Stehekin 2005-2006

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North Cascades National Park Service Complex National Park Service Lake Chelan National Recreation Area Visitor Information Guide US Department of the Interior

FOCUS on Stehekin 2005-2006

Getting to Stehekin Golden West Lake Chelan Boat Company: Passenger boats Visitor Center WTUTE RNE SS provide round-trip service between Chelan and Stehekin with scheduled stops at Field's Point OURNEY DEEP IN TO THE NORTH The Golden West Visitor Center is open daily and Lucerne. Daily service is available from mid CASCADES to the headwaters of Lake mid-March through mid-October. Summer March through October 31st with reduced service Chelan. Fronted by one of America's largest hours are 8:30 AM- 5:00 PM. Follow the J during the winter. For more information, visit: pathway from the boat landing to the Visitor lakes, edged by wilderness and surrounded by tall www.iadyofthelake.com, or call: (509) 682-4584. mountain peaks, Stehekin is a remote community Center on the hill where you will find: connected to the rest of the world only by boat, The Tour Boat: Design your own cruise with this • Rangers available to assist you with trail plane, or trail. privately chartered and skippered boat. Pets are information, backcountry permits and welcome. For more information, visit: general information. The voyage to Stehekin is part of the experience. www.thetourboat.com or call: (509) 682-8287. You are traveling from the hustle of the modern • Naturalist Programs including evening world to a place where there are no shopping Chelan Airways: Flights are scheduled daily programs, short-talks, walks, bicycle malls, movie theaters or internet cafes. Here, a during summer months and on reduced tours and children's activities. Check area connection to the land can still be felt. schedules during the winter. For more bulletin boards for schedules and information, visit: www.chelanairways.com or information. Whether you enjoy boating, fishing, camping, call: (509) 682-5555. • Exibits and Relief Map backpacking, hiking, bicycling, horseback-riding, • The Golden West Gallery displaying rafting, kayaking, or simply lounging at the edge Hiking: For a rugged wilderness experience, hike artwork. of the lake, there are plenty of ways to seek into the Stehekin Valley. There are several scenic • A Wilderness Place: a ten minute audio adventure or relax. routes from the north, west and east averaging visual program about Stehekin and the two days backpacking. Contact a ranger station surrounding wilderness area. Stehekin serves as a hub to explore the 61,958- to help you plan your trip. Mountain acre (25,074 hectare) Lake Chelan National Transporter offers shuttle services to trailheads, Recreation Area and the rest of the North including airport pick-up. Call: (509) 996-8294. Cascades National Park Service Complex, as well as the adjacent National Forest Wilderness. GOLDEN WEST GALLERY Exhibit Schedule, 2005 North Cascades National Park Arts and Humanities of Stehekin, a non-profit organization, operates Service Complex Lake Chelan National Recreation Area the gallery in cooperation with the National Park Service. U.S. Department of the Interior PO Box 83 Stehekin, WA 98852 e-mail: [email protected]. Golden West Visitor Center May 13 - June 15: Paintings by Diane Paton Peel and Historical Photographs P.O. Box 7 Collected by Carol Knapp Stehekin, WA 98852 Telephone: (360) 856-5700 ext. 340 then ext. 14 June 17 - July 13: Group Show: Sean Boerke, photography; Cheryl Farmer, various knitting techniques; Myra Ramos, fabric art; Lori Story, batiks; Wilderness Information Center _____ Michael "Dutch" Story, mixed media Telephone: (360) 873-4500 ext. 39 July 15 - August 10: Bears: An Invitational North Cascades National Park Headquarters Group Show 810SR20 Sedro-Woolley, WA 98284 August 12 — September 7: Group Show: Telephone: (360) 856-5700 ext. 515 Lily Athair, fabric miniatures; Roxanne Everett, paintings and mixed media; www. nps. gov/noca Jonathan Scherer, woodwork; Annelise The National Park Service cares for special Sirguy, fabric art places saved by the American people so that September 9 — October 15: One Person all may experience our heritage. Show by Mark Scherer TRANSPORTATION in STEHEKIN The Stehekin Valley Road is paved for the first four miles from the Stehekin Landing and is gravel past Harlequin Campground. Traveling the road by foot, bicycle or bus provides views of the Stehekin River, glacier-clad jagged peaks and forests. Status of the road: In