Getting Here From There

We Can't Get Here From There...

--- at least not by driving - which is one of the reasons Holden is a place apart. To get here, you either walk through the mountains and over passes, or take a boat. If you take the passenger ferry up Lake Chelan, and get off at Lucerne, the Village will meet you with transportation. Or you can walk from Lucerne, at least most years; just not this year with so much construction due to the mine remediation effort.

Uplake Passenger Ferry Lady of the Lake II

Fields Point, Lake Chelan  2013.04.21

 The lake at Chelan is at about 1,100 feet above sea level - at least in the summer. It is about twenty feet lower in winter, drained such that the spring runoff will not overflow the basin. The lake is about 1,400 feet deep, so it is deeper than sea level. The road from Lucerne to Holden is about ten miles long (it used to be twelve or so; the road is the same length, but the measurement got better). The road gains about one thousand feet in first two miles, up nine switchbacks. Another thousand feet is added over the next eight miles, so the village is at about 3,200 feet elevation.
Once here, the village is pretty much a pedestrian environment - vehicles are needed for some aspects of work, but for the most part folks walk wherever they need to or want to go.

This Place Apart

Holden Village is in many ways a reflection of my hearts true home: in the mountains at high enough elevation to get snow, far enough east of the crest of the mountains to be in the rain shadow, on the edge of the arid intermountain west; a glaciated valley, a creek, big trees but not too much understory.
Holden is a former company town, a mining town turned family retreat center, nestled in Railroad Creek valley up from Lake Chelan, surrounded by the Glacier Peak Wilderness. One of the former directors noted that Holden is 'A Place Apart' and I think that is a pretty good place from which to start.
Other places in my life have had a similar quality of placeness - a presence that enables us to step out of our selves for a moment, to step out of the flow of the world and find some kind of awareness and mindfulness. I will explore those places too. But this is where I am. This is where I start, today.

Moonset, Copper Basin, Holden Village

2013-06-27 at 2150