Lake Wenatchee: Where Memories Meet the Mountains

Some places stay with you long after you leave them. Lake Wenatchee is one of those places for me. Nestled in the Cascade Mountains of Washington State, it’s where towering pines meet clear blue water and the world seems to quiet down for a while. Over the years, trips to Lake Wenatchee became more than just camping weekends; they became chapters in our family story.

The crystal blue waters of Lake Wenatchee.

Lake Wenatchee sits on the east side of the Cascade Mountains, an hour and a half drive from my hometown of Snohomish, WA. Carved out of glaciers, the crystal blue, ice-cold lake stands in bright contrast to the tall pines of the Wenatchee National Forest. Campers and tourists alike flock to the state park to take advantage of the white sandy beach and cool waters to escape the heat of Eastern Washington. In the winter, the layer of snow insulates the noise and creates a pristine winter wonderland for recreation.

For my family, Lake Wenatchee was a second home. Every summer we would pack up and head up here for weekends of camping, adventure, and just time spent together as a family. Weekends were spent hiking, horseback riding, and swimming, or taking a trip into Leavenworth, 30 minutes away. The vast majority of it was simply spent being a family: roasting marshmallows, playing cards, or sitting by the creek or the lake. Sitting by the lake was its own adventure.

Perfect days spent by the water's edge.

Swimming in the lake was not something for the faint of heart. The water is crystal clear; unlike some lakes on the west side of the mountains, there were no lily pads, no ducks, and no mosquitoes; well, I take that back. Mosquitoes could be a problem depending on the month. That meant the wind was welcome to keep them at bay, along with creating recreation of its own.

When the wind picked up, Lake Wenatchee turned into a surfing haven. Well, what we called surfing. The waves were massive. If you could survive the cold water, there was nothing better than the thrill of the windy water. My cousins and I dove right in, of course, until our whole bodies turned blue. Right in the thick of it was always my grandma, surfin' like she was sixteen. The lake was the start of the Wenatchee River, yes, the same river they give white-water rafting tours on further down. It was along this river that one of the moments from my childhood unfolded. That memory eventually became the first chapter in my book, The Unbreakable Anchor.

"I was seven or eight years old the first time the river tried to take us. Old enough to remember the details, but too young to understand how close we’d come to something worse."

The bridge over the Wenatchee River.

This is the bridge we anchored to that day, fighting the current of the Wenatchee. You can read the full story of what happened next in Chapter 1 of my memoir, The Unbreakable Anchor.

Coming Soon.