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Chelan Butte, Chelan Washington




























I have to confess, I work so close to this trail that it is almost embarrassing to admit that this is the first time I have ever hiked it. I have for years watched the seasons change on this Butte as I come and go to work, had big plans to some day tackle the trail after work....Right, not going to happen. To tired, to lazy, didn't bring the proper clothing all the good excuses. So when my niece called me and let me know that she was on her way up from Oregon and her and my nephew wanted to join us on a hike. Preferably close, due to activities they had planned for later in the day. I threw out a few options, this being the hike with the most elevation gain, but with the nicest views and flowers blooming, she jumped all over it. So one of the only hikes that some how I managed to squeeze in to a extremely busy April, we left the house at a fairly descent time. With only a 20 minute drive ahead of us, we only had to make one stop for a morning coffee and off we were. The trail starts to climb very shortly after crossing the road and heading up the jeep trail. After gaining some elevation you finally get to a spot where even though you are still heading up hill you can begin to breath easier. The kids just blew up the trail past me, I had flowers to admire and views to take pictures of. Didn't have anything to do with the fact I needed a break every now and then to breath. The views are really pretty awesome of Lake Chelan, and the town it self. You get a great view of the Lake from Chelan all the Way to Stormy, and a nice view of the Chelan Sawtooths. As you reach higher elevation you get a pretty good view up and down the Columbia River and the Waterville Plateau. Lots of flowers were blooming when we took this hike, pretty amazing that you can't see the color spots from down below. Some years you can really tell when the balsam roots are blooming from road level as you head into town. We did not reach the top, after figuring our time frame and looking at the next two very steep sections of trail we took lunch on a beautiful mound of rocks and admired the views. Very enjoyable hike, gives you a descent work out going up and down, lots of flowers blooming in April. When the Butte dry's up it would be a really hot hike.
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