Lake Chelan State Park Camping

When: May 12-14, 2017 This particular weekend we had permits to do Mt. St. Helen's with a group, but the weather was calling for 2+ feet of new snow, wind, and bad avalanche conditions. We called off the trip 2 days prior because of this. We still wanted to get out of town so we made last minute plans to camp at Lake Chelan State Park. This was done online and there were still many campsites open the day before. We even got one of the prime ones on the water. We left Friday after packing up all the camping gear and 3 hours later we were at our campsite just before dark. The campsite was interesting in that you parked up top on the road and then had to go down some stairs about 50 feet to your campsite that was close to the water. We set up camp, had a fire and called it a day.

The next day we had a slow morning of coffee by the lake and breakfast burritos. Ahh the luxuries of car camping. We got everything ready and set out to hike Chelan Butte about 20 minutes away. There weren't too many reviews on WTA for this hike, but some recent ones said the wildflowers were getting good. The hike is an open landscape, rolling hills kind of deal. So very different than western Washington. We hiked for about 2 hours to get to the top and the hike continues on a ridge line walk after that.  We turned around at this point due to wind. Overall we hiked about 6 miles/ 2100 elevation gain. The hike was gorgeous with all the wildflowers, views of the north cascades and Lake Chelan.

We then went to a local winery here, there are many in the area. We went to Tsillan Cellars as it was highly recommended and rated. We did a tasting of 5 wines, enjoyed the beautiful vineyards and then were on our way back to the campground.

That evening we cooked teriyaki chicken skewers, drank Minnesotan beer, relaxed by the fire and took a sunset stroll by the lake.

It wont be too long until we are back at Lake Chelan for a medical conference. It is also high on my list to hike the lakeshore trail that follows Lake Chelan all the way up to Stehekin. So many things to do in Washington, so little time.

A Weekend in Vancouver, BC

Ever since we moved to Seattle we wanted to make it up to Vancouver, BC with it being under a 3 hour car ride away. It took us almost two years to make it up, but we finally found the chance, grabbed our passports and hit the road. We booked an Air BnB for the weekend just outside of the downtown area to save on costs a bit and arrived late Friday night. Even just crossing the border you notice how everything is different from MPH to kilometers per hour, to new accents and a different culture. The exchange rate was in our favor up there- we noticed food and drinks were a good deal but clothes and other items came out to be about the same price comparatively. Saturday morning we woke up and went to the public market, tried lots of food, then made our way to Capliano Suspension Bridge. This insta-famous spot is very picture worthy and something we wanted to just once. It is a big tourist spot and the prices match that. Overall a beautiful place to walk around. I really enjoyed it.

The rest of the day we explored the city, ate many of the local delicacies, and took in the "foreign" land. Sunday we woke up early to explore some of the mountains nearby. I find it extremely hard to find local hiking information for places other than Washington. WTA will always be the best. I researched, asked some people I knew up there, found the local avalanche reports, and even asked some locals in person. A lot of work to figure out one snowshoe trip! We went to Cypress Mountain about 35 minutes from Vancouver. We got lost where to start based on two different websites recommendations, but eventually found the right trailhead for Hollyburn Mountain. This hike was 6.2 miles/ 1500 in elevation gain. We wore microspikes up and snowshoes down. There was lovely weather going up until we got closer to the summit, then in true PNW fashion it was socked in with no views. It was still a really fun hike and nice to explore new mountains. After this we made our way back to Seattle. I would love to go back and explore more of Vancouver and the mountains surrounding it, thank goodness it's so close!