Chelan, WA

Highway tunnel along Alt Hwy 97 from Wenatchee to Chelan

We are still staying at Wenatchee Confluence State Park, but today we drove north on Alternate Highway 97 to the town of Chelan and the lake that the town is known for, Lake Chelan.  Someday I'm going to go for a boat ride on Lake Chelan up to Stehekin, but today wasn't the day.  Instead we went on an errand to Walmart, bought some lunch at Subway, and ate at Don Morse City Park beside Lake Chelan.  It was windy and a bit chilly, so we ate in the car. 

Our first view of Lake Chelan from Alt Hwy 97

This city park has a 9-hole putting course, tennis courts, basketball area, playground, skateboard park, and a very nice campground with full hookups and quite a few trees.  Someday we'll come back and stay in this campground for a few days.  In the RV Park Review site, this campground is called Lakeshore Park.

Playground at Don Morse City Park with Lake Chelan and the Cascade Mountains in the background. 

After lunch, we decided to take Highway 97 (not Alternate 97) from Chelan back to Wenatchee.  The Columbia River spans the two highways, so it's a very scenic drive both directions.  The east side, Hwy 97, has more orchards and the west side has more rocky hills. 

Dave told me that we were going to Chelan Falls, so I said, yippee, I like to see waterfalls.  Well, there weren't any waterfalls at Chelan Falls, just a PUD powerhouse.  It had stolen what once was falls.  However, we saw several very nice county PUD parks, one of which we plan to camp in in the future.  Beebe Bridge County PUD Park's address is Chelan Falls, but don't be fooled, there's no falls and no town, unless you count it as a town if it has a post office, which it does.

The powerhouse that stole Chelan Falls

Beebe Bridge crosses the Columbia River near Chelan and divides Hwy 97 from Alt Hwy 97.  Beebe Bridge Park does not have sewer hookups, but it's a lovely park right on the river.  Again, this park has a tennis court with basketball area, a nice playground, soccer and baseball fields.  The best part is that the off-season senior rates are $12 per night, and you don't have to be a Washington state resident to take advantage of these rates.  The regular off-season camping rate is $23 and the summer rate is $28 per night, which is kind of high for partial hookups, but the setting and location of this park is worth a stay.  Here's the review for this campground: Beebe Bridge County PUD Park

There are lots of interesting sights and many parks along this stretch of the Columbia River

Some of the scenery from the road on the way back to Wenatchee

Our final two stops were to check out Daroga and Lincoln Rock State Parks.  Both were nice parks but we liked Lincoln Rock better.  Daroga has camping, but no sites with sewer.  Lincoln Rock has full hookups sites.  Both parks are right on the Columbia River and have lots of amenities like tennis courts, soccer fields, etc.  At Lincoln Rock we saw the following small creatures all over the place, but we couldn't quite figure out what they were.

Marmot, maybe?  Definitely not a squirrel!