[Shadow]

After doing the lower part of the Enchantments via the Snow Lake trail the previous weekend, I was wanting to go back for more since we didn't make it further than Prusik Pass. When I saw that another NW Hiker, doidinho, was wanting to make the trip via Aasgard Pass I jumped at the chance to go. It turned out that yet another NW Hiker, mtn.climber, was looking to do a day trip through hike so we made arrangements to meet in Leavenworth at 5:30. We started out at the Colchuck Lake TH at 6:15 and made our way with headlamps on for about the first hour, made it to the lake in about 2 hours and took a little break. It was still mostly cloudy out, but as we scrambled around the boulders on the west end of the lake, the clouds were starting to break up a little and the few patches of blue grew bigger as ascended Aasgard. Never having gone this way before I was a little nervous about reading how this part climbs over 2000 feet in less than a mile, but other than some loose rocks and a few patches of ice it wasn't as bad as I thought it might be. Still it was a full 2 hour grind to the top as we tried to convice ourselves it was all downhill from here!

colchuck

After a quick bite to eat and another rest break we started to make our way to the lower lakes as the clouds continued to give way to more and more blue skies.

isolation

upper enchantments

fzn lk

waterfall

crystal

inspiration

perfection2

After making our way down to and around Inspiration Lake we talked about heading to Gnome Tarn since it was of course "just over the next hill" but doidinho (Robert) was pretty tired and decided to stay behind. It only took few minutes for mtn.climber (Dave) and myself to make our way to the infamous tarn and spent a few minutes soaking in the sunshine and spectacular view. I don't know if Dave's thermometer was getting a good reading or not, but it said it was 66-67 degrees while we were there and it was very comfortable even with a slight breeze.

gnome tarn2

annapurna

gnome tarn3

By now it was getting close to 2:00 so we figured we'd better get moving if we had any chance at all of making it out before dark. We met back up with a rested Robert and made our way around Perfection Lake and Sprite Lake. It was amazing how bright the water looked in the sunlight. Even though it was mostly sunny when I passed by there 5 days earlier, the water didn't look nearly as colorful as it did this day.

perfection lk1

sprite

The larches had lost quite a few of their needles since the previous weekend but still very colorful on such a bright day.

larch2

larch

We didn't spend much time lingering around Leprechaun or Viviane Lakes and at this point were mostly thinking about the 7+ mile slog back to the Snow Lake TH. Upper Snow Lake is super low right now (Lower Snow Lake is higher) and even Nada Lake had dropped about 6 feet from when I had passed by just a couple days before. With tired legs and aching feet the last 3-4 miles seemed to take forever and the last mile was in darkness with the headlamps on. We finally made it back to the car about 7:15 so almost exactly 13 hours from one end to the other. I was glad I did it but wouldn't plan on doing it in one day again. There's just too much to see to try and do it all in a day. Besides I think my feet have a less than 15 mile per day limit!

[seattlehikertoo]

Every time someone goes to this area, I realize that this place is untoppable. Oct is best time for sure. I'll never get tired of looking at photos from this place.

[DIYSteve]

Our group of 5 passed you on the hump up to Colchuck Lake. Glad to hear you made it out the other side. What a lovely day! I hope to post a brief TR later today. BTW, some folks (including Beckey) prefer the names used by the Starks over the names later assigned by the USGS. For a discussion of this issue, see https://www.nwhikers.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=7968206. Edited to add: Here's my puny TR of the day: https://www.nwhikers.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=7971119

[The Angry Hiker]

Those are some great shots. It looks like a very scenic area. But what's up with all the dead trees?

[doidinho]

Wow, you got some nice shots Scott. That trip was awesome. I think meeting the fact that none of us knew each other and then just met up in the middle of the night, headed out into the wildernesss, and kicked some a** made the trip all the more memorable for me. Thanks again for a great adventure. Here is my contribution to the photos:

Lake_Colchuck

In case anyone is wondering why I have just one photo, it's because by the time we got to the top of Asgard I was six feet under and didn't have the energy to pull my tripod out of my pack for the rest of the trip.