Lake Wenatchee and the Stuart Range
— glacial water with granite behind it.
Not only on a wall.
“Lake Wenatchee runs five miles long in a U-shaped glacial valley northwest of Leavenworth, fed by the White and Little Wenatchee Rivers and drained by the Wenatchee. The Stuart Range stands south, a granite spine led by Mount Stuart at 9,415 feet. The combination is local to one corner of north-central Washington: alpine water in the foreground, the second-highest non-volcanic peak in the state behind it. The lake is on US-2's Stevens Pass corridor; the Stuart Range belongs to the Alpine Lakes Wilderness.
Lake Wenatchee and the Stuart Range, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
The place, in three passes.
Lake Wenatchee sits in Chelan County, Washington, in a U-shaped glacial valley about 25 miles (40 km) northwest of Leavenworth along US-2. The lake elevation is 1,876 feet (572 m), and it runs roughly 5 miles (8 km) long, fed by the White River and Little Wenatchee River from the north and drained by the Wenatchee River to the east. Lake Wenatchee State Park sits at the eastern end. South across the drainage rises the Stuart Range, a granite massif of the Wenatchee Mountains anchored by Mount Stuart at 9,415 feet (2,870 m), the second-highest non-volcanic peak in Washington after Bonanza Peak. The range falls within the Alpine Lakes Wilderness, managed by the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest.
The Stuart Range is one of the largest exposures of granitic rock in the contiguous United States. The Mount Stuart batholith intruded about 90 million years ago, then was lifted and stripped by glaciation into the sharp ridge that runs from Mount Stuart west through Argonaut, Colchuck, Dragontail, and the Enchantment Peaks. The rock is a coarse hornblende-biotite tonalite, pale grey, large-crystalled, and very strong. Climbers know the range for clean lines like the West Ridge of Stuart and the North Ridge, both classics in the Cascade alpine canon. Below the peaks, the high basin of the Enchantments holds dozens of small lakes between the towers.
Lake Wenatchee runs cold through most of the calendar, with surface temperatures climbing into the 60s only in late July and August. The state park beach is busy from Memorial Day through Labor Day. In fall, subalpine larches turn gold high in the Stuart Range from late September into mid-October; the colour shows on the high benches between the granite peaks. Winter closes the higher trails, while the lower lakeside is open for cross-country skiing and snowshoeing. The road over Stevens Pass on US-2 is plowed but can chain up after major storms.