Lake Chelan: Updates for 2019-2020

H

hardee

New member
Lake Chelan updates for 2019-2020

Just wondering if anyone has been on the lake (Chelan) in the last 5 years? That was the most recent entry I could find regarding anything about the lake.

I'm considering going up yet this fall, or next summer for sure, and looking for updated info, charting options and recent experiences.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

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Hi Harvey,
No first hand experience, but just last Friday I was talking to Derek the owner of San Juan Canvas Co. and he and his wife just got back from a trip to Lake Chelan and said they had a terrific time. They took their 20' something or other boat. Gave it such glowing reviews that I want to consider making the trip ourselves. Said the bakery at the top of the lake was still a great destination.
Are you thinking of a trip?
- Steve
 
Dock Permit at https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/okawen/specialplaces/?cid=stelprdb5212293
CC type site at: https//www.lakechelan.com/play/boating-water/
Boat Launch info at https://www.chelanpud.org/parks-and-rec ... nd-boating
Way nice marina at https://cityofchelan.us/departments/parks-recreation/marina/
Google Search results at https://www.google.com/search?safe=acti ... 1wQ4dUDCAs
One of many Search hits on this site at http://www.c-brats.com/viewtopic.php?t= ... 9421a884a2
Please take me, I'll be good and pick up after myself!!!
Bob Jarrard
 
Thank you for the interest and for the links. Some of them have really good info. A couple have old info and some disconnected phone numbers (Stehekin) and Lake Chelan Boat Company. But there was tons of good info there. I will be doing more research in the morning, but it is a great start.

It has been a bunch of years since I was on the lake, and a bunch more since I was on the lake on my own vessel, (canoe), and before that I did the length of the lake in an inflatable Zodiac. I have always wanted to go back and do it in my own "real" boat some where along the line.

Maybe now,

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

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bobjarrard":1egeu45e said:
Harvey,
Enjoy and be sure to post some pics!!! Bob
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Bob, Lake Chelan is a beautiful spot. 55 miles long, deep -- 1700 ft max depth, and steep walls. I have heard it described as a bit crack in the rock, steep walls, high cliffs, and big mountains. It also can have fierce winds, superb sunrises and sunsets, and hot days and cold winters. Not much for anchorages, but if the lake winds are quiet, it is a gorgeous cruise into a whole different world -- life in a national park where there are no roads in, no state roads, and less than 100 people there year around, (Stehekin). It is like living on an Island, that isn't, and like living back when there were party lines (not political) and neighbors that were friends, and community who cared.

Make the trip.

I'm not so good at getting new photos into my albums but Look for Andy's post: Log of the Osprey to Alaska:
http://osprey-alaska.org/
The last entry page is a gallery of photos that I did when traveling with him in the Broughtons. More fog than Chelan, but some decent scenery.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

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How to again ?I tried the search button to no avail for putting in pictures I went to my pictures and tried adding photos it didn't do anything ??
 
Mark, thanks for your link, and good pix. I remember you wrote about that trip and I looked back then too. I am trying to confirm if there is fuel up at the Stehekin dock yet, or if it is available year around and what it might be. I don't think it is a very common boating place, other than summer, hot days, blue skies and that is mostly "downlake" below the Narrows, due to the fairly consistent "downlake blow".

Still waiting on some call backs and some further calls.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

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Interesting thing is that the climate is different at each of the lake. At the south end it is desert and the north end is sub alpine forest.

When I was in Stehekin many years ago, there was no cell service and only one telephone which used a micro wave link to cross the Cascades.
 
Curious what charting is av available for Lake Chelan. I have looked at OsmAnd+, Navionics, and the Navionics HotLakes Plus. The later is the only one that has charting available. AND that is only from the "Narrows" down to Chelan. From just at the top of the Narrows, it is just a blue space. AquaMaps does have some bathymetrics, but only 100 foot intervals. Not a lot of help when you only anchor in 25 feet or less, but then again, I know enough about the lake to not expect much in the way of anchoring.

Would really be interested in any charting that offers more.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

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I used the "Gold Package" nav system that came with my dinky little Lowrance HDS 5 "fish finder." I think it is Navionics. Sand bars on the Snake River, yes. Slot canyons at Lake Powell, yes. Shoals in the Bunsbys, yes. Mudflats in Willapa Bay, yes. The number and orientation of finger piers at Stehiken, yes. It is spooky good (so far). Years ago I worked at Captain's Nautical Supplies in Seattle and I know that if I had a full set of paper charts for everywhere that I have been on my CD 16 it wouldn't leave enough room on board for me.

