Just one night.

We realized we've never taken our van out for just a single night. We've taken it out for five weeks, for two weeks, for one week. Even for a couple nights. But never just one. Our thought was we'd give this year's camping season a test with a night close to home.

Last year, K came across a hike up Fourth of July Mountain just outside the town of Chelan an hour from home. There's a first-come Forest Service campground down the road from the trailhead. It seemed like the perfect spot to test out two kids sleeping in the van. Granted, we did it on last year's trip to Colorado, but H is bigger and can no longer fit between us in her little Moses basket. Also, if things went poorly we could theoretically pack up and head home. Spoiler: we almost did.

Of the many reasons we love living in Wenatchee, one is how close it is to places that otherwise were always a pretty long haul. Case in point: Chelan. It's a cool little resort town that has a great pizza place and at least good coffee nearby. We admittedly haven't spent much time there because, well, it was always such a long drive.

More than the town is the lake. Lake Chelan is the third deepest lake in the country (at 1,486 feet deep, only Crater Lake and Lake Tahoe are deeper). It's unique to both of those lakes, and dare I say all others in the country, by it's immensity and isolation. The towns of Chelan and Manson lie on the southern end of the lake, near where we camped. Fifty miles to the north, at the other end, is the remote village of Stehekin. In between, there are only two access points. Stehekin, in fact, is only accessible by boat or plane. Fewer than a hundred people call that place home. Yeah, it's remote.

The lake is absolutely incredible. K and I have been to Stehekin and backpacked from there deeper into the North Cascades. We've visited Lucerne and the Lutheran town of Holden, another jaw-dropping entrance to the North Cascades. On that trip we took the ferry and traveled the length of the lake. There's really nothing quite like it, which is what was appealing about this hike K found up Fourth of July Mountain. The view from the top of the lake seemed the effort would be worth the climb.

That shot above looking up-lake affords a view only about halfway. The lake bends to the right and continues another twenty-five miles to Stehekin. It's enormous and for most of its length the mountains simply end abruptly at the water. Think the fjords of Norway and New Zealand.

These photos weren't taken from the summit of Fourth of July Mountain. The campground was on the north end of the peak, close enough and open enough it seemed we could walk up (the trailhead was on the south side of the mountain and would require us driving the van). Turns out, for a five year-old, it was a bit of a bushwhack. We made it high enough for that view of the lake before turning around. Good call, because it being early April in the mountains the weather was a bit fickle. We had snow, rain, and by the time we had packed up and were heading home sleet was pouring from the sky.

What we learned on this trip was Hadley doesn't like sleeping in the cold. She cried a lot throughout the night. At one point, maybe one o'clock in the morning or so I threw out to K, 'We could just pack up and head home.' If it wasn't for S sleeping like a rock beneath us we might have.

That aside, it was a really fun trip even if a little chilly for April. It's always fun to take out the van and I was reminded how we need to install a heater this year to make it cozy year-round. We'll definitely be back to hike all the way up Fourth of July Mountain and to camp in the area again soon.

The north side of Fourth of July Mountain from our camp. Totally looks like an easy walk up. Oops.

Since I can clearly wax poetic about Lake Chelan, here it is from the air in my buddy Matt's plane.

That shot nearly captures the whole lake, but of course there's a bunch of it behind us including Chelan and Manson. It definitely conveys the fjord-like comparison.

Another aerial shot looking back towards the southern end of the lake. The town of Manson and Wapato Lakes are on the left bank. The narrow point right of center is, well, the narrows. That's the section of lake that separates the two pools, Wapato (smaller and shallower) and Lucerne (much bigger and deeper). 

On the ground and taken looking up-lake toward Stehekin (still out of view), this was from our backpacking trip where we started at the Lucerne landing. 

Yeah, it's an incredible area and really close to home.