Stehekin, Washington

Stehekin is a small unincorporated community in Chelan County, Washington. Located at the northwest end of Lake Chelan, it lies just south of the North Cascades National Park at 48°18′34″N 120°39′19″W³. It is within Lake Chelan National Recreation Area, a unit administered by the National Park Service. Stehekin has fewer than 100 permanent residents, though its population swells during the summer with vacationers and seasonal workers.

View of Stehekin and the north end of Lake Chelan.

Sights to see in Stehekin include the Stehekin Pastry Company, The One Room Schoolhouse, 312' Rainbow Falls, and Harlequin Bridge. Stehekin is a great location for hikers and bikers in the summer, and snowshoers and skiers in the winter. Stehekin is a mecca for photographers year-round.

There is no road access to Stehekin, though several miles of road exist there. It is reachable by passenger ferry or private boat from Chelan, or by floatplane. The vehicles in Stehekin have been barged there on Lake Chelan.

In 2003, much of the upper (northern) half of the Stehekin Valley Road was washed out by the nearby Stehekin River. Thus, access via Cascade Pass has become extensively more difficult, adding as much as 10 miles to the already strenuous trek.

Another town with a similarly small population and similar access is Holden Village, surrounded by the Glacier Peak Wilderness and located 12 miles up the Railroad Creek Valley from Lucerne, a boat landing on Lake Chelan.

Telephone Service

Between March 15th and 28th of 2007, WeavTel, a telecommunications company based out of Chelan at the head of the lake began normal operations of standard-delivery residential and business telephone service. Stehekin, previously served only by highly expensive satellite and radio telephones, finally joined the Washington Telephone Grid after decades of isolation. The move was not widely accepted amongst residents, however business owners agreed that there is a benefit to having normal telephone service. The service is currently limited to the Lower Stehekin Valley, around Stehekin Landing and the village proper, however, WeavTel is applying for permits to extend the service into the Upper Valley using underground fiber-optic cables. The move was made possible under Federal and State grants that provide support for any telecommunications company willing to extend service to rural areas. Although most other areas of North Central Washington have standard service, most of the areas outside of Wenatchee benefit from the grants as well. One of the first calls, a test call, was placed from Stehekin's Silver Bay Resort.

External links

• Focus on Stehekin - National Park Service
• Lake Chelan Attractions - Frommers Guide
• [http://wenworld.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070616/NEWS04/706170414/1001 "Park Service: Phones will do little to change Stehekin's 'social fabric'" The Wenatchee World, accessed on June 17th, 2006.