[mbravenboer]

Not being a fan of overly popular areas with permit complications, I had never been to the Enchantments. But even hikers who have seen everything in the Cascades say it's really pretty, so with a cloudy forecast for the west-side and clear on the east-side I decided to finally day hike it. Not wanting to be judged by Harvey Manning, I did the Snow Lakes approach in & out.

Tweedy's Lewisia - There are a few beautiful spots with Lewisia along the trail

Nada Lake

Nada Lake from the climb to Snow Lakes

Nada Lake

Log jam at Upper Snow Lake with McClellan in the background

I didn't have very high expectations of the Snow Lakes approach, but it's actually quite pretty. The section until Nada Lake has wonderful flowers, is not very dusty this time of the year, and the forest is very lush, pretty similar to forest on the west side of the crest. The trail gets a bit more rocky after Nada lake. Between Nada lake and Snow Lakes there are some boulder fields to cross where to trail is covered by presumably new boulders. The section from Upper Snow Lake to Lake Viviane is remarkably bad. Very eroded, often there is no clear trail and you just scramble up rocks, guided by cairns. This is probably the worst official trail I've been on. It's not suitable for small kids, if anybody can drag them this far into the mountains. I saw a few snowshoe hares on this section. They looked very cute in their mixed winter/summer coat. I normally don't see many because I always walk with a dog and they are alerted too early. There are some easy, flat snow patches from the approach to Snow Lakes until Lake Viviane, but nothing complicated (just mind the holes later on the day). Just before Lake Viviane there is some snow that is a little harder to cross if you can't kick good steps, but nothing too complicated.

Mountain Goat at Lake Viviane with Prusik Peak in the background

Lake Viviane

Outlet of Lake Viviane

Looking back at Upper Snow Lake

Larch needles starting a new season

Larch needles starting a new season

This tree at Lake Viviane has seen a lot

Lake Viviane starting to meld

Prusik Peak

Lake Viviane is quite pretty. It looks like most people who have a core permit camp there this time of the year, probably because after Lake Viviane everything is snow-covered. It was a bit of a zoo there because of this.

Leprechaun Lake

Water slowly breaking through the snowpack

Creek in the Enchantment Bain

Tarns, Prusik and The Temple

Little Annapurna rising about 1500ft above Perfection Lake

Perfection Lake

Little Annapurna

It had been fairly cold the last night, with some fresh snow and icicles forming

Prusik Peak and the Temple for Enchantment Basin

Dragontail Peak from Isolation Lake

Witches Tower and Dragontail Peak

I roughly followed the summer trail to the top of the Aasgard Pass. It was pretty, but it's probably nicer when the lakes have melted out a bit more. It's currently mostly rocks and snow.

Lake Colchuck from the top of the Aasgard Pass with Cashmere to the right

Dragontail Peak from the top of the Aasgard Pass

Cashmere from Aasgard

Dragontail Peak from the top of the Aasgard Pass

NW panorama from top of Aasgard Pass

I was considering doing either Dragontail Peak or Little Annapurna, but from the Aasgard Pass the snow to the col looked pretty steep. I decided to keep it a bit mellow and go to Little Annapurna via West Annapurna.

Little Annapurna and West Annapurna from top of Aasgard

Mt Rainier from the gap between Little and West Annapurna (Teanaway in the foreground)

Mt Adams (Earl in the foreground)

Glacier Peak from Little Annapurna

How many Ptarmigans can you find?

How many Ptarmigans can you find?

The west ridge of Little Annapurna is melted out, and travel is pretty easy. The views from Little Annapurna were even better than I anticipated.

Enchantment Basin panorama from Little Annapurna

Little Annapurna panorama from Glacier Peak to Cannon. Bonanza in the distance.

