New owners breathe fresh air into historic Alpine Lakes High Camp

NASON CREEK –  Alpine Lakes High Camp has found new stewards in long-time friends Tom Shelstad and Travis Cowan, who are embracing the challenges and rewards of owning and maintaining a remote wilderness retreat that has fostered connection with nature for nearly half a century. 

“I really want it to be a place that feels like community. I want it to be a place that feels like, when people arrive and get there, that they're able to drop the digital world and be more present,” said Shelstad.

Cowan and Shelstad come from Ashland, Oregon, each with individual ties to the North Cascade Mountains. Cowan spent his teenage years volunteering in the kitchen at Holden Village, a remote wilderness community near Lake Chelan. When former owners Justin and Austin Donohue put Alpine Lakes High Camp up for sale, Cowan immediately booked a visit.

“[I] fell in love with the central North Cascades, and ended up leaving there and landing in Ashland after school for 18 years, but constantly through that time, [I was] searching for a calling back,” said Cowan.

During the trip, Cowan thought of Shelstad, the co-founder of Inner Guide Expeditions, which provides youth mentorship, family mediation, and parent and life coaching for adults. One of its specialties is youth wilderness expeditions, which includes a trip through North Cascades National Park.

“My daughter had gone on one of his trips up in Washington and British Columbia, and I really felt like he was the right person for the facilitation of hosting people in the wilderness, to work with me to do this,” said Cowan.

The pair took the helm of Alpine Lakes High Camp in December, tasked with the duty of carrying on its nearly 50-year legacy of outdoor exploration, founded by legendary hikers Bill and Peg Stark.

“It's infused in us a deeper sense of responsibility around the torch that we are carrying now, and we couldn't be more excited about it and honored, really,” said Shelstad.

In 1959, Bill and Peg Stark bushwacked their way into the little-known Alpine Lakes area, discovering a wilderness they would spend the rest of their lives exploring and sharing. 

Named two of the state’s hiking legends by Washington Trails Association in 2005, the Starks took hundreds of trips into the backcountry, often leading groups of hikers and skiers, and were influential in establishing the Enchantments and Alpine Lakes Wilderness in the 1970s. 

In 1978, they founded “Nomad Camp,” a collection of tent platforms and lodge at 5,000 feet in the Chiwaukum Mountains, just north of the designated Wilderness area. The backcountry establishment became known as “Scottish Lakes High Camp” with an assortment of cabins, introducing hundreds of hikers and skiers to an area beloved by the Starks. In 1994, the aging couple sold the camp to Don and Chris Hanson, who expanded the cabins, operations, and community of guests over the next two decades before passing the torch to the Donahues in 2017.

Over the years, the backcountry getaway, now known as Alpine Lakes High Camp, expanded its cabins and land, extended its seasons, and added special offerings such as a cold plunge, sauna, and catskiing. 

Yet, its original spirit of outdoor adventure has remained the same. The cabins are off-the-grid, relying on water from a mountain spring, sourcing heat from wood stoves, and brightening the night with propane lights. While camp relies on a level of self-reliance, such as packing in food and linens, it has continued to attract dedicated visitors seeking community and connection deep within the wilderness. High Camp’s location offers a multitude of activities, including skiing, snowshoeing, hiking, fishing, and biking.

“It's a section of the Alpine Lakes Wilderness that isn't used very much, because it's so hard to get to. So we have some of the only real easy access to that,” said Shelstad.

One of the first groups Shelstad and Cowan hosted as new owners was a collection of visitors who met at High Camp over the last 20 years, and have made an effort to return together each year.

“They now book out the entire camp. And it's this whole family, High Camp family, that they've created,” said Cowan. “To forge those long-term relationships, I think, are the stories that touch me the most.”

“We want to keep the spirit the same. The spirit is golden, and we just want to be able to open it up to more people,” said Shelstad.

The pair has opened bookings to all seven days of the week in order to encourage longer stays.

“Stepping away from your phone for two nights and into nature is one thing, but really, by the time you're readjusting mentally…and you're grounding into nature, you're leaving,” said Cowan.

As they enter the spring season, Shelstad and Cowan are preparing to tackle the challenges of operating remote cabins, such as learning the infrastructure that has been under snow the last few months, maintaining the surrounding forest’s health, and checking their list twice before hauling tools and materials in for projects. 

”This spring is going to be an opportunity for a lot of learning of what the systems are and how they can be improved and how they need to be maintained. So I would say we have a steep learning curve ahead of us, and I'm looking forward to it,” said Cowan.

Taylor Caldwell: 509-433-7276 or taylor@ward.media