[canyonwren]

I decided to go peek at the Enchantments this weekend. I didn't have the time--or a permit--to do more than that. Hiking Log: Snow Lake trail to the Lower Enchantments Mileage: Around 18, I think, with hiking around at the top. Buttkicking factor: Nearly passed out in the Bavarian Waffle Haus when I got down, and that had nuttin' to do with the food. This hike kicked my ass, in part because I didn't have enough time to do what I wanted to and pushed beyond all sense (for my fitness level). Not to mention, it was raining straight from yesterday evening until I stumbled back to my car around noon today. Actually, it kept raining past that, but I no longer cared. As soon as I read the description of this place labelling it "Washington's Shangri-La," I wanted to go. Trouble is, you have to get your permit months in advance, due to high demand and not many hikers let in. If you do not have a permit, you still have a chance--by lottery. I got up at 4:30 am on Saturday to take my chances with the lottery. Drove out to Leavenworth and stood in a crowd of edgy, anxious hikers. I was the third "group" there, but roughly thirty people ended up milling around the Ranger Station door by 7:30, when the drawing was held. A few people ran up at 7:32, but were not allowed to participate. These rangers are tough.

Stevens sunrise

Stevens Pass sunrise

I did not win a permit to camp in the Enchantments and I was not the only one looking murderously at the group of young men who did. The ranger then offered a second lottery for the Snow Lakes. I wasn't too interested at first, but my insta-mental analysis argued that this would not be a bad second choice. The Snow Lakes are about two miles from the Lower Enchantments (note: significantly downhill, but we'll get to that later). I could drop my pack, make camp, and jaunt up the trail to Shangri-La. I threw my name in the hat, along with one other guy, and won the slot. (After which, the ranger announced another drawing at 9:00 for the Enchantments. I felt annoyed for a few seconds, but counted the number of people left and decided I didn't want to wait over an hour for the chance anyway. This was a good backup plan.) The hike was pretty tough going up, but nothing terrible. Crossed through a burn zone into the pine forest and by some incredibly pretty streams. I passed three women and said hello and then, twenty minutes later, ran smack into a goat standing in the middle of the trail while staring off into space. After a minute, I realized the goat was watching the three women climb. I kept walking up the trail and the goat would get scared and run up a little from me. This went on and on until I finally stood still and let them women catch up. "He's spying on you," I said. We all took goat photos until he, deciding we were not terrorists, ambled off to do Goat Things. Goatland Security!

White tree among black trees

Stream in woods, no flash

Goat in trail

Goat!

The Snow Lakes were only supposed to be 6.5 miles up the trail and I was really feeling it by the time I hit (what I assume to be) Nada Lake. (Let me know if this isn't, actually, the name of the lake.) I thought Nada was directly "in front of" the Snow Lakes, according to the cheap little hand-drawn map the rangers gave me. I was too lazy to pull out my topo map, but had I done so, I would have noticed the significant elevation difference. I thought I was tired before, but here I thought I was nearly done with the hike with all this before me. Up, up, up.

Clouds

Lake prettiness

Nada Lake

I'd decided to camp at the Upper Snow Lake site, which is right at the base of the trail to the Enchantments. I'd been hoping to get there about 1:00, which would have been four hours from the trailhead. I got there somewhere around 2:30. Ouch! I was dead tired, but was also realizing that if I wanted to see the Enchantments proper, it was going to have to be today. I'd originally been planning on going up Saturday and Sunday, but was getting an inkling about how ded it was going to make me. So, made camp and cooked a hot lunch and then set out for the "two mile" trek up the hill. (The huge mountain I'd just climbed was nuttin' compared to this.)

Upper Snow Lake

Logjam confluence of lake and river

Two miles, my ass. There is no way it's less than three. Or three thousand. And this wasn't hiking. The ranger warned me, but I guess I didn't really hear him. It's scrambling and following a route. In retrospect, I was intensely grateful that I wasn't doing this with 40 pounds on my back. It was exhausting and hard enough with just a waist pack. I got more and more tired as I climbed, and realized that I could not follow my original plan of night hiking down. Trying to night hike this was simply asking to be killed right then and there. The "trail" was a series of cairns to follow and I kept losing them. (I was tired enough to be vaguely hallucinatory at this point, thanks to the silently jumping birds and stones that looked like people.) At one point, I got way off the trail, following bootprints that vanished into stone. I stopped, looking for the trail, convinced that this was the way, and realized I was laying my reality over the situation. This is how you get lost, ladies and gentlemen. So, I sat down and examined the rocks and dirt for about fifteen minutes before sighing and backtracking to the last cairn I saw. From there, I found the next *real* cairn and was good to go. (This happened no less than three times.)

Trail

Trail by cairn

I eventually got up to the Lower Enchantments, which are crazy-incredible-amazing. I'm dying to see the Upper Enchantments, which supposedly look like nothing else on this planet. Anyway, the trail sometimes was little more than pegs in a rock, slanted down over a potentially fatal fall. I survived everything and spent an hour or so playing around the lower lake, really disappointed that it was too late in the day to go any further. The thing is, I needed more time. More time and a different permit. I didn't really know this until I actually walked up there, though.

5600' later...

Lower Enchantment lake

Unbraiding my hair

My tent was pitched down on the shores of that lake. Does that look like 1.5-2 miles to you? Not to me.

Clouds are rolling in

Trees against the cliff

Metal footstep pegs for a trail

I started down when it started getting dark and took my time because I added a number of cairns to the trail and rebuilt several of the wimpy ones. Hopefully, this'll keep more people from wasting time on red herring trails. I got back down to Snow Lake right at dark and crawled into my tent without even making more food. I was freaking BEAT. That's when it started to rain and it never stopped. There's more I can add, but I'll just end it with the long, hard rainy hike back down (with very, very sore feet--not sure if it's the boots or the hike). I haven't been this wiped out after a trek in a long time, both a testiment to the difficulty of the trail and how much time I've been slacking off, I think. I kept myself going with the promise of waffles, which I eventually enjoyed. (Even though I nearly passed out in the lobby. Not sure what that was about--fatigue or undereating, or what. I get exercise-induced anorexia, but I thought I'd kept myself well-fed during this jaunt.)

Morning mist and trees

Morning mist

Morning mist over the reeds

The scenery was absolutely freaking amazing. I'm sad I didn't get further in. Next time. Awesome hike, anyway! Met the three women from the trail again in Starbucks. Dunno if they're NWhikers or not. If so, hi!

Portrait in the chill

[Kat]

Canyonwren, really enjoyed your TR. We went out Snow 2 yrs ago, a lady in her late 50's I work with had gone thru there and I remember that whole cliffy section after Vivian with those (many missing) metal pegs and I kept on saying "Judy did THIS????" And my feet hurt, got swollen from the heat and I had to take out my orthotic inserts about halfway down to Snow. And I had trained my a** off for that hike at the time. And you went UP that thing!!!!!!!!! Congratulations on a tough trek, still was rewarding for you I think. And thanks for sharing! You should be proud

[Slugman]

Thanks for that excellent report. I like 'em straight, not sugar-coated. The difficulties you faced are exactly why I've never been to the Enchantments. One year, hopefully, we will get a great weather forecast during my first weekend off after Oct 15th, and I will try to get in via Colchuck.