CHELAN EXPEDITION!

The inspiration for this expedition may seem a little strange, because it was a food label:

Since I was not familiar with the word "chelan", I looked it up, and found out it refers to a city, a lake,  river, and a county in northern Washington State.  The label was on an apple I purchased, so I set out to find out more, and started planning a trip to the Chelan ( pronounced sheLAN ) area.

Even though the apple blossom is the state flower of my native home of Arkansas, for this expedition I was interested in the apple blossoms of Washington State!!

Chelan is within a tourism marketing area known as the "Cascade Loop", and is one of the highlights of those who start to explore the Cascade Loop drive.

Washington State is famous for its apples, and I was delighted to be visiting when many of the orchards still had a few blossoms on them:

Huge storage containers were usually seen by the orchards.  None of the old fashioned "bushel baskets" like my grandparents always used for their apple harvest, were seen in the orchards.  However, the round, wooden bushel baskets were often seen in the grocery stores  and roadside fruit stands, for display purposes!

I was very impressed with the Lake Chelan visitor center:

When I was gathering visitor information at the center, I learned that Chelan has a variety of sculptures around town, installed by their Arts Council.  One of them close to the visitor center,( the bear shown below), is a favorite for folks to have their picture made with. 

The visitor center has comfortable seating, a fireplace, videos about the area, clean restrooms, a very helpful staff, and free WiFi.  Their website is www.lakechelan.com and has links to everything you need to know, to make your visit to this area, your best vacation ever!

The Visitor Center even has a grand piano on their premises!

One of the first buildings to catch my eye when I was doing a walking tour of downtown Chelan, was a historic log church building:

II learned that it was the St. Andrews Episcopal Church, and that it was built more than 110 years ago.  As the oldest permanent structure in the town, the church became the centerpiece around which the community grew to eventually become a city of approximately 4,000 full-time residents. 

The side garden of the church connected to the beautiful waterfront walking trail, that borders Lake Chelan:

The promotional material for Lake Chelan emphasizes that it is 50.5 miles long, so that means 50.5 miles of lake fun!

The trail leads to a boat launch area, and even has a sand beach, for those who want to use it.

As one would expect, visitors and residents have a variety of options for getting out on the water.  In  recognition of the long history of marine navigation, there is a spot along the lakeside trail that gives a nod to one of those vessels from a time long ago.  These days, there is a new Lady of the Lake vessel one can ride on, and their website is www.LadyoftheLake.com

After my walk around the lake, I headed north on the highway that sits precariously between the bluff and the lake; falling rocks from the bluff create an on-going need for drivers to watch out for rocks on the highway.  Whenever possible, there are pull-off sites, where visitors can enjoy the view:

 

I was driving north because I wanted to see where the public ferry launched.  The photo below shows the vessel, as it prepares to leave for the ride to Skehekin:

Because I did not know for sure, when (or if!) I would be in Lake Chelan on this trip, I had not made advance reservations for the boat to Skehekin.  But at least by getting a glimpse of the boat and setup at the loading dock, I know what to expect if I am ever able to go back.  The schedule for when this ferry operates can be found at www.StehekinFerry.com

Lake Chelan is the third deepest lake in the USA, measured at 1,486 feet.  Therefore, the Salish tribe of Native Americans were accurate when they chose the word "Chelan" for this body of water, because in the Salish language, "Chelan" means "deep water". 

Lake Chelan was listed as the largest natural lake in the state of Washington, before 1927.  Then in 1927, with the completion of the Lake Chelan Dam, the elevation of the lake was increased by 21 feet.

The fact that I "missed the boat" to Skehekin, gave me more time at the Fields Point Landing area, which is a part of a USFS National Recreation Area. 

It has a Visitor Center, lakeside trail, interpretive plaques telling about the area, and a huge parking lot. The parking lot is for those who are leaving their cars there, while they head for adventures in  the more remote areas of the lake. I was glad it was a blue sky day to explore the nature trail:

The large clumps of yellow wildflowers (seen in the photo above) line the highway between Chelan and Fields Point Landing, so I was glad to be able to photograph them at a location where I was walking, and not driving!

If you want an uncrowded place to have a picnic, that also has a stunningly beautiful view of water and mountains, Fields Point Landing is the place for you!

There is a well-maintained trail that leads from the loading dock for the ferry, up to the picnic area on top of the hill.

The dock for the ferry boat landing is designed so that it can be adjusted to accommodate various levels of the lake water.  The primary in-flow for Lake Chelan is the Stehekin River.  ("Stehekin" is a Native American word that means, "the way through").  The primary out-flow for the lake, is the Chelan River.

After returning to the town of Chelan, I took the highway to another small town, called Manson  that is on the opposite side of the lake.  It also had a walking trail, in a park called "Old Mill Park":

From this park, I could enjoy views of the orchards and vineyards on the opposite shore of the lake; also, I could observe the always-entertaining task of unloading a boat from its trailer, and floating it in the water

The rows of green you can see on the hillside in the photo below, are apple trees.

In addition to apple orchards, Chelan has a expansive variety of vineyards and wineries.  Since I was driving, I did not imbibe, but I wanted to visit their facilities, because of the photogenic offerings of their locations:

I observed several groups of visitors who were participating in winery tours, and had chartered limousines or buses, to assure they were not "drinking and driving". 

The COUNTLESS grapes that will be harvested from the vineyard shown in this photo, are a reminder to say that there are COUNTLESS references to Lake Chelan tourism in the media.  In fact, I read there were over a billion references in 2021, and already 41 million references just six months into 2022! 

In addition to wine tastings, some of the wineries have picturesque areas surrounding their main building that can be used for weddings, and other festive occasions.

Many of the wineries are on steep hillsides, which must be challenging for the growers to tend their crops, as well as harvest the grapes!

When I was in Chelan on May 13, 2022, it appeared to be peak season for seeing the strikingly beautiful, pink dogwood trees. I took so many photos of them, I could almost call this the "Pink Dogwood Expedition"!

This closeup view of a grapevine is my visual aid for learning one of my First Place 4 Health ( www.FirstPlace4Health.com ) memory verses that references one of the Jesus parables.

The full Bible text of the words of Jesus from John 15:5 NIV says, "I am the vine; you are the branches.  If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing."

Every fruit grower wants to "bear much fruit", and it seems to me that the Lake Chelan area is, indeed, "bearing much fruit"---be it in the form of apples, grapes, or visitor smiles!  This expedition to Lake Chelan, Washington, gave me "50.5 MILES OF LAKE SMILES"!!  Tricia