National Recreation Areas - Washington

Lake Chelan National Recreation Area

5/29/2010 ... then drove north about 45 minutes to Chelan. Boarded a ferry (the faster of the two available) at 8 for an 8:30 departure. Packed full with holiday people and camping equipment, especially after the first stop to add more. Spent about 2 ½ hours cruising up Lake Chelan on a beautiful day – clouds and blue sky. The views uplake to the Cascades were fantastic. Early on there were houses, (WA) apple orchards and civilization, but that soon died away – there are no roads to Stehekin, our destination. Hung out at the open rear upper deck, enjoying the day. At Stehekin (in Lake Chelan NRA)[and also North Cascades NP], disembarked for a short stay, unfortunately. Checked out the LC Visitors Center, where a number of folks were getting camping/hiking instructions. Picked up a salad lunch at the restaurant, and walked the Lakeshore Trail just a bit. Had to re-board a little after noon, but this time there were very few people. In fact, after two stops, there were only three total, with me all alone on the upper deck! Really enjoyed the long cruise back, looking at the mountains near to both sides of the deep channel lake (3rd deepest in North America). Near Chelan, lots of PWC guys came out and were trailing the ferry, jumping the wakes.

The view of our destination

The park sign

My ride

Me on the way back

Quite a view

Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area

5/28/2010 Continued north then east to Lake Roosevelt NRA and Fort Spokane [on the Ice Age Floods NGT]. There was nobody here (VC closed) but the 1880s fort had some nice structures (like the stables) standing to walk around. I also hiked about 0.6 miles R/T up a steep bluff for a nice view including out to Lake Roosevelt, formed from the Spokane River by the Grand Coulee Dam.

The park sign

Fort Spokane

Lake Roosevelt

Ross Lake National Recreation Area

9/12/1986 Drive to and part way through North Cascades National Park [and Ross Lake NRA] to Washington Pass. Picnic "lunch" - white bread! Snack at Hidden Inn, Diablo Lake log.

A little waterfall

Beautiful mountains and lake

Craggy peaks