Chelan County (pop. 72,453), Washington’s third-largest county in square miles, is across the Columbia River from Douglas County. Chelan is pronounced “shuh-LAN.”
Lake Chelan, 50 miles long and about one mile wide, is Washington’s largest natural lake. It has a maximum depth of 1,486 feet – the third-deepest lake in the U.S. (after Crater and Tahoe).
Bonanza Peak, at 9,516 feet, is Washington’s tallest non-volcanic mountain.
The county seat of Chelan County is the city of Wenatchee (pop. 31,925), located at the confluence of the Columbia and Wenatchee rivers.
Wenatchee hosts the Washington State Apple Blossom Festival every spring.
Amtrak’s “Empire Builder” train, which runs from Chicago to Seattle, stops at Wenatchee’s Columbia Station.
Downtown Wenatchee has a statue of Guppo the Clown. Guppo has been played, for many years, by Paul K. Pugh, founder of the Wenatchee Youth Circus.
The city of Leavenworth (pop. 1,965), northwest of Wenatchee, was redesigned as a Bavarian village in the 1960s.
The Leavenworth Nutcracker Museum – a museum about nutcrackers – opened in 1995.
The city of Chelan (pop. 3,890) is at the southeastern tip of Lake Chelan. Lake Chelan Boat Company provides service from Chelan to the community of Stehekin, at the far end of the lake.
The Ruby Theatre in Chelan opened in 1913, and it’s still showing movies.
NEXT: KITTITAS COUNTY
I haven’t been to either Lake Chelan or Leavenworth and would like to see both.