Chelan Butte

BOU AVENUE
Chelan Butte

On 20 August 2024, Zosia Zgolak and I hiked up Chelan Butte, a big grassy hill overlooking its namesake city in central Washington. The hill is topped by a telecommunication installation and can be accessed by a gravel service road, but most hikers probably choose to ascend via a steep but well-defined trail running up the northeast ridge. Searching for easy peak-bagging objectives along our drive eastward across the state, I basically stumbled onto this hike by chance while perusing the map in my phone's navigation application. The weather forecast in the North Cascades was not great on this day, but Chelan Butte sits in a rain shadow area that is usually much drier. Trailhead access is also easy and was not affected by the many wildfires that have plagued the North Cascades this summer. The trailhead parking lot (currently with a porta-potty) is located at the corner of Iowa Street and Chiari Falls Road (47.83112, -120.01001) in the city of Chelan.

From the parking lot, Zosia and I followed the wide trail southward for about 400 metres before turning right at a signed junction. We immediately crossed an obvious drainage, and after hiking for another 500 metres, we reached a second signed junction where we turned left. From here, the trail gradually winds up the west bank of the drainage before re-crossing it to contour eastward across north-facing grassy slopes. At the end of this eastward traverse, we took a short detour to tag an unofficially-named knob known as Elephant Head. Then returning to the main trail, we commenced a steady and sometimes steep climb up Chelan Butte's northeast ridge. There is nothing technically difficult here, but due to foreshortening, the already visible telecommunications installation at the top is farther away than it appears. Ironically, the top of Chelan Butte has the worst views due to all the telecommunications infrastructure. The actual high point is fenced off and inaccessible to the public, and as such, we basically circled the perimeter of the fence before retreating down the trail a short distance for our requisite "summit" break.

When we resumed hiking, Zosia and I descended partway down the northeast ridge before turning off onto a short-cut trail. The short-cut trail bypasses some of the long switchbacks in the main trail, but it is brutally steep as it makes a beeline toward the trailhead down the north-facing grassy slopes. Our hiking poles were invaluable for descending here, and we made short work of the knee-jarring descent. Ultimately, we rejoined the main trail at the first signed junction, and the remaining walk to the trailhead parking lot was quick and easy.

	Zosia begins hiking on the trail to Chelan Butte.
	The trail eventually crosses the drainage here and traverses to the left out of the photo.
	Zosia heads toward the distant bump ahead known unofficially as Elephant Head.
	Zosia climbs a short spur trail to the top of Elephant Head.
	Sonny and Zosia stand on top of Elephant Head (700 metres).

Still some work left!

The remainder of the route to the top of Chelan Butte looks innocuous enough, but there is still a lot of elevation gain left (about 340 metres from this point).

Ironically, it's less scenic the higher you climb up Chelan Butte!

Zosia approaches the final rise before the top.

Best view of the day.

Here is an unobstructed view of Lake Chelan from the trail about 70 metres below the top.

	Sonny stands on the highest point (1169 metres) accessible to the public on Chelan Butte. Photo courtesy of Zosia Zgolak
	Portions of Lake Entiat (Columbia River) are visible to the northeast. On the distant left horizon is Moses Mountain.
	Sonny and Zosia stand on a rock outcrop overlooking Lake Chelan.
	Zosia descends a very steep short-cut trail on the return hike.
	Here is a last look at Chelan Butte from McNeil Canyon Road.
	Total Distance: 10.2 kilometres Round-Trip Time: 5 hours Cumulative Elevation Gain: 790 metres GPX Data