Washington's 'Little Alaska' Is An Unbelievably Scenic Village Nestled In The North Cascades

You can find a little bit of wild Alaska-style adventure waiting for you right here in the Lower 48, but there's one catch: Even though the rugged, spectacularly scenic village of Stehekin is smack in the middle of Washington State's North Cascades, just 200 miles from Seattle, you can't drive there. That's because, like many small towns in Alaska, this remote village on the West Coast's Lake Chelan can only be accessed by boat, on foot, or via floatplane. With a year-round population of 85, including the owners and operators of tourism businesses and National Parks Service workers, this is one remote destination. But it's more than worth the effort to seek out for its solitude, uniqueness, and arresting natural beauty.

Life in Stehekin is simple. Supplies, from gas and groceries to propane, are brought in by barge. As you'd expect, it's a community of rugged individualists, and many local families have had ties here for generations. There is no cell service — you'll have to use the town payphone if you want to call home, but we suggest going with the flow and blissing out on the isolation.

Stehekin summers are short but idyllic, a perfect time to explore by kayak or bicycle, and near the solstice, days are almost Alaska-long, too, this far north. Spring and fall are excellent for hiking adventures, with numerous day hikes through lush forests to waterfalls and viewpoints, and a shuttle to take you from town to trailhead. But to really experience "Little Alaska," nothing fits the bill quite so well as a winter snowshoe tour by moonlight. It's a great way to get the blood flowing before cozying up in front of the stone fireplace in your lakeview room at the North Cascades Lodge, operated by the National Parks Service.

You can charter a seaplane from Seattle that seats six and be in Stehekin in an hour, but it's absurdly expensive. And besides, we think this is truly one destination where a slow boat is the right way to adjust your inner clock to Stehekin time. Lake Chelan is a long finger of water nestled between dramatically steep, high mountains whose forested flanks plunge right down to the waterline, leaving nowhere a road could be constructed. Alaska vibes? You bet. To get to Stehekin, at the far northern end of the 50-mile long lake, you'll need to park your car at the south end in Chelan and hop on board a ferryboat.

The Stehekin Ferry operates daily, and can drop you at trailheads and campsites along the lakeshore, so you can dial in a hike or backpacking trip that ends with a gooey cinnamon roll at Stehekin's famous bakery. Another ferry system, the Lady of the Lake, also makes day trips and overnights possible, and you can combine rides on both to assemble a schedule for just about any adventure you can contemplate.

Another way to hike through the North Cascades National Park to Stehekin is to take the Cascade Pass Trail south. This 23-mile trek to Stehekin starts in forests and meadows, before climbing above the treeline to dramatic views of jagged peaks and hanging glaciers. If you really want to get to Stehekin the hard way, you can start at the U.S. border with Mexico, and follow the Pacific Crest Trail north for 2,572 miles to Stehekin, stopping in on your way to Canada.

Stehekin is a glorious place to rent a bike, electric or pedal-powered, as you'll practically have the town's 17-mile single lane road to yourself so you can tour this bucolic rural paradise in perfect safety — just watch for the shuttle bus that delivers hikers to trailheads.

One destination you can bike to is the historic Buckner Orchard homestead, where the Common Delicious apple grows. This is the natural, organic precursor to the modern-day Delicious apple, and still ripens on 350 trees. This orchard was organic long before the term was coined, since it has always operated in isolation, untouched by "industrial ag" practices. The site is part of the North Cascades National Park today, which operates it as a working apple orchard. If you arrive at harvest time, you can pick and eat one of these juicy, sweet specimens. Just remember that bears also have a sweet tooth, and you might just see one standing on his hind legs shaking a tree, then gorging on fruit to fill up on before hibernation. Elk like them, too.

The most storied destination in town is the Stehekin Pastry Company, famous for its plate-sized, gooey cinnamon rolls. "There's a saying around this part of Washington that's famous with hikers: 'I made it to the Stehekin Bakery!'" writes one local on Tripadvisor. "This place deserves its reputation as an outpost of gourmet food in the backcountry of the North Cascade Mountains." The quiche, pies, and sandwiches also get the nod. The bakery also rents out log cabins, just in case all that sugar made you long for a nap. Or, you can camp for free right in town, and wake up to a misty lake view that'll knock your wool socks off.