Washington State has so many spectacular places that the list of new places on my travel wish list is always growing faster that my vacation time. This is a wonderful “problem” to have and why I don’t think I’ll ever be able to live anywhere else.

After seeing pictures of a friend’s trip to Stehekin, this tiny town at the end of Lake Chelan rose to the top of the places-I-have-to-visit list. Last summer, Mark and I spent an amazing week camping by a turquoise river, hiking to some spectacular vistas, visiting the bakery, and checking out the small farm. We were quite taken with Karl, the farmer, who walked barefoot around his peaceful oasis of gorgeous veggies, bees, and goats. And at that point we hadn’t even had our conscious farming “ah ha” moment!

We had the chance to return to Stehekin a few weeks ago for a springtime running adventure organized by some of the most energetic, positive, fun-loving, and seriously impressive athletes I know. The only way to get to Stehekin is to backpack in from the north or take the ferry 50 miles from the south. For this adventure, we took the ferry 17 miles short of town and ran the remaining miles on a trail that follows the lake.

I hadn’t run 17 miles in a while and I was nervous. But this group of friends is so supportive and fun that I couldn’t not join. Luckily, I felt great on the run! It didn’t hurt the scenery was unreal, the company was fantastic, and the next day we were going to spend another lovely morning with Karl at his farm.

On this visit to the farm we entered as eager students. Karl was generous with his time and mused about his approach to farming and life. We only had a few hours to soak in the magic of this place before we had to pull ourselves away to head back to the landing to catch the ferry home. I hope we can capture even a fraction of the magic of Karl’s farm as we set up our own plot of land.