Lake Chelan

The lake fills a glacial trough about eighty kilometres long and only a couple wide, reaching a depth of around 453 metres - the third deepest lake in the United States - with its bottom well below sea level. The southern end sits in dry shrub-steppe with orchards and vineyards; the northern end is deep in the North Cascades with peaks rising straight from the water, so the two ends look like different countries. Stehekin at the far end has around seventy year-round residents and no road connection to the outside at all: access is by passenger ferry taking about four hours each way, by floatplane, or on foot over the mountains. It sits at the edge of North Cascades National Park.

What you actually see

• A lake around 453 metres deep - the third deepest in the country.
• Two ends in different climates - dry orchards south, deep Cascades north.
• Stehekin - about seventy residents and no road in.
• A four-hour ferry - the main way to reach the far end.

When to go

June to September; the ferry runs a reduced winter schedule. A full day or overnight.

Honest expectations

Stehekin is a four-hour boat each way - a day trip leaves about ninety minutes ashore. Accommodation there is very limited and books ahead. Wildfire smoke affects some late summers. Winter service is reduced.

Nearby

North Cascades National Park is at the head; Wenatchee is south.