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The friendly shuttle bus driver dropped us off at the trailhead around 12pm.
After spending a few minutes getting ready, we started up the forested
trail. The sun was out, but we were partly shaded much of the first part of
the hike. The trail climbs steadily, and there's not much to see at this
point so you just put your head down and go.
First view peeking through the trees
There are brief glimpses through the trees of the valley below, and the
Stehekin River running through it. As we neared the halfway point of our
hike, we saw a deer (buck). Other than that, we only saw birds and lizards.
Though there are black bears and mountain lions in the area. One of the
passengers on our shuttle mentioned seeing a mountain lion; the bus driver
said that some people in Stehekin go their whole lives without seeing one,
so if you do see one, consider yourself lucky (in some sense, anyway).
Early along the trail
We had the trail almost all to ourselves. Shortly after seeing the buck,
we met two hikers coming the opposite direction. They had been at the
pastry shop with us, so must have started around the same time as us.
I asked how far it was to the creek, and they said just a few minutes.
They also said they'd seen a bear on their way up. We weren't so lucky.
Shortly, we came to an intersection. The left fork takes you higher up the
mountain; we took the right fork which continues on the loop trail. Very
soon after that, we came to the creek. We crossed the creek on a footbridge,
then scrambled down some rocks on the other side to a spot next to the creek
to have lunch. We enjoyed the sounds of the water and ate our
sandwiches (made by the lodge, though the pastry shop is a better choice).
Rainbow Creek and bridge
After shooing away the couple dozen bees that had gathered around my sweaty
pack, we continued on the trail, which started heads back toward the road.
If you have to choose only one half of the trail, chooser the lower half.
As we continued on the trail, views started opening up. First, we could see
the mountains on the other side of the valley. Then, we reached a high
point where we could see Buckner's apple orchard directly below us. Finally,
a bit further along the trail, we came to the best view of all. The orchard
was still visible, as were the mountains, and Lake Chelan itself was visible
to our left. It's a beautiful sight, and well worth the hike to see it.
Buckner's Orchard from afar
A closer look at Buckner's Orchard
After we admired the view, we continued on the trail, which now starts
a steep descent. As we re-entered the forest, we encountered a group of 4
bikers coming up (bicycles aren't allowed, but we weren't sure enough of that
at the time to mention it to them). Those were the only people we saw on the
trail, other than the first two hikers we'd seen earlier.
A better view of Buckner's Orchard and the Stehekin River
Lake Chelan from the same spot as the last picture
At almost the exact point that I could make out the road beyond the trees,
I saw the shuttle go by. I didn't think we'd be able to make it anywhere
near in time to take it, but in fact we just missed the shuttle by 2 or
3 minutes. If you can do the hike in about 3 1/2 hours (easy to do if
you don't stop for lunch and pictures like I do), then you can save yourself
some extra hiking. As it was, we had to walk back to the lodge (an extra
2.6 miles) ourselves.
Ducks on the lake
Ducks on Lake Chelan
It's not a bad walk, though. 15 or 20 minutes down the road, we reached
the pastry shop. There, we enjoyed an ice cream break. It would only take
us another 45 minutes to get to the lodge. Along the way, we had views of
geese near the lake shore, and a nice view of the lake in general.
Still more ducks on Lake Chelan
Lake Chelan
Believe it or not, this is someone's front lawn
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