Unfortunately, the title of this post is little bit misleading. It turns out we weren’t officially in North Cascades National Park, we were just outside the boundaries. How did that happen, you ask? Well, easy mistake. When I was booking our trip to Washington and making hotel reservations for each National Park, I went to the North Cascades National Park website and searched for lodging, since we were trying to stay inside each National Park, rather than outside the gates and driving in each day. On the North Cascades National Park website, under Lodging, they have “North Cascades Lodge at Stehekin” listed with a link to the Lodge at Stehekin website. Clearly, one would think that meant that the Lodge was inside North Cascades National Park, right? Wrong, turns out it’s NOT inside the National Park. It’s okay, we had an amazing time, I just wanted to make it clear that we were not officially in North Cascades National Park (you know, for anyone who gets stuck on specifics, haha).
When I booked our room at the Lodge at Stehekin, they only had a few options. Apparently the winter/early spring is their off season, so they only rent their rooms that have kitchenettes. The reason for this is there are absolutely zero grocery stores (or any stores for that matter) open in Stehekin in the winter, so we had to bring all of the food that we would need with us. Did I mention that the only way to get to Stehekin is a 2 hour passenger ferry ride? Oh, did I also mention the ferry was a 6 hour drive from where we were staying at Olympic National Park? I was actually starting to panic the closer the trip got… did I make a huge mistake booking a room in Stehekin? A little background info… when I was making all of the hotel reservations for the trip, I just booked whichever hotels were open inside the National Parks (very, very few because it was still winter in Washington) and I didn’t really think about logistics. So, we had a reservation in Stehekin and we were going to roll with it!
We had reservations for the Stehekin Ferry at 2pm (the Ferry only runs once per day), so we got up early, hopped in the car and were off! As I mentioned, we needed to bring groceries with us, so we found a Trader Joe’s right off the highway and stocked up. We arrived in Field’s Point Landing about 1 hour before the ferry was set to depart, so we had plenty of time to let the boys run around, then gather our luggage and bring it down to the dock and finally park the car. At 2pm we loaded our luggage onto the ferry and got underway. Can you believe that we were the only people on the ferry?! It was a beautiful ride, with snow covered mountains surrounding Lake Chelan and we even saw mountain goats! The Captain and crew member were so amazingly nice and gracious, answering all of our questions about the area and pointing out interesting sights.
We arrived and the manager from the Lodge greeted us at the dock. The Lodge is situated just a few steps from where the ferry docks, so it is a very easy commute. The manager opened the hotel’s lobby/gift shop to check us in and of course the boys found tons of souvenirs they had to buy. We were shown to our room, which was a very rustic two room suite. Again, no televisions and no wifi. The boys immediately set out to hike and explore while we got settled and put the groceries away. The views from our room were magnificent and it had a lovely front porch overlooking Lake Chelan.
The next day, we woke up to a peaceful scene of the calm lake and birds chirping. After an amazing breakfast of Trader Joe’s chocolate croissants (highly recommend!), the boys went back out to explore. The beauty of Stehekin is that it is so small, just 102 residents (I believe), and you can only come in and out by boat or a very long hike (23 miles), so it feels very safe. Since we didn’t have a car, we asked the Lodge staff to bring us up the road to see the old schoolhouse, the waterfall, then drop us off at a trail so we could hike. In busier months, there is a red bus that shuttles tourists around town, but since we were basically the only tourists at the time, the Lodge offered to drive us around in the maintenance truck.
The first stop was the old Stehekin School, which had been left exactly as it was when the students moved out in 1988. The boys loved looking at the students’ work that was still hanging on the walls. Dax was fascinated by the typewriter. Stehekin now has a new school for its 11 students in Kindergarten through High School.
Next stop was the waterfall, Rainbow Falls. It was really pretty!
Finally, they dropped us off at the base of the mountain and gave us vague instructions to “follow the trail”. At first, it was easy – the trail was worn and easy to follow. Once we got up into the snowy areas, we found ourselves guessing which way the trail went. We weren’t worried and we ended up at a gorgeous spot to have a snack and take pictures. Once we were finished, we headed back to find the trail and there was absolutely no trace of any sort of trail anywhere. We could have gone back the way we had come, but instead we felt confident we could find the trail and finish our hike. The Lodge people gave us three hours, then they were going to pick us up at the end of the trail. We felt like we had plenty of time, but when you stop to play, throw snowball, take pictures, and eat snack, 3 hours goes pretty quickly! We realized that they would be looking for us soon, and since we still hadn’t found the trail and were just wandering around in the general direction we felt we should be heading, we made the bold decision to just head straight down the side of the mountain and go down to the road. Haha, easier said than done! It was steep, it was rocky, and there were several close calls, but somehow we made it down, all still in one piece!
We found the truck, they had been looking for us, but we were actually on time and safe! I think they were very relieved. They had just sent a family from Florida up into the snowy mountains on a very poorly marked trail, haha. It was quite the adventure but we all had fun and the views were breathtaking!
We got back, grabbed some lunch and let the boys lead us on our next hike. We hiked up the hill behind the Lodge, then over by the Lake, hopped over streams and rivers and more. They did a great job showing us around and leading the hike. After that, we decided to walk up the road along the Lake just to see what was there. Stehekin is so quiet and peaceful and its residents are super friendly; it was the perfect spot to end our vacation.
The next morning the boys headed out on their own hike again while we packed up and got ready to leave. The ferry would depart at 10:15am, but the boys got in plenty of exercise before our boarding time. They ended up hiking a portion of the Pacific Crest Trail, which runs from southern California all the way to Canada.
At 10am we loaded our luggage onto the ferry and headed back to reality. It was a Saturday, so many of the Stehekin residents were onboard so they could go to the grocery store, visit friends, or just have some time away from small-town life.
I was really worried that I had made a huge mistake in adding Stehekin to our itinerary, but it turned out to be so unique, charming and serene and I am so glad we didn’t miss it. It was a great experience and a true taste of such a rare and exclusive community.
Spring Break 2022 was a trip full of fun, adventure, and now, memories! We loved visiting the Pacific Northwest, and the 3 Washington National Parks were beautiful. We’re so thankful we got to have this experience together as a family!
