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Copyright © Craig Romano/The Mountaineers Books Colchuck LakeSet in a granite bathtub beneath spiraling peaks dabbed with shimmering strings of glacial ice, Colchuck ranks as one of the most beautiful alpine lakes in all of Washington. And one of the most popular too! Can you resist the lure of Colchuck's sparkling cobalt waters? Or being mesmerized by her glacial-scoured surroundings that appear right out of the High Sierra? I didn't think so. But before joining the boot-beating brigade, be forewarned. The hike isn't easy. It involves a knee knocking ascent over some pretty steep and rocky terrain.
Driving Directions:
From milepost 99 on US 2, on the western edge of Leavenworth, follow the paved Icicle Creek Road (Forest Road 76) for 8.4 miles, turning left onto Eightmile Road (FR 7601). Continue on this washboarded dirt road for 3.8 miles to a large parking lot and the trailhead (elev. 3400 ft). Privy available. Recent Trip Reports
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Colchuck Lake
— Nov 08, 2012
— MediMike
Overnight
Issues:
Blowdowns | Water on trail | Snow on trail
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Read the trip report from Nov 4 and figured this hike would be no problem...Wrong. Up to about a mi...
Read the trip report from Nov 4 and figured this hike would be no problem...Wrong. Up to about a mile in the trail was clear with very minor amounts of snow on the ground, from that point on the snow got deeper and deeper obscuring the trail altogether.
Luckily there was a set of tracks in front of me to follow, the guy was able to fly apparently because they would disappear at times then reappear from nowhere. Fancy. The water crossings were difficult due to the snow covered logs, footbridges were in good shape. If you choose to avoid the logs and rock-hop definitely don't grab on to any vegetation. Someone planted the most vicious thorny buggers possible exactly where you might need a handhold. Without a clue where the actual trail was I continued following the tracks, led me to the NE side of the lake where I met the guy on his way back down, he decided to leave due to weather. At that point it was gorgeous and clear out, but within 3 minutes the clouds came pouring in obscuring Aasgard pass. I set up camp, cooked a quick meal and passed out. Around 2200 I woke up with my bivy plastered to my body, poked my head out and saw that it was simply dumping snow. Temperature had dropped down to low 20's, initially was going to stick it out but while boiling water for the Nalgene the Jet Boil rolled over and soaked my bag. Between the snow and the wet bedding I figured it was time to run. Packed everything up in a hurry and started making my way out in the dark. The trail was clearly worse than on the way up, hardly any tracks were visible, luckily I only ended up off trail a time or two. There is a section were you can miss the trail and end up at the Horse Ford rather than the Log Bridge, keep your eyes open for the sign. Overnight
Issues:
Water on trail | Snow on trail
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Went for an overnight trip in the enchantments. A through hike would have been preferred but was no...
Went for an overnight trip in the enchantments. A through hike would have been preferred but was not able to make it happen. Have not been up to the enchantments via colchuck lake or aasgard pass so we decided to venture up that way. No snow at the trail head and only spots of it here and there all the way up to the lake. Colchuck is snow free except for a few random spots. Decent day no precipitation but did have clouds lingering overhead. Temps at Colchuck were probably in 40's and down to the low 30's at the top of Aasgard pass. Aasgard was quite the thigh burner with not much snow until about 6500-7000 feet where we began to post hole. Longest mile of my life ha. Snowshoes would have been nice once in the enchantments, though we did ok without. Had some strong winds that night but not much in the way of snow fall if any. Our snowman began melting by morning so it had warmed up a bit maybe mid 30's. Morning brought fog and clouds, the place was socked in and did not allow for much visibility or picture taking, however it was all fun still. Hiked out Sunday morning and made our way back to Seattle. Saw 0 hikers saturday and 20 hikers sunday on our way out. Had the enchantments all to ourselves saturday as far as we know, rare feat.
Day hike
Features:
Fall foliage
Issues:
Water on trail
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The drive over from Seattle was very foggy, and it seemed we would have not views at Lake Colchuck. ...
The drive over from Seattle was very foggy, and it seemed we would have not views at Lake Colchuck. The road to the trail head was in great shape. There was very little snow on the trail. The area around the lake had very little snow. We sat on one of the rock outcrops, ate lunch and took photographs. Asgard and Dragon tail we very clear, with only higher clouds. We had a great time. Very nice hike.
Colchuck Lake
— Oct 27, 2012
— Steele
Day hike
Features:
Fall foliage
Issues:
Blowdowns | Mudholes | Water on trail | Snow on trail
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The road up to the trail head was clear up to about half way when I got into snow. At about 3\4 of ...
The road up to the trail head was clear up to about half way when I got into snow. At about 3\4 of the way up the snow was pretty deep, probably 6-8 inches and having a 4x4 was very benificial if not almost a necessity. We started off on the trail with about 4-6 inches of snow. The trail has been used a decent amount so there was no problem with finding and staying on the trail. At the lake there was about 2 feet of snow, which is much more than we were expecting. We had brought snow shoes and micro spikes, the snow shoes were not really needed, we never did use the micro spikes but they would have helped on the way down, but were not crucial yet.
Colchuck Lake
— Sep 15, 2012
— junaid
Day hike
Issues:
Road to trailhead inaccessible
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Nice day for a hike, blue skies with a few wispy clouds, pleasant temps. Trail is in good condition ...
Nice day for a hike, blue skies with a few wispy clouds, pleasant temps. Trail is in good condition but dusty. No bugs, no flowers, lots of roots and rocks on the last steep part to the lake. We noticed a fire smoldering on a hill near the trailhead early in the hike. It continued to grow during the day. By the time we returned it had grown into a full-blown fire with flames less than 1/2 mile from parking lot. A USFS guy told me they were closing the trail and road and pulling hikers and campers from the mountain. Make sure to check with FS before doing this trail in the next week or two.
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![]() Colchuck Lake and Dragontail Peak, by Glenn G. Schrempp.
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