Mark
 
Mark, Thanks for that, Glad you had good chart info. There are places where my Garmin is that good but I may need to be there for it to zero in on the location and get the detail. Sometimes I have to remind it where I am before it will focus in out of the world map mode.

I have gotten pretty spoiled using both the Garmin and the RayMarine, and if they don't agree, I get very nervous and really careful. Looks like the AquaMap will work with the RayMarine for the lower half.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

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Harvey, what did you end up using when you went to Stehekin? I don’t remember what you run on your tablet, but For general campground navigation and shoreline/land data I found my onX hunting maps to be excellent. The charts on board “Miss Maria” have the same line I saw on Sleepy C where the earth ends past 25 mile creek campground. (Still didn’t see any dragons or sea monsters though)

Andrea and I snuck out for an overnight run. We were dinking around and exploring slowly and only made it up to corral creek campground, but OnX around Chelan, Stehekin, and all of sawtooth ridge are very accurate for land navigation. No depth charts or water hazards of course, but as an added bonus when you leave the boat you know who owns the land you are standing on and where every trail goes.

Just a heads up for anyone going that way in the future: safety harbor campground is closed and the dock has also been completely removed. anchoring there would be very tight and potentially hazardous (an awkward scope with rock cliffs and deep water). Corral creek has some shelter but even a light breeze from the south and morning thermals from the mountains made for a bit of breakfast chop until the sun stabilized temps. (Near freezing lows, highs in 50’s) Here, like much of the Rockies or the sierras, cold air sweeps down the mountains at night and warm air rises up in the day. The sunrise and sunset transitions can do peculiar things when the Slopes spill into a wide open space! Once the sun was up over sawtooth ridge the waters calmed again. Now if I can just figure out where to host pictures, i’ll Post a few
 
Chester":31nhfovh said:
After spending one rough night at Safety Harbor there I laugh at the name.
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I believe the campground descriptions provided by USFS are helpful more for those seeking shelter on land. In that regard, safety harbor is well sheltered from wind if you tuck your tent up in the rocks. BUT, it was wiped out by flash flooding. So yeah, maybe renaming it would be wise 😂. Maybe “less likely to die harbor”, or “go back to 25-mile creek harbor”?
 
Nigel, Great to hear you are out enjoying that boat. There are some places that are dockable on the lake but there are not many that would give a quiet night if the winds shifted from uplake to downlake during the night. They are also meant for smaller boats. Our size will maybe fit 2 per side, but somebody is going to get some bounce.

There is fuel up at Stehekin. I know that is a question I raised earlier in the thread. It is non-ethanol and they are proud of it so be prepared. ( I believe I paid about $4.60 per gallon. ) And the Stehekin docks are included with the park or forest service docks at $5.00 per night, but you have to get them before you get onto the lake. They are available at the State Parks, and several places in town.

The predominant wind is down lake, meaning that it blows from the NW end (Stehekin) down the lake towards Manson and Chelan. When I was there it was an Upwind lake and the docks at Stehekin were very bouncy. (Meaning extra fenders and lines for sure.)

There are basically no anchorage areas between Manson and the north end and it is 40 miles, but there are park docks along the way, and there are pit toilets at each. There is essentially (actually) no radio service on the lake. The Lake Chelan Boat Company boats (there is typically one on the lake each day) do not respond on any of the typical channels -- 16, 13, 9, and there is no Vessel Traffic system. If there is a Forrest Service boat on the lake, they do monitor 16. Beginning sometime in 2020 there will be a new passenger ferry, a 40something catamaran, outboard powered, running daily from Stehekin down to Manson and back leaving Uplake in the morning and returning same day.

There are several launch sites, 2 State Parks, and a county park that has a multiple lane launch ramp. I overnighted at the Chelan State Park. Be advised that they have aluminum bull rails that are not particularly friendly to your dock lines so chafing gear of some kind is a good idea.

It is an extremely scenic lake and spectacularly clear water.

Go and enjoy.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon
 
SnowTexan":hwf6lqnq said:
Chester":hwf6lqnq said:
After spending one rough night at Safety Harbor there I laugh at the name.
Click to expand...

I believe the campground descriptions provided by USFS are helpful more for those seeking shelter on land. In that regard, safety harbor is well sheltered from wind if you tuck your tent up in the rocks. BUT, it was wiped out by flash flooding. So yeah, maybe renaming it would be wise 😂. Maybe “less likely to die harbor”, or “go back to 25-mile creek harbor”?
Click to expand...

Too funny, laughed out loud at that.
 
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