downed tree. She walks through the stream and retrieves her pack from the boyscout, and I try to step on the logs and rocks to cross and only step in the water once getting a rush of water entering my boot. A handful of additional hikers make it to the stream and we exchange some small talk before moving on. There were a few more streams to cross, but not more wet feet. There were three streams we did cross that were large enough for the forest service to build some bridges and there were enough that we weren't exactly sure which one we just crossed on the map. I stopped taking photos as I got more tired, and was glad we didn't have to hike 12 miles as I was pretty much toast by the time we go to Stehekin.

There were a few times while making the 17 mile hike that I thought that it would be better to do in in 2 night instead of 1. We entered Stehekin with the sun shining and in the low 60's. We stopped at the only restaurant in this boat in only town and I sat down at a picnic table, removed my pack and took in the view. Ellie went into the restaurant to get directions to the hotel we had reservations for and to confirm our dinner reservations at the restaurant. Then one of the greatest moments of the day happened. Ellie walked out of the restaurant with a cold six pack in hand, and boy that Sierra Nevada IPA was GOOD! We took in the view some more. Cracked open a second beer and then made our way to the hotel. It was a modest little room, but offered what we needed with a shower and a bed that wasn't on an incline. We had a very nice time at the restaurant. Had a bottle of wine and a conversation with our server about Stehekin.



Monday was our last day in Stehekin so we rented some bikes and rode out to the famous bakery where I found a sticky bun the size of a large grapefruit. The bikes were cheap to rent and definitely touristy rental bikes. The roads we used them on had little traffic other than some of the other backpackers riding bikes. We saw the boy scouts racing down the hill from the bakery. We visited the falls, and looked for the end of the road where the Stehekin Valley Road was washed out. We never did find the washout and returned our bikes, spoke with the woman at the bike rentals and then climbed on board the slow boat back to Chelan.