Trip Report
We headed north on I-5 to the Toutle River exit to the Coldwater Ridge vista overlooking Mt. St. Helen’s. Then via Toledo, Morton and White Pass and down the Tieton R. to Yakima for the night. We then took in the outdoor farm machinery and tool collection at Union Gap, then the city museum, then on via Swauk Pass to Leavenworth, then to Wenatchee for the night.
Next morning we caught the boat at Fields Point and continued up Lake Chelan to Lucerne; some continued on to Stehekin. A bus met us and took us to Holden Village in time for lunch. After settling in our rooms, some hiked to the Portal Museum, some took in an Elderhostel lecture on glaciation and others explored the grounds.
The next day was free to roam and some hiked to Hart Lake while others took it easier. That evening we had another Elderhostel class on geology.
The next day found some of our group taking the most difficult hike up to Holden Lake while otters took it easier in camp and visited the Portal Museum that showed the history of mining at Holden. That evening we coincided with a reunion of miners and their children who had lived and worked at the Holden mines. We had many slides showing life in Holden above ground and many excellent slides showing the mining and milling process during the mine’s duration from 1937 to 1957. Several told stories about the people who lived there, the deep snows in winter, and the community of wives and children who were not directly involved in mining.
After three nights we assembled our gear and after lunch took the bus to Lucerne to catch the boat, Lady of the Lake II, and on to Fields Point where our bus was waiting. We returned to Wenatchee for the night.
On our last day we journeyed south through Wenatchee and East Wenatchee to George, WA, then west to Vantage and the Ginkgo Wood Park. Then we continued on toward Ellensburg, Yakima, Topenish and south over Satus Pass to Maryhill and the museum. We ate lunch there as well as took in the museum. We dropped off two passengers in Portland and continued home. A frayed tire necessitated a change at Wilsonville, and that delayed us a little.
The weather was generally very good and despite forest fires in the vicinity, the skies were clear. Holden Village is the village constructed for the mine in 1937 and is now operated by the Lutheran Church.
Passengers were Margaret Baldwin, Mary & Richard Bentsen, Helen Beck, John & Marian Borchardt, Clair Cooley, Clayton & Ruth Douglas, Evelyn Hile, Jeanne & Ray Jensen, Rosella Jones, Virginia Kapsa, Delores Kelley, Beatrice LeFevre, Doddy Leppman, Marie Loome, Jaculine & Joel McClure, John & Lenore McManigal, Frank & Wilma Moore, Frances Newsom, Hazel Peck, Elizabeth Reanier, Clarence & Dorothy Scherrer, Kathleen Schlenker, Lois Schreiner, Betty & Harvey Speck, John Thomson, Louise Thurber, Dorothy Turner, Vera Woolley and Ewart Baldwin (trip leader).
