Henry Rifle Forums

I've been busy working around the house and climbing. I do take a few minutes most days to plink at the cans on the fence line but other than that I don't shoot much.

Evelyn and I were going to climb Mt. Stuart over the three day holiday but the road in was closed because of fires. Smoke was everywhere and it followed us where ever we went. Instead of climbing we drove to Lake Chelan and after spending the night sleeping in the back of the 4-runner in a parking lot we jumped on the Lady Express and went 55 miles uplake to Stehekin.

Looking back as we head uplake. Rolling hills give way to the lake. Further north the slopes are sheer and in places the water is a hundred feet deep just out a couple of feet. Beyond where the road ends there are a dozen small cabins along the way. These are private property in the middle of the national forest and my guess is it would take a millions dollars to buy this. We jump off the Express and have three hours before going back on the Lady II. A National Park bus picks us up and will take us to Rainbow Falls and back for $10. We pass a lot of things that would have been cool to stop at but it wasn't on the bus schedule. I've been up here maybe 20 times in my life and have walked and biked up the road many times stopping where I wanted. But this was Evelyn's first time.

We visit Rainbow Falls and head back. We get half way back to the landing and Evelyn yells out "I forgot my phone in the outhouse" so we jump off and start to walk back to get it. We still have several hours left and could walk the four or five miles easily in time. Here is one of the things I would have liked to stop and take a picture. It's the towns only stop sign and its in the middle of nowhere.

We decide to hitchhike and found out everyone stops. Not a single car or truck drove past us. It meant we had our own on demand transportation as something came along in five minutes or less. This school house was built in the teens of the 1900's. It was used until 1988 and had an official student count of between 8 and 27. This map is dated 1917 and might be the same year the school was built. One teacher who lived in the back taught 1st grade through the 9th. You had to leave the upper valley to go to high school. There are no roads to Stehekin. The amazing thing is the gumballs are fresh.

This is the sunset not the moon rise. It really seemed surreal.

The next morning at Steamboat Rock State Park. Grand Coulee Dam. Chief Joseph's grave.

interesting indeed .... thanks for posting the pictures and comments

Nice pics. All of the backcountry around here is closed right now. Visibility through the smoke around our place is about 1/2 mile, after that it's all grey. Big red moon last night though.

Friends outing Portland tell me that the smoke is now unbearable, thanks a fire in the nearby Columbia Gorge that is out of control. In-laws in central Idaho are experiencing the same thing. What a mess.

Absolutely beautiful pictures.

Beautiful scenery Sir H.