Valley guide

 

The Lake and RiverWooden sign saying Welcome to Stehekin

The cabin is located on Silver Bay and close to the mouth of the Stehekin River giving guests easy access to both.

The low island across the bay from the cabin is surrounded by shallow water and is a great place for kids to explore, look for frogs or wade in the shallows along the water’s edge.

Beyond the island is a large area of reeds with channels you can paddle through looking for signs of beavers and waterfowl.

Heading out of the bay you will see a line of snags and logs marking the main channel of the Stehekin River.  If you row out toward the end of the snags, you are level with Weaver Point on the other side of the river.  This is a nice area for short hikes as it is level and much drier than other places along the river.  In the past we’ve seen pine martens and great horned owls.

It is possible to row up the river as far as the River Resort (a collection of private cabins), but the current gets increasingly strong. Beware of the numerous snags along the river and the channel.  There is good fishing for trout and salmon in the lake and the river.

Stehekin Fishing Adventures run by John Wilsey offers guided fishing tours in the Stehekin River.

Stehekin Valley Ranch offers kayak tours every morning @ 10AM.  Make reservations at the ranch or at Stehekin Reservations by the landing.

The Valley – from the Landing to High Bridge

Stehekin Landing, where you arrive by ferry or float plane, is ‘downtown’ Stehekin.  Here you will find the North Cascades Lodge with a restaurant serving breakfast, lunch and dinner (reservations recommended) as well as a gift shop and camp supply store where you can get basic food items – eggs, pasta, bacon, milk (sometimes), beer, wine, ice cream, etc.

Up the hill from the lodge is the National Park Visitor Center where you can get information about the park and trail conditions.  They offer a Junior Ranger program where children complete age-appropriate tasks to become junior rangers and earn a badge and patch.  They also offer a family activity kit with books, games, and binoculars that you can borrow for free.  The Visitor Center also houses an art gallery and has informational programs during the day and in the evenings, and is a good all-around source of information.

Across from the visitor center is The House that Jack Built, a store that sells arts and crafts made by valley residents.  Well worth a visit.

Heading up lake from the dock is the post office and next to it, a coin-operated washer and dryer as well as a public phone (you will need to purchase a calling card at the lodge to use it).

A short way past that is Discovery Bikes where you can rent bicycles and get simple bicycle repairs done.

Next to Discovery Bikes is Nick Davis’ Stehekin Reservations where you can get information about and make reservations for most activities in the valley from kayak tours, riding lessons, trail rides, fishing trips and dinner at the Ranch.  Nick also rents out Polaris ATVs and electric pontoon boats. On the outskirts of ‘town’ are Purple Point Campground and a public boat dock.

About a mile up from the landing is the turn off for the lane to our cabin

Across the street from the turn off is The Garden where Karl sells seasonal organic fruits and vegetables.  He has goats (ask Karl if you can visit them) which are milked to make soft cheese, bees for honey, and maple syrup tapped from maples in the valley.

Another ½ mile up the road (1 ¾ miles from the landing), is The Bakery where you can buy fresh bread, delicious cinnamon rolls and other baked goods, as well as ice cream and coffee.  Behind the bakery are horse corrals with a few horses you can say hello to over the fence.  Riding lessons are offered at the corral and at the ranch up valley.

½ mile or so past the bakery (2 ¼ miles from the landing) is the lower trailhead for the Rainbow Creek Loop Trail, a 4 mile trail that starts above Harlequin Bridge.

About ½ miles further up the road (2 ¾ miles from the Landing) is the (new) Stehekin School with a large lawn we use for throwing Frisbees or kicking soccer balls.

A bit past the new school is the historical Old Stehekin School which is left open and kept as it was when the new school was built in late 80s.

Across from the old school is the Stehekin Community Center where you can find public toilets. It was built as a fish hatchery after the Chelan River was dammed and the lake raised in the 20s, but is now used mainly for Pentecostal church services (Sundays at 9:30).

