By Guest Blogger John Newhoff, Friend of Washington’s National Park Fund
You might think there is no better place than a remote mountain valley to spend some time in the age of COVID-19, and Stehekin, Washington certainly fits the bill. It must be difficult now for the locals, though — on the one hand wanting to keep away anyone who could bring infection, but on the other needing visitors to keep the economy going.
The Stehekin Valley is one of the most remote places in the US, one of the least-travelled areas in North Cascades National Park, which is one of the least-visited national parks in the system. With about 75 permanent residents, no roads into the valley and a one-room schoolhouse, Stehekin in the off season offers a glimpse into its pioneer past that’s not quite so evident with the hundreds of visitors and seasonal workers added in the summer. It’s accessed only by a 2-4 hour ferry ride 50 miles up Lake Chelan which certainly discourages those who aren’t planners…
The fall is a wonderful time to visit. The poplars and maples are bright yellow and gold, the mountain ash is heavy with its orange berries, and the larch are turning gold in the high avalanche chutes and cols in the mountains above Stehekin Landing. The weather is often cooperative. And, the first week in October sees the annual Buckner Harvest Festival at the historic Buckner Orchard.
This year was a little different. While the North Cascades Lodge (the only ’national park lodge’ in North Cascades National Park) was open for guests, the dining room was closed. We could order from an abbreviated menu, but could only eat outside on the deck or in our room. The common room and rec room were also closed. The deck at the lodge is a great place to hang out – with Pacific Crest Trail thru-hikers sometimes eating a big meal and a huge beech tree overhead. However, the weather doesn’t always cooperate and this year the PCT hikers had no way to reach Stehekin Landing. The red park services buses that normally go back and forth between the landing and 17 miles up the road to High Bridge (where the PCT intersects the Stehekin Valley road) were not operating. Bikes are handy in this situation (an extra $30 round trip on the ferry or rentable in town), so we were able to get up the road to trail heads, the Stehekin Pastry Company (essential!) and the orchard.
Washington’s National Park Fund helped to preserve the Historic Buckner House, located within the Buckner Homestead Historic District. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as an outstanding example of early settlement and pioneer farming in the remote Stehekin Valley from 1889 – WWII. A prime visitor attraction, the historic district is managed by the NPS as an interpretive site. Over its 100-year history, the stone and log foundation had dramatically and unevenly settled. By 2014 the back portion of the house was 12 inches lower than the front. In 2014-15 the NPS Preservation Crew successfully lifted the house into level alignment and retrofited a reinforced concrete foundation. This new foundation was specifically designed with an inset to allow for placement of a log and stone masonry fascia on the exterior where visible to retain its historic character. In 2017, WNPF provided funds to recreate the stone masonry and log foundation along the three exposed foundation walls.
We ran into Dana Barton, Historic Preservation Specialist who worked on the restoration and was quite excited to show us the completed foundation of the homestead. “Last year the ‘foundation’ was a big pile of rocks…”
If you’re up for a hike, the Stehekin River Trail is a mostly level six-mile round trip that starts at the Stehekin State Airport (a grass landing strip) and ends at the Lakeview Campground on the lakeshore. It’s a pretty walk in the woods with some great views of the Stehekin River, Buckner Orchard and Rainbow Falls. Since we were there in October, we also had a chance to see the Kokanee salmon migrating upstream in the gravel shallows of the river.
The Purple Pass hike from Stehekin Landing climbs over 4,000 ft on its way up and over the ridges to the Methow Valley. We hiked about 3,000 ft of the trail on a gorgeous sunny day with amazing views, up and down the lake and over the surrounding sno-clad mountains: The Castle directly across from us, Purple Mountain ahead and above us, and McAlester Mountain just up valley. We hoped to see a bear, but no such luck.
A FULL week — cider pressing, hanging out at the bakery, amazing trails, getting our 2 boxes of apples home without the ‘Big Red Bus,’ rain for 3 of the 5 days but magically-cooperative weather for hiking!