Gods must be crazy. How do you create crystal clear lakes that reflect perpetually snow caped rocky peaks midst gorgeous hues of green pines, yellow larches, orange devil's clubs? Add to it a light choreography of elusive sunshine beaming through sneaky and fickle stratus clouds and make it really hard to get to this heavenly amphitheater, which makes you wanna go there even more!
When we won the lottery to enchantments around six months ago, we did something that every naive and newbie backpacker does. Look at the distance - 18 miles, compare it with your day hiking experience and call it a little harder than day hiking and then decide to do the whole trail in two days including six hours of driving to and fro.
As we got closer to the date of permit - Oct 11 weekend; we started realizing the flaws in our thinking and we started looking for alternatives. Don't get me wrong - it is still doable in 2 days and a night; as long as you are ready for a long hard day, have enchantment region permit and the weather is absolutely in your favor. Unfortunately we had snow lake permit and forecast showed rain/snow showers (Early in October?!). After thousand phone calls and scouring through web for alternatives; we decided to make a tight plan, brace ourselves and just give it a go.
Leaving really early in the morning (more like middle of the night) from Seattle, we reached snow creek trailhead (entry to snow lake) around 6 AM. We were met with clear dark skies with million stars! Looking at this, we laughed at the stupidity of mountain weather forecasts and started from Stuart/Colchuck lake trailhead to knock out the hard part of the trail on day one.
However the moment we started heading up to Colchuck lake, we realized this is going to be tough. As we were admiring the beauty of the surroundings - clear and white water streams, fall colors, bunch of boulders and beautifully carved wooden foot bridges; we realized that we don't have a choice but to move fast, if not faster.
As we reached Colchuck lake, we got a preview of what is up there beyond the intimidating Aasgard pass guarding the entrance to enchantment lakes. Unfortunately we also realized, that despite our best efforts it would be well past the sundown if and when we reach snow lake region to camp overnight.
Around the same time, weather gods decided to play a cruel joke and decided to stick to the scripted forecast. It all started with occasional droplets midst sun shining through the clouds just before the noon. At this point, half the group decided to turn back and rest decided to give the best try possible.
The moment we left for Aasgard pass, sun started beaming again and we put back rain jackets. As a sweet revenge for not taking them seriously; clouds decided to pour a minute after we smeared our faces with sunscreen. As we stumbled through the hardest boulder field so far (between Colchuck lake and base of Aasgard pass); wind brought sideways rain too.
Despite all this, we were all quite dry inside and seemed quite ready for the wet weather. However, as we braved through the first quarter of Aasgard pass; rain turned into slush and foggy top of the pass began accumulating fresh snow!
We realized that nobody around us is going upwards anymore. At this point almost all of us were somewhat wet and some were starting to get cold. Even if we had gotten past Aasgard pass, we were not well equipped to spend a night under cold weather through snow, wind and hails. Deciding to abandon our efforts, we turned back slowly and steadily.
Heading back, we profusely cursed the sideways rain and stubborn boulders that stood in our way. However as we came back to our lunch spot around three hours later; we realized the mesmerizing part of the trip wasn't the yellow and glowing larches, clear glacial lakes and grand granite rocks; but the fact that we saw three different seasons in six hours. First we saw early morning fall hues highlighting the trail and mountains. Then we saw sun and clouds playing light-and-shadow game over shimmering Colchuck and rugged Aasgard pass. It all crescendoed into fresh winter snow that covered the top one third of the pass!
We were just happy that we gave our best try and kept going until it wasn't stupid yet and turned back only when weather made it impractical to keep going.
The way back through Colchuck pass seemed really long with heavy backpacks. Our hands were occasionally cold, shoes were dipping in newly formed potholes. The beautiful lakeside campsites that we saw before were now floating on foliage over freshly accumulated water.
We made it back to the trailhead just after the sunset and headed to Leavenworth to catch glimpses of Oktoberfest over hot latte, seasonal brews and tasty bratwursts!
All in all, it was quite an eventful day! Even though our backpacking trip had to end abruptly, we got first-hand taste of beauty, elusiveness, exclusivity and brutality of the enchantments. As we were laughing hard recounting the stupid moments when we smudged our faces withwarpaint sunscreen and it started pouring, hailing and snowing minutes after; we already knew we were going to come back to this wonderland next year!
When we won the lottery to enchantments around six months ago, we did something that every naive and newbie backpacker does. Look at the distance - 18 miles, compare it with your day hiking experience and call it a little harder than day hiking and then decide to do the whole trail in two days including six hours of driving to and fro.
As we got closer to the date of permit - Oct 11 weekend; we started realizing the flaws in our thinking and we started looking for alternatives. Don't get me wrong - it is still doable in 2 days and a night; as long as you are ready for a long hard day, have enchantment region permit and the weather is absolutely in your favor. Unfortunately we had snow lake permit and forecast showed rain/snow showers (Early in October?!). After thousand phone calls and scouring through web for alternatives; we decided to make a tight plan, brace ourselves and just give it a go.
Leaving really early in the morning (more like middle of the night) from Seattle, we reached snow creek trailhead (entry to snow lake) around 6 AM. We were met with clear dark skies with million stars! Looking at this, we laughed at the stupidity of mountain weather forecasts and started from Stuart/Colchuck lake trailhead to knock out the hard part of the trail on day one.
