October 5, 2023 Lake Chelan, Washington

 High of 79 and sunny. We took a boat tour on Lake Chelan today. The lake is 50 miles long and at it's narrowest it is 1.3 miles wide. It is similar to a fiord. The canyon walls are so steep and rugged, the only way to get to the western end is by hiking, a boat or a sea plane. I have wanted to come here ever since I saw it on the map over 10 years ago.

A map of Lake Chelan. The bottom map is of the depth of the lake. It is the third deepest lake in the USA, at around 1500 feet. The lake surface it at 1,100 feet above sea level, so around 400 feet of water is below sea level. We rode on the Lady Express.

View out the back of the boat. View looking ahead of the boat. 

The rugged, steep, glacier carved canyon walls are awesome.

Views of Lake Chelan.

More views. 

Lucerne is one of the stops on the way to the end of the lake.  You can see the results of one of the many wild fires they have had over the years. One fire, called the toilet paper fire was caused by a hiker burning their toilet paper. Lake Chelan.

Near the west end of the lake. At the end of the lake you can see these three peaks Boston, Booker and Buckner peaks. The many glaciers in their cirque are the lake's source. 

Marina  at Stehekin. Welcome to Stehekin, the village at the west end of the lake. 

We took the Red Bus tour- which was really in a blue bus. We stopped at Rainbow Falls, which plunge 312 feet down. View from the bottom and from the higher lookout of the upper part of the falls. 

We also stopped at the famous Stehekin Pastry Company where  people got lunch or snacks. John got a giant ice cream cone. View behind the Stehekin pastry company.

The old one room school house, pumpkins at the farmers market, Lake Chelan welcomes you, Lake Chelan Apples--most of the many orchards in the area are apple orchards, a vineyard on the side of the hill, poison ivy on the river trail, a van whose license plate is NO TENT, and a large vineyard along the lake. The beach at the Lakeshore RV park, where we are parked. 

Lake Chelan from the campground beach. Our backyard at the campground.

There is a huge boat race and show this weekend. These are some of the gigantic hydro plane boats. They are on the trailers they came in on in the back of  a semi.  Fall colors on the lake.

The latest masterpiece. It is made from dark green dyed pine needles, polyester thread and glass beads. The center is a Mexican painted tile. It is 8 x 1 3/4 inches.