Did the popular itinerary, Moore Point night one and we camped at Purple Point in Stehekin on night two. The Lady Express crewmember mentioned that this was the most backpacker dropoffs that they've had all season so far, which I believe. We leapfrogged with several parties most of the first day, and snagged a nice campsite at Moore, but it definitely completely filled by dinnertime. Day two we got an earlyish start and hit Stehekin by 11 am (with a break for the dog to dive off the dock at Flick Creek) only to find we were completely alone at Purple Point all night. Not sure how that happened, but can't complain! We also hiked to Rainbow Falls that afternoon (about seven miles RT from the end of the Lakeshore Trail), and ended up renting a Polaris to drive up valley to kill time. Made it to the Tumwater Campground before the snow started; this was a surprising highlight. If we hadn't already set up camp, I may have preferred to stay up by the river at the Harlequin Campground. Also, the bakery's open (that's probably what the people really want to know). We walked there on Sunday morning before the boat back to Chelan, stuffed ourselves with actual coffee and cinnamon roll, and whiled away the rest of the morning noodling around the dry river flats.
Temperature was pleasant, especially in the morning, in the way that you can tell is about to get hot in a few weeks. No lower than low 40s at night. Super windy at times. Three rattlesnakes (and MANY sagebrush lizards) spotted near but not on the trail, easy to avoid. I cleaned about six crawling ticks off of one of my dogs in Stehekin (none attached, but they're on tick medication). Flowers are great and numerous, but the balsamroot is definitely on its way out. Lupine, paintbrush, those wonderful dogwoods, flowering currant, chocolate lily, and many more. Up at Tumwater where the snow is just melting, there are abundant glacier lilies.
This is a weird trip (between the boat logistics, the baked goods, and the Polaris rental options) and extremely beautiful. And this is definitely the ideal window to do it.
Comments
sstille7 on Chelan Lakeshore Trail
I was wondering if you could share more details on how you transported your dogs? Did you take them on the ferry? And what was the procedure for doing that? I thought you could only take dogs on the slower ferry and put them 'below deck'?
Posted by:
sstille7 on May 13, 2021 11:37 PM
lsproat on Chelan Lakeshore Trail
Yeah, it’s confusing, and I don’t know if this is a COVID-19 change or permanent. Their website FAQ states that pets are allowed on the express boat year round, but that they must be crated in the owner’s crate in the summer. If you actually go to booking, at least the dates I checked have pets allowed in the boat company crates on express boats in the summer.
The kicker is that there weren’t any crates on the express boat when we took it, so the dogs just laid at our feet. They were allowed on the upper deck, but not INSIDE on the lower deck. Our first trip we sat in the back with the luggage and on our second we sat up top.
Posted by:
lsproat on May 14, 2021 08:44 AM