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reststep
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PostThu Aug 08, 2019 1:58 pm 
RandyHiker wrote:
USFS wrote:
Quotas for Enchantment Permit Zones *Core Enchantment Zone: 24 visitors are permitted to enter the Core zone per day. 16 visitor spaces are available through the advanced lottery, while the remaining eight spaces are available through the walk-in lottery. Maximum group size is eight people.
I know it would never happen but in theory according to the above you could have 24 people entering the core area each day and if they all stayed for the maximum of 14 days you could have upwards of 312 people camped there or maybe I am looking at it all wrong.

"The mountains are calling and I must go." - John Muir
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Randito
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PostThu Aug 08, 2019 2:54 pm 
reststep wrote:
RandyHiker wrote:
USFS wrote:
Quotas for Enchantment Permit Zones *Core Enchantment Zone: 24 visitors are permitted to enter the Core zone per day. 16 visitor spaces are available through the advanced lottery, while the remaining eight spaces are available through the walk-in lottery. Maximum group size is eight people.
I know it would never happen but in theory according to the above you could have 24 people entering the core area each day and if they all stayed for the maximum of 14 days you could have upwards of 312 people camped there or maybe I am looking at it all wrong.
Based on what is posted about the reservation rules that is possible. But what are the odds of scoring a 14 day core zone permit f1or 8 people? And who's going hump two weeks of food into the core zone? I mean the Enchantments are awesome and all, but it's small area and for most folks a few days is sufficient for exploring the area. Two weeks would be more than enough to climb every rock route in the core zone.

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olderthanIusedtobe
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PostThu Aug 08, 2019 3:03 pm 
Another little problem w/ the permits (unless they changed it; used to be this way) is that if you have Core Zone permits, you can camp anywhere. Since some parties will stop at Snow Lake or Colchuck Lake for the first night on their way to the core, that means those other zones can be overbooked and parties have to get creative to find a campsite.

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BigBrunyon
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PostThu Aug 08, 2019 3:04 pm 
Animal Chin wrote:
The problem is all of the trail runners
Last fall I beat a group of "trail runners" from the TH to Colchuck Lake and I was hiking! I never even "ran" a step! If people doing slower activities than you are beating you, you need to lose the spandex, trucker hats, and hydration vests.

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Cyclopath
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PostThu Aug 08, 2019 4:33 pm 
RandyHiker wrote:
Based on what is posted about the reservation rules that is possible. But what are the odds of scoring a 14 day core zone permit f1or 8 people? And who's going hump two weeks of food into the core zone? I mean the Enchantments are awesome and all, but it's small area and for most folks a few days is sufficient for exploring the area. Two weeks would be more than enough to climb every rock route in the core zone.
That's why we need a taco truck on Aasgard Pass. What's so funny?

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Kat
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PostThu Aug 08, 2019 7:05 pm 
Last year I used the Leavenworth shuttle to get from the Johnny Creek Campground back to my car at the Eightmile trailhead where I'd started. They picked me up in a small air conditioned van. I wonder if they'll take this change as an opportunity and provide some sort of regular service.

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Sadie's Driver
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PostFri Aug 09, 2019 3:35 pm 
dave allyn wrote:
Recently heard the forest service is banning parking on Eightmile road from Icicle road to the Stuart Lake parking area,effective September 3. Don't know when they plan on announcing it but they apparently made the decision months ago.
Yup: https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/okawen/news-events/?cid=FSEPRD647541

Four-paw buddy lets me tag along!
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Cyclopath
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PostFri Aug 09, 2019 7:52 pm 
I still haven't done Stuart Lake. I've always meant to do it in the spring when the mountains above ate still snow capped. I'm going to feel really guilty parking there in June knowing I might cost someone with a permit their day.

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schifferj
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PostSun Aug 11, 2019 4:01 pm 
This from the Spokane Spokesman Review today: Parking restricted at trail due to trash, human waste Piles of trash, human waste and cars parked on either side of a onelane road. The Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest says it is happening too often at the Stuart Lake Trailhead and has begun restricting parking, said Les Moscoso, Wenatchee River Ranger District recreation program manager. The agency will put up no-parking signs, no longer allow parking along the edge of Eightmile Road and could ticket drivers $80 or tow vehicles. “We’re not coming out of the gates here revving to go start writing tickets and start towing cars,” Moscoso said. “We want to educate and inform because this is a pretty big change for the user groups up here.” Parking has become such an issue that it is almost impossible for emergency vehicles to get to the trailhead, he said. On weekends, the trailhead can see as many as 200 cars a day. The most recorded was 298 and the Forest Service wants to reduce parking to about 90 parking places. The high level of use has also led to large amounts of trash that Forest Service employees are removing from the trailhead, as well as human feces in the parking lot, Moscoso said.

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thuja
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PostSat Sep 14, 2019 9:06 pm 
Apparently the Colchuck lake TH was full by 0700 this morning. There were also cars parked along Icicle Creek Road for several hundred feet on either side of the Snow Lake parking area this morning.

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Just_Some_Hiker
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PostSat Sep 14, 2019 10:28 pm 
BigBrunyon wrote:
Animal Chin wrote:
The problem is all of the trail runners
Last fall I beat a group of "trail runners" from the TH to Colchuck Lake and I was hiking! I never even "ran" a step! If people doing slower activities than you are beating you, you need to lose the spandex, trucker hats, and hydration vests.
Ah yes, the fake trail runner epidemic. I see them in their short shorts and hydration vests all over the place, moving at a 1mph pace.

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Cyclopath
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PostSat Sep 14, 2019 10:42 pm 
thuja wrote:
Apparently the Colchuck lake TH was full by 0700 this morning. There were also cars parked along Icicle Creek Road for several hundred feet on either side of the Snow Lake parking area this morning.
I'm surprised it took until 7 am to fill up. I guess most people don't want to be out of it might rain.

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Downhill
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PostSun Sep 15, 2019 3:49 pm 
Move the parking lot to Bridge Creek, close the road. Then Colchuck will be 7.3 miles and 3400 ft of elevation from the TH. That will put an end to the "casual" day hikers/runners. All the parking tickets, permit-rationing schemes will only generate new issues, conflicts, and debates. The over-use will continue until the access is physically more difficult for the off-the-couch crowd.

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neek
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PostSun Sep 15, 2019 7:18 pm 
Downhill wrote:
Move the parking lot to Bridge Creek, close the road. Then Colchuck will be 7.3 miles and 3400 ft of elevation from the TH. That will put an end to the "casual" day hikers/runners. All the parking tickets, permit-rationing schemes will only generate new issues, conflicts, and debates. The over-use will continue until the access is physically more difficult for the off-the-couch crowd.
Adding a few miles of road walking for Colchuck would work about as well as it did for Blanca. The loop would become 21 instead of 18 miles, not a deal breaker for most. But yeah the current parking thing is absurd. Wonder what folks who were turned away ended up doing instead.

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jasonracey
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PostSun Sep 15, 2019 7:48 pm 
My first Mountaineers climb was Dragontail Peak in June 2000. Back then you could get a core zone permit any time you wanted. You could also find parking in the lot any time you wanted. It was a special place to visit. A month ago I went up to Aasgard Pass. Parked cars lined both sides of the road from Eightmile all the way to the Stuart parking lot. Most people hiking up to Colchuck looked like they had no business being on a wilderness trail. The numbers and demographic was close to what you'd expect to see at Paradise. It was gross. I totally agree with this move. It's been overrun by people who haven't put in the years and miles to earn it. Let them enjoy Mount Si and Talapus Lake.

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