Sultan, WA to Lake Chelan, WA

Friday, 4-23-10

We have camped on the Skykomish River and will be driving today along the Cascade Loop.  Our first stop is Wallace Falls in Gold Bar.  We hike the trail and are bummed we were too lazy to carry our tripods as the shadows make photography difficult.  We decide not to do the 3-mile hike to the falls as the sun is rising and becoming too harsh for good photos.

We head onward along the Cascade Loop and stop for lunch at the Bavarian town of Leavenworth (not the prison).  We eat at “Munchen Haus” and order the bratwurst and a beer to share.  It’s good but we wish we had ordered the kilbasa.

We stroll along the sidewalk looking at shops and search for an aebelskiver for dessert (a Dutch pancake thingy).  There are none to be found.  Should we move to Leavenworth and open a thriving aebelskiver business?  Perhaps not.

We continue along the Cascade Loop toward the town of Peshastin.  We are surrounded by gnarly fruit trees with profuse white blossoms.  We’re thinking they might be pears.  We take many photos.  There are miles and miles of these white trees.  Finally we decide they must be the famous Washington apples.  Sure enough we finally see clues:  “Apple Annie Motel”, “The Apple Place”, “Tree Top” apple juice processing plant.

Our route takes us along the magnificent Wanatche River, “the most rafted river in the state of Washington.”  There are deep gorges with turbulent white water.

We continue to Lake Chelan and find a camping site at the City Park.  We set the alarm for 7:30 a.m. for a boat ride up the lake to the remote town of Stehekin  on the Lady Express.  The town is accessible only by floatplane or boat, population 150 if you count summer cottage owners.