The National Park Service is seeking an operator for the Stehekin lodge in North Cascades National Park/NPS file
The National Park Service in late January solicited bids for the operation of North Cascades Lodge at Stehekin.
In addition to lodging, the 10-year contract includes associated food and beverage service, retail, campground operation, and visitor services. The lodge is in Lake Chelan National Recreation Area, one of three NPS units comprising North Cascades National Park Complex located in northwestern Washington State. Other units in the complex are Ross Lake National Recreation Area and North Cascades National Park.
The lodge is in the small community of Stehekin at the upper end of 55-mile long Lake Chelan, one of the deepest lakes in the United States. No roads lead to Stehekin, home to about 100 year-round residents. Access is by means of scheduled ferry, floatplane, hiking, horseback, or private boat.
The lodge has 28 guest units that range from relatively small motel-type rooms above the general store to a large vacation house beside the lake. The lodge also offers six cabins with kitchens and two renovated historic cabins without a kitchen. All lodging is at or near Stehekin Landing where public ferries dock. Two small walk-in campgrounds have flush toilets and are within walking distance of Stehekin Landing. While kitchen units are open year-round, the full operation including the restaurant are open from mid-May through mid-October.
The lodge restaurant serves three meals a day and seats approximately 80 guests. Additional seating is available on an outside deck offering views of Lake Chelan and the surrounding mountains. Lodge guests can choose to eat dinner at privately-owned Stehekin Valley Ranch, 9 miles north of the lodge. A shuttle offers transportation to the ranch.
The National Park Service estimates an initial investment of $822,000, primarily for acquiring personal property including furniture and equipment. The need for inventory and working capital are also included in the estimate. NPS lodge contracts typically require concessionaires to remedy deferred maintenance. In this case the cost estimate is $30,000 in each of the first two years of the contract, a drop in the bucket compared to most major lodging contracts.
Actual revenues for 2021, 2022, and 2023 were $1,535,966, $1,400,881 and $1,884,266, respectively. Revenue estimate for the first year of the contract is $1.8 million to $2 million with lodging providing half the total. Food and beverage along the retail sales are each expected to produce approximately 16 percent of overall revenues with a lesser amount coming from camping fees and fuel sales. The prospectus requires a minimum 2.5% franchise fee that is essentially rent paid by the operator to NPS for use of the facilities. As is the case with both the required initial investment and remedy of deferred maintenance, this is low compared to the majority of National Park Service lodging contracts.
The effective date of the contract is March 1, 2026. NPS requires interested parties to submit a Notice of Intent to Propose to [email protected] by 5 p.m. (Pacific Time) on March 21, 2025. A formal proposal is required by 5 p.m. (Pacific Time) on April 18, 2025.
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