Campgrounds

STEHEKIN WASHINGTON CAMPING IN OUR BOAT

What if you had an idea to camp in your 19 foot boat, drive 55 miles on Lake Chelan to reach your destination of Stehekin. Only way to get to Stehekin is by a Ferry, your personal boat or I guess swim. A very isolated but magical location well worth the journey.

Stehekin is located at the head of Lake Chelan, there are no roads connecting this tiny community of 75 permanent residents. A fifty mile scenic journey in which you can reach Stehekin only by foot, horseback, your own boat or by passenger ferry boat. We opted to use our own 19 foot boat and boated the fifty miles exploring the shoreline as we traveled. The panorama of stark steep mountains took your breath away. The beauty of this country left us speechless. It actually only took less than 3 hrs to reach our destination and well worth it. A fee of $5.00 a day to dock your boat was a good deal as we were also camping on our boat. Cheap Digs with a view to remember. Fortunately we brought our Blix foldable electric bikes to explore with. Bikes are available to rent or you can bring your own highly recommend for exploring.

First Stop :

The Stehekin Pastry Company and log cabins are located two miles up the Stehekin Valley Road from the boat landing where the Ferries let off passengers. The bakery was built in 1989 and has a homey rustic feel besides the aroma of home baked goods and killer coffee and espresso. Delicious Cinnamon rolls the size of a small dinner plate for $2.25, pastries, cookies, ice cream, I could go on and on. The selections are varied depending on the day you visit, we visited everyday for 6 days, need I say more. The bakery is very considerate of those with special dietary concerns ( low carb and gluten free) are also very delicious. Their from scratch soups, sandwiches and quiches are also delicious with people coming from a far just for the goodness. As we headed back towards the boat dock one more stop a mere mile from the bakery was mandatory. Karl’s Garden!!!

Second stop:

Another hidden gem called THE GARDEN. Owned and fully operated by KARL a BAREFOOTED ORGANIC GARDENER.

Karl is amazing with a fairyland entryway into his garden lined by gorgeous flowers as big as your hand. You immediately feel transformed to another land with the aromas of flowers, goats he raises for yogurt and cheese, to the bees buzzing everywhere which help with his honey harvest. OK lets start with the goats: He raises them for making the most incredible creamy Chevre cheese (plain or herbed) or homemade yogurt flavored with his incredible honey he harvests on site. He uses the goat poop to fertilize his gardens which appears to be on steroids. Everything is on steroids I think even the bees were bigger . His garden is seasonal with homemade cosmetics, holistic medicine to some of his own bakery goods. A bit about Karl, he owned a Organic bakery called the honey hole located in Wenatchee years ago. Get him talking and you can learn some fascinating garden and baking tips. We left with our bike bags overflowing with giant beets, kale, fresh honey, chevre and fresh made goat yogurt. I myself was in organic heaven, Jeff wasn’t to far behind..

Stay Tuned for part Two of our Stehekin Adventures CHEERS FROM JUST AROUND THE BEND

NOTE: We visited Stehekin in early August 2019 beautiful time of year for perfect weather.

Lake Simtustus Oregon

Hello to all of my family, friends and followers. I am very excited to show you our pictures and share our boating adventures at Lake Simtustus on Saturday. It was one of those perfect boating days, very little wind, 68 degree water and a 90 degree day. Not to mention that the fish were in a good mood and we caught fish, yes Jeff and Liz caught fish!!!. Our trick was using old worms from our grandchildrens visit (3 weeks ago)and frozen scented white corn from last summer. We caught over 12 fish and managed to release them all back into the water and the fish were all in good shape, I love that for the environment.We especially like to fish and explore this lake as we actually catch fish and the set speed from the marina to the dam is 10 miles an hour, making it perfect for trolling for fish, swimming and napping on the boat (we do this often).

FISHING INFORMATION
The lake has steelhead trout, rainbow trout, kokanee, brown trout and a
few bull trout. Since it borders on the Warm Springs Indian Reservation,
a Tribal Permit is required for fishing. The lake is stocked annually with
catchable size hatchery steelhead. Kokanee found in the
lake have escaped from Lake Billy Chinook either through the turbines or
through underground channels. The last reservoir on the lower Deschutes River, in central Oregon, before the river flows into the Columbia River. The lake is formed by Pelton
Dam and stretches approximately 8 miles from below Round Butte Dam
to Pelton Dam.

  • Lake Simtustus was named after an Indian warrior who served with the U.S. army back in the mid-1800s. The warrior died on the Warm Springs Reservation in 1926 where he lived for many years.

PELTON PARK CAMPGROUND
The park is operated by PGE, which also operates Pelton Dam. The park
features RV Sites, platform tents (Yomes) and regular tent sites.  The camping sites  are very well maintained but narrow  and not very deep, if you are longer than 25 feet its tight. There is a store and marina at the south end of the park which has camping and
fishing supplies, boat rentals, fuel, moorage slip rentals and a restaurant.
PARK OFFICE 541.475.0517
STORE/MARINA 541.475.0516
OFFICE 541.475.1085

♥  Until Our Next Adventure  we are Just Around The Bend  ♥