We traversed through the Enchantments July 20 thru 24. We started at the Stuart Lake trail head and spent the first night at Colchuck. We found a nice site around the back of the small lake (unnamed?) adjacent to Lake Colchuck. The water was nice and lots of people were swimming. Bugs were there but tolerable.
On the next day we rounded the upper end of the lake, through the boulder field, and ascended Asgard up into the upper Enchantments. This was pretty much an all day project and we were very tired when we found our site in the upper basin, just below Little Annapurna. We spent two wonderful nights here before descending down through Snow Lake. We saw more goats than people, and at times had nearly 20 around our campsite. We saw no other campers the first night. The second night another party (who had made their way up from Snow Lake) camped near by.
On the 23rd we descended through the lower enchantments which were beautiful. There were more campers and hikers here but still not crowded at all. There were a few snow fields to traverse, one that was pretty treacherous when we descended it early in the morning.
We found the descent down to Lake Vivienne challenging (far worse than anything on Aasgard) but it was pretty short. Snow Lake was pretty buggy so we continued to Nada and camped at the very bottom of the lake. Bugs were there, but not too bad. We descended out to the Snow Creak trail head in 2-1/2 hours. The Snow Lake trail is in good shape and the slides that were an issue when we were there in June have all been cleared.
Before we left on this trip I was a little worried about the snow cover but it was not a problem. The Lower lakes are melted out and the upper lakes are still melting out. We had to cross several snow fields and only one was a bit tricky. It was very early in the morning and therefore icy and treacherous to descend (an ice axe would have been nice). The entire route is well marked, although we lost the route once on Aasgard and once descending down to Lake Vivienne. Asgard is completely free of snow, but still steep and arduous.
We took a ton of pics....
http://picasaweb.google.com/andkb00/EnchantmentsTraverseJuly2008
The pictures are awesome. Colchuk is one of the most beautiful places I've been.
Is it common practice to hang your food so close to the tent? It seems like you'd want it farther away.
Thanks for the trip report!!
Is it common practice to hang your food so close to the tent? It seems like you'd want it farther away.
Nah, usually we keep it inside the tent.
You *might* see a bear if you're over in the Shield/Earl/Mesa/Coney areas, but rarely in the Enchantments basin.
We hung our food in the trees to keep it away from the goats during the day.
"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke
"Ignorance is natural. Stupidity takes commitment." -Solomon Short
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"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke
"Ignorance is natural. Stupidity takes commitment." -Solomon Short
We are heading back up to the enchantments this Sunday for 4 nights. This time we plan to enter / leave via Assgard / Colchuck. New trip report and pictures to follow..
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