October 26-27, 2013
At long last!!! We made it up to the Enchantments. An overnight trip is not nearly enough time to enjoy the splendor, but we took what we could get especially with this dry weather pattern.
Having only one car and hearing that Aasgard was dicey on the descent down, we opted for the Nada/Snow Lakes trailhead route to the Enchantments. We hiked to Nada Lake last year (post here) but at that time in May there was still too much snow to make it much farther than that. This time the weather was perfect and the climb up was just as grueling. Actually, much more so because we went farther. We were pretty much on our hands and knees most of the time past Snow Lakes for the climb up. Andy's fingertips look like I gnawed on them they were so raw (wear gloves on your way down). Part of the fun of the hike is looking for cairns and getting lost when you don't pay attention. A lot of the times when I was exhausted I would see a cairn and think, "Phew, we're on track. Others have been here and have gone through the same thing. I can do it! Mind on the prize!!!"
There are several sections along the rocks where there is rebar/concrete or areas where explosives were used to create steps and traction to help you up (below).
This hike is the bee's knees. I hope next year we can get a permit or do what we did this year for two nights at a minimum. Here are some photos from the journey:
Nada Lake behind me. Lake level was very low so there was a high point splitting the lake in two.
Upper Snow Lake. Low lake level, log jams, and nice group campsites. Prusik Peak in the background.
This dam separates upper and lower lakes. During snow melt water cascades over so you must be careful crossing to the other side.
Heading past Snow Lake...
But not before filtering more water for the final leg up.
What's left of the larches. Starting to brown and many needles on the ground, but still beautiful!
Lake Viviane in all her glory
Leprechaun Lake
Leprechaun Lake about 9.5 miles in. We hiked up a big rock to the highest.. 2nd highest point in the basin and set up our tent freestanding on the rocks. It was a sweet spot.
Andy placed rocks by the tent to make sure it did not slide off the cliff. We were pretty much set up right on the edge but it was such a nice spot!
Waiting for the stars. Andy is taking a 360° picture with his phone.
There were two groups camped out in the lower basin (left and center photos). Andy accidently caught them in the center photo at the very lower left edge of the photo. We ended up giving one of them a ride to the Colchuck TH. That's our tent in the right photo.
It got so windy at night that we had to hold our tent up with our hands to keep it from smacking us in the face. Andy went outside to try to prop it up with the trekking poles, but with the tent set up freestanding on the rocks it did not work well. We had to move to a more sheltered area just a few yards down to the left. We were able to stake the tent down and have the trekking poles for support. Our Tarptent held up very well and we were able to fall asleep. When we asked the group down at the basin how their night was, it was just as windy.
Good morning!
This was the new location of the tent.
It started snowing as we were packing up and the snow picked up on our hike down. There was close to 1/2" accumulation when we took this picture. By the time we reached Nada the snow had stopped and the rest of the hike down was dry.
It was surprising that there were very few cars at both Nada and Colchuck trailheads on Sunday afternoon.
At long last!!! We made it up to the Enchantments. An overnight trip is not nearly enough time to enjoy the splendor, but we took what we could get especially with this dry weather pattern.
Having only one car and hearing that Aasgard was dicey on the descent down, we opted for the Nada/Snow Lakes trailhead route to the Enchantments. We hiked to Nada Lake last year (post here) but at that time in May there was still too much snow to make it much farther than that. This time the weather was perfect and the climb up was just as grueling. Actually, much more so because we went farther. We were pretty much on our hands and knees most of the time past Snow Lakes for the climb up. Andy's fingertips look like I gnawed on them they were so raw (wear gloves on your way down). Part of the fun of the hike is looking for cairns and getting lost when you don't pay attention. A lot of the times when I was exhausted I would see a cairn and think, "Phew, we're on track. Others have been here and have gone through the same thing. I can do it! Mind on the prize!!!"
There are several sections along the rocks where there is rebar/concrete or areas where explosives were used to create steps and traction to help you up (below).
This hike is the bee's knees. I hope next year we can get a permit or do what we did this year for two nights at a minimum. Here are some photos from the journey:
What's left of the larches. Starting to brown and many needles on the ground, but still beautiful!
Lake Viviane in all her glory
Leprechaun Lake
Leprechaun Lake about 9.5 miles in. We hiked up a big rock to the highest.. 2nd highest point in the basin and set up our tent freestanding on the rocks. It was a sweet spot.
Andy placed rocks by the tent to make sure it did not slide off the cliff. We were pretty much set up right on the edge but it was such a nice spot!
Waiting for the stars. Andy is taking a 360° picture with his phone.
There were two groups camped out in the lower basin (left and center photos). Andy accidently caught them in the center photo at the very lower left edge of the photo. We ended up giving one of them a ride to the Colchuck TH. That's our tent in the right photo.
It got so windy at night that we had to hold our tent up with our hands to keep it from smacking us in the face. Andy went outside to try to prop it up with the trekking poles, but with the tent set up freestanding on the rocks it did not work well. We had to move to a more sheltered area just a few yards down to the left. We were able to stake the tent down and have the trekking poles for support. Our Tarptent held up very well and we were able to fall asleep. When we asked the group down at the basin how their night was, it was just as windy.
Good morning!
This was the new location of the tent.
It started snowing as we were packing up and the snow picked up on our hike down. There was close to 1/2" accumulation when we took this picture. By the time we reached Nada the snow had stopped and the rest of the hike down was dry.
It was surprising that there were very few cars at both Nada and Colchuck trailheads on Sunday afternoon.