The Enchantments Through Hike: 7 Oct 2018








I was told about this hike almost a year ago by Jorrel, and we have been salivating over doing this ever since!

Sunday Oct 7, 2018, was our day, a cool group of friends, none of us did this through hike this before, we started in the dark and ending in the dark, 16 hours of hiking.

Starting from Stuart Lake trailhead, and leaving a vehicle at the Snow Lakes trailhead.
Hiking up to Colchuck in the dark is really fun, its not a difficult hike and seeing Colchuck Lake at daybreak is a treat !


Seeing Colchuck lake and Aasgard Pass with sprinkling of fresh snow was surreal.



After a quick snack and pics, we continued to the base of Aasgard pass, the boulders along the lake were really slippery!



At Aasgard, we mustered up the courage, put on spikes, and kicked into gear, getting up Aasgard in 2h14min with a few breaks for views and pics, I dont think it was a difficult climb, as I am a pretty slow, but a constant paced hiker.

Once on top, we had some lunch, pizza for me :) and was just in awe of the landscape.
Golden larches, freshly tipped mountains, I wanted hot chocolate and xmas music!


I did start singing many times, along with my lame jokes, only to told my members of my group "I am putting on noise cancelling headphones" This didn't stop me from continuous flow of songs..lol
I wonder if they will hike with me again ? Jorell, Isaac ??

Anyway, we made lots of deviations for photos and views, some planned, some not!

We did meet a surprisingly large number of people not well prepared ie no spikes, poles, gear, or even a ride!
I hoped they all got home safely. We learned later that they did at 2.30am!
The key to enjoying yourself while being safe in being prepared for the worst case scenarios. 10 Essentials, research, planning and knowing your limits :)

I must say, I am forever grateful for being able to experience the beauty of this place especially with "motivated crew" !
I highly recommend it anyone who loves the outdoors!




We were like kids in a candy store, as every lake, peak, larch had such unique aspects of beauty. 
I reckon we will remember this for a long long time :)



Coming down to Snow lakes should be done in daylight, I do not think I would have been comfortable coming down in the dark, you are losing almost 5000 feet of elevation over large rocky terrain, you do need to be extra careful.



Walking through forest in the dark was annoying, as I kept getting spider webs in my face, I think I ate one too! ( I was hungry..lol )

Once back at the trailhead, we were soo tired, but sooo excited!

Good hiking folks, lets do again sometime ;)

Location: The Enchantments, Leavenworth, WA 98826, USA

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