fall 2003, Stehekin experienced its largest recorded flood, damaging much of the Stehekin Valley Road. As of spring 2005, the road is open 9.5 miles (15 km) from the landing to just beyond Stehekin Valley Ranch. The Stehekin Shuttle: The Summer Shuttle Schedule-Begins June 10 The Bullion Loop Trail allows hikers, stock and Stehekin Shuttle operates daily bicycles to bypass the washed out sections of road to from May 27 through October 8 Stehekin End of Drivable Stehekin access upper valley trailheads and campgrounds. between the Stehekin Landing and Landing Road Landing the end of the drivable road. The Repair work in summer 2005 will allow shuttle Leave Arrive Leave Arrive bus accommodates backpacks, service as far as High Bridge. Service may be bicycles and pets. A Bakery Special 8:00 8:45 9:00 9:45 available two miles further to near Car Wash Falls. ride between the Stehekin Landing National Park Service Shuttle Van: Due to and the Stehekin Pastry Company is 11:15 12:00 12:15 1:00 severe road damage, the NPS Shuttle will not oper available for $1 one way. You may get on or off the bus at any location. 2:00 2:45 3:00 3:45 HARD ROCKS a„d FLOWING ICE ate during the 2005 season. One way fares (cash or check only) 5:30) 6:15 6:30 7:15 THE COMPLICATED PUZZLE OF NORTH CASCADES G E O L O G Y is fascinating to Horse Support: The mild-mannered horses and contemplate. A deep look into the composition and formation of rocks is fun and challenging for both professional and guides of Cascade $5.00 Adult STEHEKIN LANDING amateur geologists. The North Cascades mountain range was formed through a long series of igneous, metamorphic and Corrals can transport $2.50 Children under 12 tectonic events. Stehekin reveals its own part of the complex story. The rocks of the Chelan Mountains terrane, which gear to base camps $3.00 for bicycles and bulky excess baggage form such magnificent peaks, are mainly metamorphic. That is, they were formed when throughout the older rocks were restructured under extreme heat and pressure. Some of the rocks were backcountry. See back "Nowhere do the mountain masses originally volcanic arc rocks, and others were part of an ocean floor that included page for contact and peaks present such strange, material buried more than ten miles deep. Uplift of the North Cascades brought these information. Summer schedule will be available until September fantastic dauntless and startling rocks to the surface. During this mountain building, thousands of feet of overlying 25 and over Memorial Day Weekend. Two runs outlines as here." rocks were eroded and transported to the sea. (See www.nps.gov/noca/geology.htm or per day will depart Stehekin Landing, June 3-9 and September 26-October 8 at 8:00 am and 3:00 click on "Nature and Science" at www.nps.gov/noca). pm, retuning one hour later. Henry Custer It is not just rock that defines the landscape. Throughout the last 1.6 million years, Boundary Commission topographer 1857-58 the ice sheets and valley glaciers of multiple ice ages have scoured the mountains and valleys of the Chelan Mountains. Up to 17,000 years ago, the last ice sheet filled the Lake Chelan Valley with ice 5,000 feet (1,500 m) thick. This huge body of ice carved the valley into a U-shape over 1,700 feet (460 m) deep making it the deepest gorge in North America. As the ice sheet moved, it carried ground up rocks and boulders, dropping them at its end and along its edges. When the glacier retreated, it left these deposits as a flat plain, a terminal moraine, where the town of Chelan is located. Glaciers began another period of advance about 3,000 years ago; with many forming on the Cascade peaks. Most of these alpine glaciers have advanced and retreated several times since continuing to sculpt these mountains. Single mountain glaciers carve out mountainsides into amphitheater-like bowls called cirques. Lakes, called tarns, can frequently be found in cirques where the glaciers have retreated. The meeting of two or more cirques forms ridges called aretes, solitary peaks called horns and saddle-like cols. The mountains around Stehekin show numerous signs of the power and persistence of geological processes and glaciers. These processes continue to this day. In summer, have a look at the junction of Agnes Creek and the Stehekin River. The cloudy green or milky white color of Agnes Creek is North Cascades National Park Service Complex glacial flour, finely ground suspended rock, a testament to the continu Geographic Information System, 28 February 2005 ing activity of glaciers.

