Chelan County, Washington
Excavation in Leavenworth, WA
Leavenworth, Peshastin, Plain and Lake Wenatchee sit on some of the deepest loose ground in the state. The boulders mixed through it are what make jobs there hard.
Core sample
What’s under Leavenworth
- 1Outwash sand and gravelClean on the outwash plain
- 2Boulders in glacial fillErratics decide where a driveway goes
- 3Fill up to 300 ft deepNo rock floor to reach
- Frost depth 24 inFootings and water lines go below it
Illustration based on the ground notes for Leavenworth, Peshastin, Plain and Lake Wenatchee. Not to scale and not a soil test.
Working ground in Leavenworth
What the ground is like
- Glacial fill on Icicle Creek runs up to 300 feet deep. There’s no rock to hit, and there’s also nothing solid to shore against.
- The moraines around Plain and Lake Wenatchee are studded with crystalline erratic boulders. Some of them decide where a driveway goes.
- Two parcels a mile apart aren’t the same job. Clean outwash sand and gravel on the outwash plain, deep fine sand and silt in the old lake basins.
- Valley walls above town run past 60 degrees, with documented landslide and debris flow paths. Access gets settled first.
- Snow load and frozen ground move the calendar up here more than anywhere else we work. The county default is 57 psf at or below 950 feet and climbs from there.
Permits around Leavenworth
Inside city limits the City of Leavenworth handles permits. Peshastin, Plain and Lake Wenatchee go through Chelan County Community Development, and work near the rivers and lake brings in shoreline rules.
Backcountry Excavation LLC is a registered Washington contractor, licensed, bonded and insured. You can check all of it before you hire us.
Services in Leavenworth
What we do in Leavenworth
Site Preparation in Leavenworth
Raw ground turned into a pad you can build on: cleared, stripped, cut to grade and compacted.
See the detailExcavation and Earthwork in Leavenworth
Digging, moving and placing dirt. Foundation holes, bulk earthwork, backfill and haul off.
See the detailGrading and Drainage in Leavenworth
Shaping ground so water leaves the property the way it should, instead of sitting against a building.
See the detailLand Clearing in Leavenworth
Overgrown or wooded ground opened up. Brush, stumps, slash and debris out, site left workable.
See the detailDriveways and Access Roads in Leavenworth
Gravel driveways and access roads built or rebuilt to hold up to weather, grade and loaded trucks.
See the detailUtility Trenching in Leavenworth
Trenching and backfill for water, power and other underground lines, dug to depth and bedded properly.
See the detailFoundation Excavation in Leavenworth
Foundation holes, footings and cutting to concrete grade, ready for the concrete crew.
See the detailStorm Drainage Systems in Leavenworth
Catch basins, storm pipe, culverts and drywells that carry storm water off the property.
See the detailRetaining Walls in Leavenworth
Vertical block and large retaining walls that hold a grade change where dirt alone won’t.
See the detailAsphalt Prep in Leavenworth
Subgrade cut, base rock placed and compacted, grades held so the paving crew can do their job.
See the detailDemolition in Leavenworth
Structures, slabs and hardscape taken down, material hauled off and the ground left clean.
See the detailEmergency work in Leavenworth
Washouts, broken lines, plugged culverts and storm damage. Call or text the owners.
What to do right nowSomething else in Leavenworth?
Most jobs are a combination. Describe what you want to end up with and we’ll work out the pieces.
Tell us about the jobQuestions
Leavenworth questions
Can you get a machine into a lot at Plain or Lake Wenatchee?
Usually, but the road in decides it. Send a photo of the driveway and the pitch and we’ll tell you what fits before anyone books a date.
Do you hit rock around Leavenworth?
Rarely. The fill is very deep. What you hit is boulders inside the fill, and that’s a different problem with a different price.
Nearby
Other ground we work
Chelan County
Cashmere, WA
Cashmere, Monitor and Dryden sit on the Wenatchee River bottom. Bedrock is a hundred feet down, so the digging problems come from what the river and the floods left on top of it.
See the groundChelan County
Wenatchee, WA
Wenatchee mixes town lots with orchard and acreage on the edges, and the two need very different approaches on the ground.
See the groundChelan County
Chelan, WA
Chelan is home. It’s also where a lot of the hardest ground in the valley is, and most of what makes a job here difficult shows up before the first bucket of dirt moves.
See the groundWhat our machine fits through · How an estimate works · Permits and locates
Call or text the owners
Got a job in Leavenworth?
Tell us where the site is and what you’re trying to get done. We’ll let you know whether we can take it on and roughly when.
(509) 421-1539