[tyche]

My Dad (Hermes) and I drove to Leavenworth on Sunday to pick up our permits and stayed the night at Bridge Creek Campground before heading up to the Colchuck/Stuart Lake trailhead Monday morning. From there we started out for Colchuck at 8.30am meeting this lady on the way up:

...but can you see me now?....

Colchuck was very nice

Colchuck Butterfly Convention (CBC)

and the best campsite we found was on the other side of the boulder field at the far (south) end of the lake. A little path turns left towards the lake just past a stone marked with two cairns and if you look around there you’ll find a campsite just off the lake with a little beach across a stream to the left. However, my dad and I continued up to Aasgard pass the same day. It was fun to see Colchuck receeding:

Colchuck receeding

It was a killer getting to the top

Colchuck nearly gone

but quite manageable if you follow the cairns. It took us about 2 hours going up. Of course, the climbers who were going in just for the day pretty much flew up compared to us. The upper enchantments are barren and dramatic with the Enchantment peaks, Dragontail, and Little Annapurna looming above.

Upper Enchantments at last

We stopped that night in the lower part of the upper enchantments; my favorite place in the whole enchantments.

Enchanted stream

There is a beautiful stream flowing from pool to pool starting in rocks and flowing into meadow. We camped the first night at the base of Annapurna in an exposed campsite near a small lake and stream well to the right of the trail. Can you see the tent?

Can you spot our tent?

Can you see it now?

There were other nice sites on the other side of the trail across the water and 6 parties total in the upper enchantments our first night. From near the top of Aasgard Pass bugs had been a nuisance and that continued to our campsite as it was very warm and almost windless. Before sleep my dad wished for wind. Be careful what you wish for in an enchanted area! We had wind for the rest of our stay - and gale force winds on two nights. The second day we woke up to find goats near our tent.

Our friend

They weren’t afraid of us at all, but would run away if you shouted or ran at them. We were afraid that they would accidentally trample the tent lines but they didn’t cause any damage and we found that they were after our pee and would wait for us to go and then get salt from it. There was an adorable kid in the group.

Cute kid!

That day, we kept the same camp and hiked up Little Annapurna. We started up on the bed rock on the right and then headed left below a big snow bank to join up with a cairn marked path to the top. There’s a flat place on the top

Little Annapurna's megalithic summit

and the views are absolutely amazing. I counted 14 lakes below;

Looking towards the lower enchantments from the side of Little Annapurna

it was definitely worth the climb. While we were on Annapurna we heard a huge bang and thought it was a rock fall but when we came down we found that a snow bank we had hiked over the previous day had cracked and collapsed our trail into a lake.

That used to be our trail

A lady camped near the shore who saw the event said the collapse had sent a wave across the lake and down the stream. The rest of the day we explored a little and then went swimming in the stream by our campsite. That night the winds got pretty strong and we were worried that our tent might not hold but it lasted; I didn’t get much sleep but on the upside there were no further bug problems. The next day we packed up and headed to the lower enchantments hoping for less wind.

Crystal in a bowl

The trail down to the lower enchantments has only one steep part – just above Inspiration Lake. The trail crosses a snow bank but there is another cairn marked path that goes around the snow bank down to the lake. The lower lakes were much more woody then the upper enchantments. There was a lovely campsite on the right of the trail going down to Inspiration Lake near a stream. It has a few trees for shelter and had a beautiful view overlooking Perfection Lake. Unfortunately for us, the campsite was occupied and we camped further down at another great campsite on a rocky knoll overlooking Perfection, well off the trail.

Perfection campsite

Prusik at dusk from our tent

After setting up camp, we explored around Perfection and down to Leprechaun Lake. The water was absolutely gorgeous so I had a swim in the large stream going from the tarns below Sprite Lake to Leprechaun Lake. We saw a water ouzel here. The lower enchantments had a lot more people camping than the upper enchantments but were not too crowded. That evening started out windy again but the wind died down in the middle of the night and the next morning was cloudy with only a slight breeze. We packed up and hung our packs near Inspiration Lake and then headed back down to Perfection to go up Prusik Pass. Thankfully by that time the clouds had cleared and we had great views of Prusik Peak, Temple mountain, Anapurna, the Lost Plateau, lakes on either side of the pass and, of course, the Enchantress herself.

The enchantress in full regalia

Definitely worth the side trip. We saw a lot of marmots as well in the meadow below the pass. After Prusik Pass, we headed back up to the lower part of the upper enchantments. This time we camped on the other side of the pools, almost directly across from our previous campsite and sheltered by a few trees. I took a swim in the pool near our tent; it was absolutely freezing especially since there were clouds over the sun but refreshing nonetheless. Basically, when it’s sunny there’s warmth but when the sun goes, its freezing. The goats came to our campsite again, looking for our pee. Some of them had completely new coats and were quite lovely. There was only one other party camping in that area that night. The next day we headed out - with the local madame out to say goodbye to us:

Mme Ptarmigan

Going down Aasgard pass was even worse than coming up; not so tiring physically but definitely mentally tiring for me. It took us three hours to get all the way down from the pass to Colchuck where we had a hot lunch and swim in the lake from the little beach I mentioned earlier. It was about 7:30 pm when we finally reached the trailhead after an amazing, enchanting time. It’s wonderful to take time exploring around the place if you can get a permit. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful! And definitely worth it, despite Aasgard! Though this was our first trip into the Enchantments we were well clued in thanks to this site, especially IceGirl's specific advise and Jimk's excellent report from late last year. Thank you.

[RayD]

You write a fine trip report! And the pictures are beautiful too. Thanks

[Starjumper7]

Nice report, Summer Lover. I need to get back up to Enchanted peak again and find a certain rock. I found one before that was granite, of course, but instead of being smoothed off as is so common, all the black crystals on it were sharp and they were plentiful so it sparkled with a black beauty. I gave it to a friend but since I've found out how rare they are I guess I need to go back up to Enchanted peak and find another one. I guess the quickest way to Enchanted peak is from Colchuck. Normally I like to take the long way in because it is more scenic, but I might try the Colchuck route again in order to get that rock. There better be another one up there.

[Mount Logan]

Excellent! I love the "Crystal in a bowl" pic.

[payton]

Thanks, summer_lover. I'm heading up there early next month, so your report was really helpful. Happy hiking!

[JimK]

Nice report. I hope to see more from you. It was interesting to see another Nallo in just about the same spot we used last year.

Nallo_Enchantments

[Dean]

Nice TR & pics about my favorite area.

[hermes]

Here's the one that got away ...hermes

EnchantmentsLiving

[tyche]

Route up Annapurna for Reststep

littleannapurnapath002

[reststep]

Thanks for posting that. I should have looked around a little more and maybe I would have found the route. Nice trip report and pictures also.

[trixy]

i hope to some more of your trail reports soon!