Just past the old school and across the bridge over Rainbow Creek, a ¼ mile trail takes off and follows the creek up to Rainbow Falls.  The falls are most impressive in the spring during snowmelt, but are a nice cool place to relax throughout the summer.  The trail continues past the base of the falls a short way up the side to an overlook and a good misting.

The road leading up to the Rainbow Falls parking lot turns off a hundred yards past the creek trail.

A short distance past the turn off to Rainbow Falls is the road leading to Buckner Orchard and Homestead.  The apples in the orchard do not ripen until late September, but it is a nice place to visit and look at the old farm machinery and buildings.  The apples are free to pick when they are ripe, for bears and people.  Past the main house is a large meadow that leads down to the Stehekin River where there is a narrow beach and shallow side channel where you can wade and cool off.  You can also get to the orchard by following the foot path along the hand-dug gravity fed irrigation channel, which starts opposite the footpath to Rainbow Falls.

About 4 miles from the landing is Harlequin Bridge that crosses the Stehekin River and heads up Company Creek Road.  Right across the river, downstream from the bridge, is Harlequin Campground where you can also get down to the river and look for fish, but the river is too strong for wading or swimming.  Heading directly away from the river you go past the park service maintenance yard and end up at the Stehekin Airport.  Turning left along the grass runway you will find the trailhead for the Stehekin River Trail at the end of the runway which follows the Stehekin River for 4 miles to Weaver Point.

There is not much else along Company Creek Road – the power station is about a mile up the road and beyond that, the homes of most of the valley’s permanent residents.

Staying on the main valley road (i.e. not crossing the Harlequin Bridge) the upper trailhead for the Rainbow Creek Loop Trail is about ½ mile further up the valley (4 ½ miles from the landing).

Stehekin Valley Ranch is another 5 miles past the bridge where Stehekin Outfitters offers ½ day rides to Howard Lake and full day rides to Bridge Creek. They also offer riding lessons (check in advance for availability). The ranch has a restaurant serving dinner (reservations required, transportation available), a small gift shop, and offers massages.

High Bridge is another couple of miles past the ranch and is the terminus for the valley buses (see the Bus section) that run up and down the valley and the beginning of the North Cascades National Park (see Hikes section).

Wildlife

Stehekin is very close to nature and as such you will encounter wildlife. What you see depends where you are and the time of year.  Mule deer and white tail deer can be found year round throughout the valley, as can bald eagles and turkey vultures.

Spring and the warming of the ground brings migratory birds returning to nest, bears are beginning to emerge, as do the ticks.  The lake is at its lowest and animal tracks of all kinds are imprinted in the exposed lake bottom.  The gopher and garter snakes emerge to bask in the sun.  Gopher snakes are non-poisonous and live in the rocks around the property.  They hiss when scared and can bite, but are not venomous.  Rattlesnakes do live in the drier, more open forested areas up the the valley and down lake.

Summer is peak season for large numbers of swallows, hummingbirds, geese, frogs, yellow jackets and mosquitoes.  Families of mergansers, golden eyes and Canada geese cruise through Silver Bay diving for food.  Great blue herons stalk the shallows, hummingbirds darting everywhere, while turkey vultures, bald eagles, golden eagles, and the occasional osprey circle over the lake. The frogs live in the reeds at the end of the lake and produce a cacophony after dark.  Finches and tanagers are found throughout the valley and owls live in the more open and dry forest away from the river.

Autumn is when the fish spawn and die by the thousands in the Stehekin River and tributaries.  This brings the bears down to feast on the fish and also scavenge the last of the apples and berries.  Harlequin Campground and Buckner Orchard are great places to watch the fish protecting their nests called redds.  The bears are generally not aggressive and retreat when shouted at, just make sure that they have enough space, can retreat, and that the cubs are not threatened.

Winter is the quiet time.  Most of the birds have left and the bears are hibernating.  The lake level is low, exposing mudflats and sand bars before they are covered in a deep blanket of snow.  Deer and elk are clustered where the snow is thin, while crows and ravens scavenge on fish that floated downstream, and Trumpeter swans cruise the upper lake.