Our Out - Lucerne

Art and I took some time away from the village this week. Just two nights but it was enough to revive us and get us ready for the last onslaught. We leave Holden on August 25th and the time is moving much too quickly.
We decided to camp at Lucerne the first night and then take the boat up to Stehekin to spend the next night with a friend. As soon as we got to Lucerne, our dreams of a calm night of camping turned into the reality of a huge thunder storm. We wisely decided to spend the night inside Holden's "A" frame cabin by the boat dock. I did a bit of cleaning on the porch, Art opened a bottle of wine and we watched the storm roll in. Lightning can be quite a hazard in the wilderness, so we kept out eyes out for strikes.

The next morning, after some very hard rain, we got up and took a walk around the area. We spied a couple dozen geese by the forest service cabin and then later watched the barge chug down the lake.

This is Railroad Creek, still quite full and fast, just before it dumps into Lake Chelan.

Finally we board the boat to head up lake to Stehekin for our second night out. When we were about half of the way up the lake, I noticed smoke up on a hillside. The boat company people had not seen it and so I alerted them and they, in turn, alerted the park service who then came down and put the fire out. I snapped a picture of the smoke as we passed by.