9/27-29/14
Back
in 2005 Suzanne invited me along on a late September trip to the
Enchantments. We had great weather and many golden larch trees. Now,
nine years later Gary wanted to revisit for the first time in decades.
Gary, John, and I applied for permits in the lottery. Gary won. We were
set for late September.
Day 1
The weather a few days before our trip was awful. Hard rain and high winds. It cleared up on Saturday, the day our permit began. We planned for a four day trip. I headed to Kent and met Gary at 6:00 am. We picked up John and headed east. At Leavenworth we headed up the Icicle Creek Road. Our plan was to go in and out via Colchuck Lake and Aasgard Pass. The other lower trail heads up to Snow Lake. As we passed that trailhead at 8:30 am the lot was full and overflowing. I was a little surprised. There is a limit to overnight passes.
We headed up the Eight Mile Road to the end and the trailhead for Colchuck and Stuart Lakes. Another lot nearly overflowing. Gary counted 95 cars at 9:00 am. We were on the trail by about 9:10 am. The trail starts out at an easy grade. The only problem was the stream of runners. We had to step off the trail for each of them. After the junction with the Stuart Lake trail the route became much rockier. Still not too steep but lots of rock steps. I had to stop to switch to short sleeves as the day warmed quickly.
After reaching Colchuck Lake we found a spot with good views of the lake. Time for a break. Also time for our first mountain goat sighting. As is usually the case they don't much care about us. Hikers pulled out cameras and the goat just sat there. We continued on around the lake. The trail ends and a cairned track continues across several boulder fields. Fun to jump from boulder to boulder with an full backpack on. The rock fields are separated by trail cut through the brush. At the end of the lake we took another break. Time to pump water and get ready for the climb up to Aasgard Pass. This route is the shortest way up to the Enchantments. It is also 2200' of loose rock and hundreds of rock cairns marking the way. A pain to go up. A much bigger pain to go down. Up we went.
We slogged up while folks with day packs or no packs passed us by. Slow and steady progress. Two hours later, at 3:42 pm we reached the pass. The upper part of the climb had numerous peaking golden larch trees. That alone was almost worth all the effort. The upper basin is very austere. Very little grows. It's not hard to image what it looked like when the Snow Creek Glacier filled the basin. Now there are a number of lakes with nearly no vegetation. We did see a few small wildflowers still in bloom. The summer season is short at this elevation. Snow will be falling soon. After a short break we started heading down the valley. Little Annapurna was ahead and on my previous visit we camped at the base of the peak. There were signs of the recent rains as some campsites were soaked. We met some day hikers and even a group of one way hikers heading down Aasgard to Colchuck Lake and out.
With hours left until sunset we took our time. It is a unique landscape in the Alpine Lakes and well worth enjoying. Some larch near the pass were still green and I feared that lower down there would be little golden color. That fear proved to be misplaced. Down at the lakelets the larch showed a lot of color. I found my previous campsite but it was underwater. Not far away we found a site big enough for two tents and partly surrounded by rocks for a wind block. This small spot turned out to be the center of all wind for the next two days. Calm thirty feet away but blowing in the campsite. Oh well... We set up our tents and found a calm spot to cook dinner. We managed to stay out until 9:00 pm before heading to bed. A strenuous but fun day getting up to the good stuff.
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larger pictures.
Day 2
Trips - 2014
Home
Day 1
The weather a few days before our trip was awful. Hard rain and high winds. It cleared up on Saturday, the day our permit began. We planned for a four day trip. I headed to Kent and met Gary at 6:00 am. We picked up John and headed east. At Leavenworth we headed up the Icicle Creek Road. Our plan was to go in and out via Colchuck Lake and Aasgard Pass. The other lower trail heads up to Snow Lake. As we passed that trailhead at 8:30 am the lot was full and overflowing. I was a little surprised. There is a limit to overnight passes.
We headed up the Eight Mile Road to the end and the trailhead for Colchuck and Stuart Lakes. Another lot nearly overflowing. Gary counted 95 cars at 9:00 am. We were on the trail by about 9:10 am. The trail starts out at an easy grade. The only problem was the stream of runners. We had to step off the trail for each of them. After the junction with the Stuart Lake trail the route became much rockier. Still not too steep but lots of rock steps. I had to stop to switch to short sleeves as the day warmed quickly.
After reaching Colchuck Lake we found a spot with good views of the lake. Time for a break. Also time for our first mountain goat sighting. As is usually the case they don't much care about us. Hikers pulled out cameras and the goat just sat there. We continued on around the lake. The trail ends and a cairned track continues across several boulder fields. Fun to jump from boulder to boulder with an full backpack on. The rock fields are separated by trail cut through the brush. At the end of the lake we took another break. Time to pump water and get ready for the climb up to Aasgard Pass. This route is the shortest way up to the Enchantments. It is also 2200' of loose rock and hundreds of rock cairns marking the way. A pain to go up. A much bigger pain to go down. Up we went.
We slogged up while folks with day packs or no packs passed us by. Slow and steady progress. Two hours later, at 3:42 pm we reached the pass. The upper part of the climb had numerous peaking golden larch trees. That alone was almost worth all the effort. The upper basin is very austere. Very little grows. It's not hard to image what it looked like when the Snow Creek Glacier filled the basin. Now there are a number of lakes with nearly no vegetation. We did see a few small wildflowers still in bloom. The summer season is short at this elevation. Snow will be falling soon. After a short break we started heading down the valley. Little Annapurna was ahead and on my previous visit we camped at the base of the peak. There were signs of the recent rains as some campsites were soaked. We met some day hikers and even a group of one way hikers heading down Aasgard to Colchuck Lake and out.
With hours left until sunset we took our time. It is a unique landscape in the Alpine Lakes and well worth enjoying. Some larch near the pass were still green and I feared that lower down there would be little golden color. That fear proved to be misplaced. Down at the lakelets the larch showed a lot of color. I found my previous campsite but it was underwater. Not far away we found a site big enough for two tents and partly surrounded by rocks for a wind block. This small spot turned out to be the center of all wind for the next two days. Calm thirty feet away but blowing in the campsite. Oh well... We set up our tents and found a calm spot to cook dinner. We managed to stay out until 9:00 pm before heading to bed. A strenuous but fun day getting up to the good stuff.
 Full Parking Lot |
 Gary On Bridge |
 Viewpoint |
 Raft On Colchuck Lake |
 First Mountain Goat |
 Fall Color |
 Start Of Boulder Field |
 Lake From Boulder Field |
 Boulder Hoppers |
 Colchuck Lake Reflection |
 Golden Larch Trees |
 Larch & Blue Sky |
 More Larch |
 Heading Up |
 Gary & John |
 Up Through Rocks |
 Rock Spire |
 Colchuck Lake Below |
 Green & Gold Larch |
 Hikers Heading Down |
 Peaking Larch |
 Glare On Larch |
 Granite Peaks |
 Some Dirt Trail |
 John Near Pass |
 Gary At Aasgard Pass |
 Austere Landscape |
 Little Annapurna |
 Upper Lakes |
 Wildflower? |
 Big Cairn |
 McClellan Peak & Larch |
 Lakelets |
 McClellan Peak |
 Scraggly Larch |
 Campsite |
 Crystal Lake |
 Shadows On Peaks |
 Back To Campsite |
 Getting Water |
 Evening Color |
 Redding Light |
Day 2
Trips - 2014
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