• View from Sourdough Mountain Overlook A view looking down onto Diablo Lake. Photo Credit: NPS/Michael Silverman, 2010.

    North Cascades

    National Park Washington

East Side: Stehekin

Lake Chelan
Looking down Lake Chelan in the early morning.
Michael Liang
 
The Stehekin community is in a small, remote valley in the Lake Chelan National Recreation Area, part of North Cascades National Park Complex. This narrow valley lies in rugged mountains east of the Cascade crest. You can't drive to Stehekin. Travel is by foot, floatplane or passenger boat. The Stehekin valley has 13 miles of interior road leading to North Cascades National Park, and three wilderness areas. It is home to a rich variety of wildlife and 95 year-round human residents. Stehekin's landscape is animated by a restless river and forests where fire is restoring the diversity of plant and animal communities. Stehekin's history can be experienced in century old buildings at the Buckner Orchard, and at the one room log school house built in the 1920's. The Stehekin valley has been an inspiration to artists for centuries beginning with the unknown painters of our pictographs.


Stehekin's isolation will not be comfortable for everyone. Services are limited: one small and very limited convenience store, a post office, a summer season bakery, one public phone, limited internet access, and no cell phone service. All groceries and supplies must be brought in or ordered from the town of Chelan or via mail order.

Learn more about Stehekin here.

Stehekin Artist-in-Residence Coordinator
Mark Scherer
360-854-7365, ex 12
Mark_Scherer@nps.gov

Did You Know?

Grizzly bear track in North Cascades National Park (1989). Photo Credit: NPS/NOCA/Roger Christophersen

Grizzly bear tracks can be a reliable indicator of species? Grizzly bear and black bear forepaw tracks are distinct from one another and often times better than a photo of the bear to confirm an observation. So don't just look up, look down.