A Little Place Called Stehekin

On October 05, 2015
By Randall Tate
In Dogs, Editorial, Stories, Washington, Wilderness
5

I had never heard of Stehekin, Washington before April of this year. The National Park Service Ranger interviewing me asked if I wouldn’t mind being assigned there as a General Ranger. “Sure” is all I could say. I had no idea where Stehekin was, what it was like or exactly what a General Ranger did. All I thought I knew was that it was inside North Cascades National Park. This turned out to be false. As it turns out, keeping an open mind and not knowing too much before you go are a couple of things that make a trip to this place incredibly memorable.

Stehekin is a small community situated on the north end of Lake Chelan. It lies within the Lake Chelan National Recreation Area and serves as a jumping off point for adventures into the southern reaches of North Cascades National Park. This small, bizarre hamlet can be reached by foot, boat or plane. Depending on who you ask, Stehekin has around 50-100 year-round residents. Some of the families that originally settled the area still live there and run most of the businesses.

Stehekin is one of those unique, dreamy places that we don’t think exist anymore. It is sleepy town where the houses have names and have never had keys. Some of cars haven’t been registered since the 80s and their keys never leave the ignition. It is a place where people wave to each other and if they don’t wave back, you know “they aren’t from around here.” If asked to describe my experience there, I say Stehekin is a piece of Alaska tucked into the dry, desert, eastern slopes of Washington. It is remote. It is filled with eccentric people. And it is surrounded by some of the most incredible wilderness in North America.

One of the float planes that makes regular runs to Stehekin

The record breaking number of wildland forest fires burning in the area had a considerable impact on my time in Stehekin. At one point, more than a dozen blazes were burning within the confines of the Recreation Area and National Park. As Rangers, we couldn’t post or update signage fast enough. On some days, the smoke was so thick that we couldn’t see one mile across the lake. Our bags were packed just in case we had to evacuate at a moments notice.

On the evening of July 31st, after slowly growing for three weeks along the shores of Lake Chelan, the Wolverine Fire exploded in an inferno that engulfed Domke Mountain. In a matter of one hour the entire slope was turned to ash. At the base of the mountain, sits another small community called Lucerne. By an amazing feat of strength, teamwork and skill, the wildland firefighters were able to save every single building in the village.