[Dean]

What a contrast one week can make. A week ago, I climbed Mt. Daniel in a T-shirt and this week at the 6600 foot level in the Enchantment area I couldn't stay warm in even a down parka. Two of us met at the ranger station in Leavenworth friday morning and picked up spots via the lottery, not hard to do since only two others showed up to brave the weather. Surprisingly enough, the weather got better as the day wore on and Don and I made our way up past Nada Lake into the Temple Canyon area to a camping spot that we thought would put us in good postion for climbing Cannon Mtn and Enchantment Peak on Saturday as well as get those Larch pictures we lusted after. Well, the weather remained perfect until about midnight when the wind came up (freight train like) and began to buffet us in our hammocks. One of the beauties of hammock camping is that the wind really doesn't bother you (if you don't have a rain fly up) and you can actually sleep better because of the swaying. Unfortunately, snow joined with the wind is not good and at 6 am it started snowing. It kept getting worse and we saw our plans going down in flames. We decided to bail as the route we'd come up wasn't any picnic when it was perfectly dry and with snow on it, we'd have some places to test our mettle. When we finally got down to Nada Lake, we joined a parade of others who were streaming out of the Enchantments after having spent a miserable night and morning up there. Interestingly enough, there was an equal parade of people coming up and heading into that stuff and we wished them well. I hope they had better luck than we did but I don't regret bailing when we did, our cold weather clothes just didn't quite match up with the artic condtions we had faced earlier on. Alas, the larch pictures I didn't get will haunt me all winter so I'm already thinking about next year when I'll go back and try it again. Anyone else have better luck up there this weekend? Or was it just as bad Saturday night?

[Backpacker Joe]

Great report Doc. Id like to see some pics of EARLY snow....... TB

[Duncan]

It never ceases to amaze me how fast Summer/Autumn ends in the high country. One day is all it takes sometimes!

[Backpacker Joe]

Duncan, I agree, but there will be a period of snow/melt, snow/melt, snow/melt up there for I while I suspect. I really need to get up into the Chants during the snow season. That's one thing that I haven't done yet. TB

[Duncan]

I hear ya BPJ about the snow/melt cycle, but it's funny, you could almost sense it overnight, how fast the seasons have changed that drastically.

[Backpacker Joe]

Snow pics, snow pics, snow pics. TB

[Dean]

BPJ, I did take some pics but not digital. I used the rangefinder Minolta camera that I used on Mt. Rainier many years ago since it is built like a rock and could take a beating (which it ended up getting on our descent) Fortunately I took some pics in Temple Canyon of the larch trees that were on that side on the trip in but I"m not sure how well they'll turn out. First I need to send em in and then scan them. I may have no keepers out of the lot. The guy with me had a digital so I hope he got a few keepers.

[Backpacker Joe]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH A film (read dyno) camera. FAINT. Ok cool Doc. Here's to good snowy pics. TB

[Dean]

Indeed, an ancient camera if there ever was one. A Minolta AL-F rangefinder but built like a brick I tell ya.

[Bob K]

I was up there a couple days later and got the same treatment. Monday was fine during the day, but then a hard, constant rain started Monday night; then the winds hit, with up to 50mph gusts. By morning, it was snowing icy little pellets, which didn't really stick. (I had a small silnylon tarp which was solid as a rock and totally comfortable.) Tuesday remained cloudy, windy and cold, but at least the rains and snows subsided. There were only 3 other people in the entire area on Tuesday. Just curious, where is Temple Canyon? Is it what we used to call Tamarac Canyon, that runs past Muskey Lakelet and Nada Creek, or is it the area including Shield, Earle and Mesa lakes? I came up the backway on Monday and have a few pictures of both areas, along with the Enchantments. I'll see if I can upload them. The Enchantments were great and I hit them at peak larchness, but I thought those areas to the north were actually prettier. -

[JimK]

Hey BPJ, How about a larch with a little snow on it?

Iron Bear Larch

[Dean]

Bob K: Indeed, the little lake known as Musky is in the canyon so it is the same place. Please post your pics, it'll be nice to see them. It is great to look up at the north side of the Temple ridge and Prusik Peak. Very impressive We were using the route as a short cut to Shields but it isn't a route I'd recommend to most hikers. In talking to the ranger at Leavenworth, they say the bridges will be done and Colchuck / Stuart will again be open but of course, it'll be almost November by that time. Not a big help for most people so late in the year. Still...........

[Backpacker Joe]

Well there ya go, SNOW. Army Tanks James. TB

[JimK]

How about a little more snow with larch.

Let it snow...

[Allison]

It was pretty snowy and cold up high this weekend. I'll try to post some snow porn and a TR on the Larch Lakes in the Entiat in a couple of days. I got a nice one of one of the lakes, a little snowy larch tree action, and one of the great Stefan VonFellerwitz. All fresh this morning, but stale when you see them! Stale is better than fresh, in our opinion. PS. Temple Canyon is pretty nice, isn't it?