Stehekin Memories

Stehekin Memories, July 28th, 2020

The end of July is the driest and sunniest time in the Pacific Northwest. So it was the last weekend of July that my Dad, son, and I would fly in the seaplane from Kenmore Air Harbor, over the Cascade Mountains, to the mountain hamlet of Stehekin at the north end of Lake Chelan.

We always had a great time. The people there are fantastic. The weather is hot, sunny, and dry. The fishing is good. The lake is a bit cold for swimming, even in July, but canoeing is fun and all the hiking is stunning and uncrowded.

My Dad would ask a local to drive us 15 miles or more up the Stehekin Valley Road (the only road, well there’s the Company Creek Road, but it doesn’t go far, just to the airstrip, trash station, and hydro plant). We’d go up valley to Bridge Creek and fish there in the rushing pools of cold clear water. My Dad hiked down the creek to the Stehekin River and fished there. My son and I caught trout in the pools of Bridge Creek.

Then our hired driver would arrive in his blue Jeep with beer on ice and man, that tasted good! The road had at least an inch of dust on it. And our throats were parched.

Everything was so clear and bright. The air, the water, the people; it was a joy to be there.

We think of those days often.

TJM