Forum Index > Trip Reports > Enchanted wanderings, July 21-25 2008
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Moleman
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Joined: 10 Feb 2005
Posts: 129 | TRs | Pics
Location: Snohomish County
Moleman
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PostMon Jul 28, 2008 12:39 am 
Drove over Sunday evening, picked up pass and found a campsite at the 8-Mile CG. Got on the road fairly bright and early the next day and drove up to the trailhead. Going up, temperature was 10-15 deg cooler than 3 years ago, so getting to Colchuck was not so bad. Really. Did seem like the trail on the west side of the lake, to the boulder field, was longer and/or more up and down. Boulders weren't as bad as memory served. Going up Aasgard was not bad, just tiring; took some breaks, refilled water at the falls at about 7000 ft. Still, took perhaps 4 hours+ to get from start of boulders to top of the pass. Made it to the campsites at the east end of the Lakelets, set up tent, had dinner, saw sun disappear over Dragontail at about 8:15 and went to sleep at 8:25. Didn't get up until alarm went off at 5:00 am and snapped a couple of sunrise pictures, and crawled back into sleeping bags. After breakfast, walked up to top of Little Annapurna for lunch, and scoped out Witches' Tower. Began to decide that, without tools and knowledge for steep snow travel, would have to skip that scramble. Back at camp, picked up tent and moved it to a site with better view of Prusik Peak and larger rock for sharing salty liquids with the goats. Wednesday morning, clouds moved in, low; did a quick attachment of the rainfly and got up about 8:30 or so. Packed up, walked down to Talisman and Rune, and then found start of trail to Gnome Tarn. The Tarn was about 1/3 snow/ice covered. Set up tent just west of the Tarn, entertained another goat family, and walked over to Prusik Pass to look down at Shield and Mesa Lakes. Got some decent sunset reflection pictures of Prusik; some with under-water ice shelf creating part of the mirror. Thursday, packed up again, walked down the trail as far as the western glimpse into Vivian. Chatted with folks who had quite a setup on the peninsula in Leprechaun, and headed back up the trail; walked over to an overlook for Crystal Lake (decided not to hike down to it) set up camp near Freya Lake so as to be able to get the jump on the Aasgard descent the next morning. With a bit of free time before supper, decided to walk up to the Enchantment Plateau; WOW! Especially the views east , over the little ridge, looking over all of the lakes. You really get a feeling for what it looks like from there. Friday morning, descended Aasgard. Not as tiring as the ascent, but more tired afterward; lots of loose fist-sized rock to walk down on, lots of lonnnngggg stretches to find footing. Legs felt like jello by the time our boots touched down on dirt at the SW corner of Colchuck Lake. The trail down to the trailhead seemed like a rather long 4+ miles, and the old legs (thighs, mostly) didn't care for more downhill. Ate at Gustav's -- you'd think they'd have a more inspiring menu, seems like it hasn't changed for quite some time, but, then again, the fries really tasted good. Drove back home, with a stop for a fresh raspberry shake at the Alpen in Startup, and then begin noticing that the calves, as well as the thighs, had some issues with soreness. Next time -- maybe we will do the "classic" Snow Creek approach, shooting for the outlet end of Vivian for the first night. We noticed a bunch of other cool camping places which we'll be marking with a secret X on our maps ... All I can say is that the folks with the Grand Tour Report were very energetic about getting from place to place. We saw a lot, they saw even more; and, since the 'Chants are so compact, it would be possible ... if we were a bit more driven. As it was, we saw places we hadn't seen before, and had a great time doing it.

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