However the moment we started heading up to Colchuck lake, we realized this is going to be tough. As we were admiring the beauty of the surroundings - clear and white water streams, fall colors, bunch of boulders and beautifully carved wooden foot bridges; we realized that we don't have a choice but to move fast, if not faster.
As we reached Colchuck lake, we got a preview of what is up there beyond the intimidating Aasgard pass guarding the entrance to enchantment lakes. Unfortunately we also realized, that despite our best efforts it would be well past the sundown if and when we reach snow lake region to camp overnight.
Around the same time, weather gods decided to play a cruel joke and decided to stick to the scripted forecast. It all started with occasional droplets midst sun shining through the clouds just before the noon. At this point, half the group decided to turn back and rest decided to give the best try possible.
The moment we left for Aasgard pass, sun started beaming again and we put back rain jackets. As a sweet revenge for not taking them seriously; clouds decided to pour a minute after we smeared our faces with sunscreen. As we stumbled through the hardest boulder field so far (between Colchuck lake and base of Aasgard pass); wind brought sideways rain too.
Despite all this, we were all quite dry inside and seemed quite ready for the wet weather. However, as we braved through the first quarter of Aasgard pass; rain turned into slush and foggy top of the pass began accumulating fresh snow!
We realized that nobody around us is going upwards anymore. At this point almost all of us were somewhat wet and some were starting to get cold. Even if we had gotten past Aasgard pass, we were not well equipped to spend a night under cold weather through snow, wind and hails. Deciding to abandon our efforts, we turned back slowly and steadily.
Heading back, we profusely cursed the sideways rain and stubborn boulders that stood in our way. However as we came back to our lunch spot around three hours later; we realized the mesmerizing part of the trip wasn't the yellow and glowing larches, clear glacial lakes and grand granite rocks; but the fact that we saw three different seasons in six hours. First we saw early morning fall hues highlighting the trail and mountains. Then we saw sun and clouds playing light-and-shadow game over shimmering Colchuck and rugged Aasgard pass. It all crescendoed into fresh winter snow that covered the top one third of the pass!
We were just happy that we gave our best try and kept going until it wasn't stupid yet and turned back only when weather made it impractical to keep going.
The way back through Colchuck pass seemed really long with heavy backpacks. Our hands were occasionally cold, shoes were dipping in newly formed potholes. The beautiful lakeside campsites that we saw before were now floating on foliage over freshly accumulated water.
We made it back to the trailhead just after the sunset and headed to Leavenworth to catch glimpses of Oktoberfest over hot latte, seasonal brews and tasty bratwursts!
All in all, it was quite an eventful day! Even though our backpacking trip had to end abruptly, we got first-hand taste of beauty, elusiveness, exclusivity and brutality of the enchantments. As we were laughing hard recounting the stupid moments when we smudged our faces with
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| Early morning fall hues! (Copyright: Sankalp Shere) |
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| light-and-shadow play over shimmering Colchuck and rugged Aasgard (Copyright: Michelle Li) |
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| The aftermath - Winter is coming!! |
6 comments:
Glad you had fun. Sad you wasted a permit on a trip for which you weren't prepared. A Snow permit is usually much easier to use going up the other direction and maybe peeking over Asgard on day 2.
Maybe next time skip the lottery?
Yeah, you are right! Part of the reason we didn't go snow lake route was because it mean longer uphill.
I suppose you are suggesting going backpacking till snow lake, setting up tents and then exploring the enchantments before heading back down..
That's exactly it. Asgard is the tough part; Snow up from the trailhead is long but much easier. Up Asgard is more than most people want to do even in good conditions, let alone dicey weather.
For those who aren't totally prepared, I'd recommend the following 3 day itinerary: In from Snow, camp at Upper Snow. On day 2, head up to explore the upper basin and peer over Asgard, possibly throwing in a Little Anapurna visit. Then hike back down from Snow on day 3.
It's worth the visit but the rest of us would be happy with one more permit in the lottery if you're just day-hiking! ;-)
Day hike doesn't do justice to enchantments. 3 days itinerary is ideal like you said.
Had the conditions been better, we would have reached snow lake that day. We were the last group to turn back down on Aasgard pass and some people camping at Colchuck had to turn back because campsites were flooded.
I suppose you are getting an impression that we didn't really want to go to enchantments and hogged up a permit. Let me assure you that is not the case and had I known that none of us could do it, we would have returned the permit beforehand.
Would like to know how has your enchantments experience has been!
Cheers,
Kalp
Done it twice with no permit (Death March) and once with a Snow permit. The day hike is amazing but it's a very VERY long day. 3 days (at least!) is definitely the way to do it.
Will be shooting through it in a 2 day once permit season has ended and will see how the middle itinerary (up Asgard, camp in the core, hike out via Snow.
Whatever your route or timefeame, it is incredibly worth the trip. Hell, Colchuck on its own is a great, beautiful hike.
Good luck planning for your next go!
Permit season ends today. You should gear up :)
Good luck, hoping to bump into you next season!!
Cheers,
Kalp
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