Lake Chelan Water Taxi

[JoshK]

Is there any other way up and down Lake Chelan or does Lady of the lake have a monopoly? Getting to stehikin/holden so late on your arrival day and having to get back so early on your return really sucks.

[dkemp]

I think its the way it goes man.

 

Hey, didja notice todays date is 4-20? Its 4-20 all day!

[JoshK]

Damn...kinda sux. Definitely gives incentives for longer stays up north on lake chelan since you basically loose most of your day both coming and going.

 

In class this morning, many of us noticed the date to great delight

[Blake]

Is there any other way up and down Lake Chelan or does Lady of the lake have a monopoly? Getting to stehikin/holden so late on your arrival day and having to get back so early on your return really sucks.

 

The Lady of the lake does indeed have a monopoly, and they own the lodge at teh boat landing too! apart from hiking in from highway 20 (4hrs, flat trail) you can also take the Chelan Airways float plane up, which can go when you want it to, and only take about 25 or 30 minutes. However, this is more expensive so it's best to get a group together and split it. The boat company does have a "high speed" catamaran boat which makes 2 trips to Stehekin a day, but costs almost as much as the plane and takes an hour each way.

[Stefan]

No. There is another option.

 

Chelan Airways. They take floatplanes up. Cost is about $120 roundtrip. I don't know if that is per trip or per person.

 

Here is the website:

http://www.chelanairways.com/

[thelawgoddess]

i don't remember what we used a few years ago but i do remember there was the cheaper slow boat and then a more expensive fast boat that left from a different spot. sure is a long ride, but it's a nice place to hang out and chill though if you're into kicking it with your pals.

[JoshK]

Yeah, during the summer season they offer the 50mph boat which also has a morning run. Unfortunately during the "off season" (i.e. not swarming with tourons seasons) there is only one boat and one run.

[JoshK]

Is there any other way up and down Lake Chelan or does Lady of the lake have a monopoly? Getting to stehikin/holden so late on your arrival day and having to get back so early on your return really sucks.

 

The Lady of the lake does indeed have a monopoly, and they own the lodge at teh boat landing too! apart from hiking in from highway 20 (4hrs, flat trail) you can also take the Chelan Airways float plane up, which can go when you want it to, and only take about 25 or 30 minutes. However, this is more expensive so it's best to get a group together and split it. The boat company does have a "high speed" catamaran boat which makes 2 trips to Stehekin a day, but costs almost as much as the plane and takes an hour each way.

 

So what trail from highway 20 gets you there in 4 hours? The shortest way I could find from highway 20 was along the bridge creek trail to the bridge creek camp. That is like 15 or 16 hours, which, granted, I could easily do jogging, but I'm not sure I could swing that with a big pack and skis on my back.

 

I must be missing something. Getting to that bridge creek campground is probably easier coming from cascade pass. It's 11 miles that way, and I know a lot of that is downhill skinning. Granted, you have to climb to get over cascade pass, but that is pretty cake.

[Blake]

Is there any other way up and down Lake Chelan or does Lady of the lake have a monopoly? Getting to stehikin/holden so late on your arrival day and having to get back so early on your return really sucks.

 

The Lady of the lake does indeed have a monopoly, and they own the lodge at teh boat landing too! apart from hiking in from highway 20 (4hrs, flat trail) you can also take the Chelan Airways float plane up, which can go when you want it to, and only take about 25 or 30 minutes. However, this is more expensive so it's best to get a group together and split it. The boat company does have a "high speed" catamaran boat which makes 2 trips to Stehekin a day, but costs almost as much as the plane and takes an hour each way.

 

So what trail from highway 20 gets you there in 4 hours? The shortest way I could find from highway 20 was along the bridge creek trail to the bridge creek camp. That is like 15 or 16 hours, which, granted, I could easily do jogging, but I'm not sure I could swing that with a big pack and skis on my back.

 

 

Did you mean 15 or 16 miles instead of hours?

Also, I'm sure that it would be more than 11 miles from the western Wash. end of the cascade river road, over the pass, and down to Bridge creek. When the road was NOT washed out, it was about 3 miles up to the pass, then ~6 miles to Cottonwood campground at the end of the Stehekin road, and a shuttle. The stehekin road ended at glory Mtn. last summer(~2.5 miles short of cottonwood)and it's another 4 miles along the road to bridge creek, which might be impassable to cars due to last fall's flooding. This whole hike would be even longer if the cascade river road is not repaired.

 

Straight down bridge creek is 12 miles (flat, slight downhill) to the Stehekin road. It's 3 miles to the Fireweed PCT junction where you can take Mcalester creek to Mcalester pass(~6miles), then down rainbow creek to the Bakery(10miles). At Fireweed you can also stay on bridge creek/pct and it's 9 more miles to the Stehekin road, for a 12 mile total walk in. I know of people who bike it, which is a fast option, but mind the parkies.

[JoshK]

Is there any other way up and down Lake Chelan or does Lady of the lake have a monopoly? Getting to stehikin/holden so late on your arrival day and having to get back so early on your return really sucks.

 

The Lady of the lake does indeed have a monopoly, and they own the lodge at teh boat landing too! apart from hiking in from highway 20 (4hrs, flat trail) you can also take the Chelan Airways float plane up, which can go when you want it to, and only take about 25 or 30 minutes. However, this is more expensive so it's best to get a group together and split it. The boat company does have a "high speed" catamaran boat which makes 2 trips to Stehekin a day, but costs almost as much as the plane and takes an hour each way.

 

So what trail from highway 20 gets you there in 4 hours? The shortest way I could find from highway 20 was along the bridge creek trail to the bridge creek camp. That is like 15 or 16 hours, which, granted, I could easily do jogging, but I'm not sure I could swing that with a big pack and skis on my back.

 

 

Did you mean 15 or 16 miles instead of hours?

Also, I'm sure that it would be more than 11 miles from the western Wash. end of the cascade river road, over the pass, and down to Bridge creek. When the road was NOT washed out, it was about 3 miles up to the pass, then ~5 miles to Cottonwood campground at the end of the Stehekin road, and a shuttle. The stehekin road ended at glory Mtn. last summer(~2.5 miles short of cottonwood)and it's another 4 miles along the road to bridge creek, which might be impassable to cars due to last fall's flooding. This whole hike would be even longer if the cascade river road is not repaired.

 

Straight down bridge creek is 12 miles (flat, slight downhill) to the Stehekin road. It's 3 miles to the Fireweed PCT junction where you can take Mcalester creek to Mcalester pass(~6miles), then down rainbow creek to the Bakery(10miles). At Fireweed you can also stay on bridge creek/pct and it's 9 more miles to the Stehekin road, for a 12 mile total walk in. I know of people who bike it, which is a fast option, but mind the parkies.

 

Perfect, this is exactly the info I needed Thanks man.

 

Oh, and yeah, 15 or 16 miles, not hours. I won't be wheelchairing it or crawling it joe simpson style.