POPULAR STEHEKIN-AREA TRAILS CAMPING & / I /

Trailhead (from Length (one-way) Elevation Gain Difficulty Remarks Stehekin Trails Landing) from trailhead Area* Camp Trail follows the north shore of Lake Chelan and has sceniq Lakeshore Golden West VC 17.2 miles (27.7 km) 500' (152 m) moderate views of the lake. Lower Purple Point 6 0.3 1100s / R, B/*, F /Treate d waterI . Stock corral. Hike an additional 1/2 mile (.8 km) to Boulder Butte for a Valley J Purple Creek Golden West VC 7.5 miles (12.1 km) 5,700' (1,700 m) strenuous Harlequin 7 4.4 1200 Y R, F Nearest Camp to Rainbow Falls and River Trail. panoramic view. Bullion 2 10 1250• / *>F /S/Smalv l cam/ p in forest. Rainbow Loop 2.6 miles 4.4 miles (7.1 km) 1,000' (300 m) moderate Bluffs overlook the scenic Stehekin River Valley. High High Bridge 2 11 1650 F Stock corral. Located at Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) south & * Free backcountry permits 4.4 miles at NPS Trail follows the river with beaver ponds, birds and fishing are needed for overnight stays at all Stehekin River 4.0 miles (6.4 km) level easy Bridge Stehekin Valley Road. Maintenance Yard holes. * / J? / c° O / North Cascades National Park 11.1 miles at High 1750 Near a thunderous river gorge. Coon Lake 1.3 miles (2.1 km) 600' (180 m) moderate Coon Lake is an excellent place for bird watching. Tumwater 2 12 F Service Complex camps, available Bridge Dolly Varden 2 13 1920 F Severe flood damage. at ranger stations on a first-come McGregor 11.1 miles at High Steep hike to excellent views. Check at the Visitor Center Mid- I °J/ <2 / Comments first-serve basis up to a day in 7.7 miles (12.4 km) 6,500' (2000 m) very strenuous 1920 Severe flood damage. Mountain Bridge for route information. Valley Shadv 1 14.7 F advance. Lakeside camps do not 2100 Y Stock corral. Located at PCT north and Stehekin Valley Road. require a backcountry permit, but Agnes Gorge 11.3 miles 2.5 miles (4.0 km) 400' (120 m) easy Excellent views of a deep gorge and waterfall. Bridge Creek 6 16 F do require a $5/day or $40/season Park Creek 2 18.5 2250 F Located at the Park Creek trailhead. Bridge Creek 15.9 miles 14.3 miles (23.0 km) 2,600' (790 m) moderate Pacific Crest Trail heading north to State Route 20. Upper (May 1 to October 1) Forest Service Flat Creek 4 18.8 2300 F Located across bridge from road. Goode Ridge The trail ends at an old fire lookout site with a panoramic Valley dock permit. 16.1 miles 5 miles (8.0 km) 4,800' (1,500 m) strenuous Lookout view. Cottonwood 4 23 2750 F Located at the official end of the Stehekin Valley Road. ** Reservations required. Make reservation requests in Talus slopes and wooded ridge to Cascade Pass from Weaver Point 22 N/A 1100 B, F Treated water. Direct access to Stehekin Landing by boat. 3,000' (910 m) moderate Cottonwood. Hike another 3.7miles (5.9 km) to Cascade writing to: National Park Service, Cascade Pass 23 miles 5.4 miles (8.7 km) 1100 River Road and westside trailhead parking. Lakeside Manly Wham 1 N/A B Lakeshore camp near Bridal Veil Falls. P.O. Box 7, Stehekin, WA 98852. More than 13 waterfalls cascade off a cliff-ringed cirque. Flick Creek 1 N/A 1100 B, F Horseshoe Basin 23 miles 3.9 miles (6.3 km) 1,850' (560 m) moderate Camp located near Lakeshore Trail. Evidence of mining history. Do not enter mines. North Cascades Stehekin Lodge: Services include: Accommodations North Cascades Stehekin Lodge: Write to • Convenience Store: Some beverages, P.O. Box 457, Chelan, WA 98816, visit: limited food items and souvenirs. www.stehekin.com or call: (509) 682-4494.

• Boat & Bicycle Rentals: Mountain bike Silver Bay Inn Resort: Write to P.O. Box 13, visit: and boat rentals by the hour or the day. www.silverbayinn.com or call (509) 687-3142. • Bike and Lunch Self-Guided Tour: Picnic lunch and bicycle rental for half day rental Stehekin Rainbow Lodge: Write to P.O. Box 66, price. visit: www.stehekinrainbowlodge.com or call: (206)669-1777. • Rainbow Falls Bus Tour: Narrated bus ACTIVITIES and SERVICES trip to the 312' (95m) falls. Tours leave the Stehekin Valley Ranch: Visit the Courtney Log All addresses are Stehekin, WA 98852 unless listed Stehekin Landing year-round upon Office, write to P.O. Box 36, call: (800) 536- otherwise. arrival of all passenger vessels. 0745 or visit: www.courtneyranch.com.