Dragontail ridge

From Little Annapurna, looking down to Upper Snow Lake between The Temple (left) and McClellan (right)

Edward Mesa from Little Annapurna, looking over Prusik Pass

Enchantment Peaks and Cannon

From Little Annapurna: Enchantment Peaks, Cannon, Edward Mesa, Prusik Peak, The Temple

From Little Annapurna, looking down to Upper Snow Lake between The Temple (left) and McClellan (right)

Nightmare Needles from Little Annapurna

Nightmare Needles from Little Annapurna

Mt Stuart from Little Annapurna

From Little Annapurna: Mt Stuart and the ridge to Dragontail Peak

Mt Stuart from Little Annapurna

Teanaway pano from Little Annapurna

HiBox/Chikamin area over Hawkins

Earl, Bean and the Hardscrabble Creek drainage

Bonanza peak in the far distance from Little Annapurna

Unnamed lake north of Little Annapurna

Mountain Goat

Enchantment Basin panorama

Enchantment Basin panorama from Little Annapurna

After this the long way down from 8440 to the 1300ft trailhead ... Uneventful, and mostly a mental challenge. I saw an Osprey fishing at Nada lake, which was cool to see. Misc notes: - Brought snowshoes, didn't need them (it did soften up during the day, so it depends on how much it freezes during the night before - I guess snowshoes may be useful in some conditions) - Brought crampons and used them. Traction devices would have been fine. - Brought an ice axe and used it, but not really needed (obviously depends on what you plan to do in the basin). - I brought boots as well as trail runners for the long approach. I used trailrunners until Lake Viviane. This worked pretty well, except I somehow developed an epic blister on the way out. I probably didn't tape/tie correctly. - I was surprised how many backpackers were heading up to the core. I think there were at least 10 parties there, and several were big groups. I had expected the permit system to be more constrained on how many parties are allowed. Everybody was in great spirit and very happy to be visiting the area, so it was kind of fun to talk with people. - Time: started hiking at 4:30am, back at car at 8:30pm - The initial hour or so is very easy trail, and is fine to hike in the dark to do this later in the season when days are shorter and warmer. - Distance: 24 miles, 7800 ft gain

Snow Lakes, Enchantment Basin, Little Annapurna GPS track (24 miles, 7800ft gain)

[General ****]

Really appreciate your trip report, and your photos are spectacular!

[puzzlr]

You sure got a clear day. I enjoyed the Teanaway pano.

[Brushbuffalo]

Nice detail, as you are inclined to always give. Your report will be useful for folks who haven't been up there. For those of us who have been there, it is fun to vicariously experience it again without the sweat.

[wildernessed]

[olderthanIusedtobe]

I saw 2 ptarmigan in each picture, am I missing some?

[olderthanIusedtobe]

[christensent]

[RichP]

Most people do this from the higher approach. That's a heck of a day all the way up from the lower end and then walk out that way too.

[mbravenboer]

Thanks all for the nice comments!

[Brushbuffalo]

[silence]

As always great report and awesome photos I'm shocked at the number of parties you saw up there this early We went in via Snow Lake as well ... camping at Perfection and wandering the lower and upper basins for 2 days. While I've always wanted to return via Aasgard, esp with some snow on the ground (early or late season), I don't regret our first time choice. It was incredibly scenic, in spite of the wildfire we experienced (waking up in a smoky whiteout the first morning) But, we went high that day, found clear skies, and had the whole upper basin to ourselves (later found out because they had closed the Pass). Next day the lower basin had cleared of smoke and a lot of campers, so it was pretty sweet. Plus, being Oct, the larch were in their full glory.

[neek]

I like the larch needle shots. In 3 short months they'll be starting to turn... That Manning quote is hilarious. For those doing the loop, the right answer to which way is "both", since each offers a unique experience.

[Midnight Slogger]

Spectacular report, many thanks!

[Timbertoes]

My father took me and two older siblings into the upper Enchantments in 1963 when I was 7 years old. Twenty years ago I repeated that trip with my own 7 year old son. All it took was patience and trail mix. Lots of trail mix.