One couple I greeted invited me into their camp for a cup of coffee as I was making my way back to camp. Knowing my partner in crime could use a bit more sleep, I agreed.
We sat and chatted for over an hour about life, dogs, family, camping, nature, their eventual retirement, travels, and my tiny house. One comment they had made about my tiny house struck a chord with me, "We would be happy as can be living in our little trailer here, but it would mean we would have to get rid of all our stuff. We do not even want to buy a new house, as that means we would have to go through 30 plus years of 'stuff'". Reminded me that I had to go home and start getting rid of all my stuff, and realized I was excited about it.
After a bit more chatting, I wandered back to camp to check if my companion was awake. He made a few gruff (half-asleep) comments in reference to the mosquitoes I had let in when I opened the car door to get out.
Me: I shut the door as quickly as I could!
Him: Yes, while you locked out the 20 million out, you let 50 in. All of which seem to think I am delicious. (Note: Outside of the car, it probably sounded like he was explaining war tactics in Klingon).
He awoke and decided that we needed to leave post haste to avoid further devouring by mosquitoes. So we high tailed out of the campground. I waved to my morning coffee buddies on the way out.
There was a sign pointing to Lake Chelan on our way back out of the National Forest, he looked at me and asked if I wanted to go. I noted that it was a really rough dirt road, and that it said 30 miles. I was delighted we were in the Subaru and not my Toyota when I said yes. To your left is an example of the road. This road is quite rough, I do not recommend it if unless you are an industrious sort.
This road takes a minimum of two hours to get to Lake Chelan. Had we known what we were getting into, we would have fueled up first. But, that is part of the adventure. This road quickly climbed elevation and became more and more 'rough'. There were not many definitive signs that we were going the correct direction when we would come upon a fork in the road.We had a scare about halfway in, as we saw an equally traveled path leading in either direction with fresh tire tracks on both. There was not a sign telling us which way to go. We decided to take the road to the left, do not do that... it is the wrong way. Luckily, it comes to a hiking trail eventually that makes a good turnaround.
The road continues upward, I vetoed going further up as it appeared to be the wrong direction...not to mention there was snow. I envisioned us being snowed in, and ill prepared as we were...this made me rather uncomfortable. While unlikely, the idea of running out of gas without working cell phones on the top of this mountain did not appeal to me.
We took the correct fork in the road on the second go round and we both relaxed. The view was phenomenal. There were many boondock options along this route (sans mosquitoes), next time I am doing that instead. We came upon Junior Point Campground, we stopped here because I needed to use the bathroom. The bathroom is a lie. However, there is a SPECTACULAR view at this spot
. Take those stairs up and oggle the view. There is wildflowers, ridge lines, trees, the road, and visible trails. You can also notice the effect that fires and bark beetles have had on the forest, which is a bit sad. But the view is breathtaking. Outside of this campground there is a yurt. A random yurt, just sitting there. I had to investigate (just in case they were hiding the bathroom in there). I still want to know exactly what it was for. My friend suggested it was a place to review the beetle bug infestation. It had a picnic table and a wood stove inside. I hypothesized it is a point for research for the National Forest in general. If you note on the sign picture listed above, there is a map posted. This map details trails that can be taken via snowmobile.
We slowly wound our way down the mountain, noting campgrounds and old forest roads along the way. Though it is redundant, the view was exceptional for the whole trip. Beautiful flowers along the mountainside were purple, orange and yellow. As we got closer to Lake Chelan, I even started to spot wild sunflowers. The road finally brought us out to Lake Chelan, where we stopped at a mini mart, grabbed drinks and used the (much needed) bathroom. The town was quite full of tourists. We laughed about the signs that pointed to Entiat via the way we just came and shook our heads a bit.
We started the journey home from there, slowly making our way through the North Cascade Loop, which was (again) beautiful. I was sad to see the road trip end, but it was nice to be heading home.
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