Cascade Corrals: Horse supported hiking and • Restaurant: Open year-round with Housekeeping Cabins: These are individual riding trips into the Cascades are available, as limited operation in winter. cabins available for rent by owners. Locations vary well as drop camps and upper valley base camps. from 1.2 to 6 miles from the landiing. For trip times and costs visit the Courtney Log Visit www.stehekin.com or call: (509) 682-4494 • Flick Creek: Write to P.O. Box 25, Office located 200 yards from the boat landing, for more information. e-mail: bar [email protected] write to: Corrals, PO Box 67, visit: or call (509) 884-1730. www.courtneycountry.com or after June 15th, Rafting the Stehekin River: Raft the lower 11 call: (509) 682-7742 during business hours. miles(18km) of the Stehekin River. See the • Stehekin Cedar Home: Stehekin Valley Ranch under Accommodations Write to P.O. Box 14. Discovery Bike: Mountain bike rentals by the for reservation information. hour or day. A feature trip is the Ranch Breakfast • Stehekin Log Cabin: Write to P.O. Box Ride. Stop by the Courtney Log Office, write: Stehekin Pastry Company: Located 1.9 miles 67 or call (509) 683-7742. Box 8 or visit: www.stehekindiscoverybikes.com. (3km) from Landing, the bakery offers fresh baked goods, coffee, refreshments and ice cream • Stehekin Mountain Cabin: Write to The House that Jack Built: Located near the along with a lunch menu and special order cakes P.O. Box 38 or e-mail: Golden West Visitor Center, it has a variety of and desserts. Open Memorial Day to October. [email protected]. handcrafted items including t-shirts, cards and jewelry made by residents of Stehekin. Open NATURALIST PROGRAMS daily in the summer 10:30am-2:30pm. The National Park Service offers a variety of naturalist activities including talks, guided walks, children's In My Hands Massage: State and nationally activities and bicycle tours. For a complete schedule of licensed. Located 3.5 miles from the landing at activities, please visit the Golden West Visitor Center or the Buckner Orchard. For reservations stop by the Courtney Log Office, write Box 55 or e-mail: look on area bulletin boards. [email protected]. WINTER ACTIVITIES Laundry and Shower Facilities: Public FAMILY ACTIVITIES telephone, coin operated laundry and shower Children's Programs: Check at the Golden Recreational activities are available throughout located 200 yards uplake from Landing. Open West Visitor Center during summer months for the year. Cross-country skiing and snowshoeing April-October. program options. are popular winter pursuits. North Cascades Stehekin Lodge rents snowshoes and offers North Cascades Kayaking & Rafting: Offers 2 Family Fun Packs: These free-to-borrow kits transportation to and from ski and snowshoe or 6 hour guided kayaking and rafting trips. are great for exploring the area. They include destinations. Contact the North Cascades Located at the junction of the Stehekin Valley field guides, books, binoculars, games and an Stehekin Lodge for more information. Road and Silver Bay Road, 1.2 miles from the activity journal. landing. Reservations required for some trips. For more information on businesses, lodging Visit: www.stehekinguideservice.com or call: Junior Ranger Program: By becoming a Jr. and activities, visit: (509) 679-6164. Ranger, kids can experience the national park www.stehekinchoice. com setting with opportunities for learning, teaching www.stehekinvalley.com Note: There is no ATM in Stehekin and few and protecting this national treasure and earn a www.golakechelan. com businesses accept credit cards. badge and certificate! Stop by the Golden West www.stehekin.com (North Cascades Visitor Center for additional details. Stehekin Lodge)

Alexander Ross was the first Euro-American to come through the Stehekin A Place of Valley. Representing the Pacific Fur Company, he had a specific goal in mind: to cross, due west, the mountains and reach the Pacific to extend Journeys trading. He set out with three guides from Fort Okanogan in 1814 and got to within about four days of the ocean before turning around. Despite his "STEHEKIN" failure to reach the coast, Ross would later describe the journey as a IS BASED ON A "project of discovery". NATIVE In the last quarter of the 19th century, prospectors began exploring for AMERICAN mineral wealth. They found gold, silver, lead and copper ore. Early claims WORD meaning concentrated in the vicinities of Doubtful Lake and Horseshoe Basin. The "the way through." The real excitement came in the late 1880s and early 1890s. Chelan was built up Stehekin River was part mostly as a mining town, despite its distance of more than 60 miles (97 km) of a travel route linking from claims. Supplies were shipped by boat up the lake and thence into the the tribes of the Puget Sound and Skagit areas mountains. with those of the Columbia River Plateau. In between the two was a formidable barrier: the A few of the prospectors and suppliers settled up lake in Stehekin, which North Cascades Mountain Range. Although still served as a center point, this time between Chelan and mining claims. archeological evidence shows that people had While mining activities continued into the early 20th century, most been using the mountains for thousands of companies failed to profit. As the 19th century ended and the 20th century years, the sheer rock faces and deep winter began, mining quietly slowed and some of the prospectors became snows were as inhospitable as they are today. homesteaders. One such prospector was William Buzzard, who sold his Nevertheless, groups traded goods, such as wild homestead to the Buckners. The Buckner Ranch, which operated as an apple orchard in the first half of the 20th century, remains an important hemp and sea shells across the mountains landmark in the character of Stehekin. through Cascade Pass. Canoes at the head of Lake Chelan carried travelers the last miles out While a few people settled permanently in Stehekin, the beginning of the to the plateau. Red ochre pictographs are a striking reminder left by the 20th century brought a new sort of traveler to the Stehekin Valley: tourists. early people who passed through the area. Now, as part of the North Cascades National Park Service Complex, Stehekin is no longer "a way through;" it is a destination.