"I would probably not recommend this trip to a friend."
Hiked the Chelan Lakeshore trail on Memorial day weekend, 1998. This should have been our first sign of trouble. The boat was packed, so was the trail. We had heard great tales of fearsome rattlesnakes and hordes of ticks. But, we had also read in some of the guide books what a great trail it was. And, while we did see 2 rattlers, no ticks bothered us the whole time. I know one was a rattler because I almost stepped on it and guess what, it rattled at me after it moved away a bit. woops. I think that hikers from the previous day had scared off many of the snakes. When we talked to some guys who had hiked in on Friday in relative solitude, they said they had seen 7 or 8 snakes at least.
Overall, we thought the trail and views were OK. Certainly not worth the rave reviews we had read. The boat dropped us off (and about fourty others) at Prince Creek about noon. We hiked to a very crowded Moore Point in relative quiet because we basically ran from where the boat dropped us off and stayed ahead of everyone. We slept at Moore Point.
In the morning we hiked up to Hunts Bluff, best views of the hike. Then, onto Stehekin, relatively boring, but kind of interesting to look at the cabins and the lake. Be careful with your water consumption. You are close to the lake, but at places on the trail, you have a hard time actually finding water.
We were happy to make the afternoon boat back to go down lake. That way we would avoid the Monday crowd. We had a beer to celebrate getting out of that place. It is definitely NOT the same caliber of terrain as say, Cascade Pass, Easy Pass, Thornton Lakes or any of those places. But, for early season backpacking, it is OK. WAY too much hassle with the boat and all for what you get. If you're looking for a good early season hike, check out the Olympic coast.
Note: This is backcountry wilderness travel. Any trail can become very dangerous in winter conditions. You are responsible for informing yourself of the hazards and taking the necessary precautions. Please read Terms of Use.