We won the lottery for a five day hike to the Enchantments....so pick up the permit at Leavenworth and hit the trail! The hike up to Colchuk Lake is easy at first and then moderate after the second bridge. There are many great campsites near the lake. The view of Dragontail and Colchuk Mtns overlooking the lake is great. Aasgard Pass looms over the lake. Colchuk Lake is a great destination in its own right and gives a person a steep doorstep to a dayhike into the upper Enchantments.
We arise early as you dont want to be climbing Aasgard with the sun beating down on you. It was a 2 1/2 hour climb up, steep, follow cairns but key word is snowfree except for small boot path thru a 50' section near the top. Highly recommend trekking poles for this trip. There were many spots on the climb and later in the trip that they really help in balance with a full pack. As you cross from the left side of the stream to the right, there are more difficult steep rocky sections to clamber/crawl over.
Of course, at the top...great views of Upper Enchantments and peaks. We explored Brynhilde and Freya Lake...deciding to camp on sandy shore of NE corner of Freya Lake.Fantastic view of Dragontail,Witches Tower and Lil Annapurna. There is considerable snow left in area and both lakes still had ice on them....very quick, brisk immersion for all. Toasted a great sunset with Lagavulin.
Third day, we hike to top of Little Annapurna...moderate hike up the slope with snowfields at top. Yep, its worth it! Adams,Rainier,Stuart,Baker,Glacier and all the rest....two of us decided to do the immediate ridge to the west. So we went as far as we could, a small saddle before Witches Tower. Then found some slopes we could glissade down towards Brynhilde Lake...also some that were too steep and exposed but made it down easily with the poles. We hiked past waterfall draining Brynhilde into lovely steam/pond area. There is a snowfield at the end of this area that runs down to Talisman Lake. It would be somewhat dicey earlier in the year as it is steep and exposed to a slip and a quick fall into the lake. There are no problems at this time of year with poles...some members of our party even glissaded down to the bottom steering with their poles and heels to come to a stop before hitting the water. We camped on a large slb of flat rock at N end of the lake. Great site for three tents and views.
We also went up Prusik Pass, across the steep snowfield to the trail that goes down to Shield Lake. Exposed, rough trail but great valley...we wanted to do the Druids Plateau but decided to turn around and explore the ridge from Prusik Pass to end of Rune Lake. Great ridge!.....great views to the left,right and ahead. At the end, you overlook Sprite and Rune Lake and the cascading waterfall from Talisman Lake. Then you can glissade a small snowfield coming off it to Rune Lake...recommend it.
Fourth day is to explore Crystal Lake...you cross the outlet of Rune Lake and follow trail around the end of McClellan Peak to the lake. It was my favorite lake of the trip....and all of these lakes are great. Climbed the ridge overlooking the chasm between Annapurna and McClellan, stunning views! We traversed around the lake, glissaded some more snowfields and then several of us had the idea to climb ridge by McClellan. There was no trail, we just went up from the flats between Rune and Crystal, crossed two snowfileds and then ascended the very visible light colored talus area to the notch in the ridge. It gets technical near the top with some very steep,vert climbing to do but the handholds are there. We were glad we did as it gave us a western facing view of the Enchantments from Dragontail to Cannon and Prusik. We clambered down, hiked past Sprite and Leprechaun and down to Lake Viviane. There are some rebar steps on the way down to Viviane, very secure but would be dicey in slick,snowy weather. We camped above the outlet stream with views down the valley towards Snow Lakes. Very windy night as weather blew thru.
Fifth day is the hike out. Arise early as it can get hot near the end of this hike from Lake Viviane...basically 5 hour hike out. The trail down to Snow Lake is well done, follow cairns and take your time as there are some steep, rocky sections. Also some toeholds and sections chipped out to make it safer. I would rather go down Snow Lakes than go down Aasgard Pass...and vice versa. Great hike down, Nada Lake is very beautiful setting. After you cross the bridge, its probably four miles of switchbacks and some serious down.....drink up, it gets hot as temp climbs and you encounter the burned out area.
Great hike, would love to do it in late September someday...I think the larches would be spectacular with less bugs and people.

Started the snow lakes trail head around 7:45 am, it was a good 70 degrees the whole time! The trail was clear and no snow all the way up to Nada lake(5.2m,elev:4900ft)we followed the trail around the lake where there were a few patches of snow we started up the rocky switchbacks towards snow lakes gaining about 600ft in the next 1.2 miles. ran into a pack of mountain goats on the way up(be careful) kinda scary ended up having to wait for them to pass for about 25 minutes.

After we got to the top of the switchbacks we hit snow for the last 1/4 of a mile to the lakes. there are very defined boot tracks going to the lake. only about 15 minutes from when you hit the snow to the lakes. got to the lakes about 1:00 pm after a few detours & eating lunch. hungout enjoyed the lakes for about an hour and headed down. got back to the car about 5:30 pm. great hike, cant wait to come back and do the enchantment lakes!

Started the snow lakes trail head around 7:45 am, it was a good 70 degrees the whole time! The trail was clear and no snow all the way up to Nada lake(5.2m,elev:4900ft)we followed the trail around the lake where there were a few patches of snow we started up the rocky switchbacks towards snow lakes gaining about 600ft in the next 1.2 miles. ran into a pack of mountain goats on the way up(be careful) kinda scary ended up having to wait for them to pass for about 25 minutes.

After we got to the top of the switchbacks we hit snow for the last 1/4 of a mile to the lakes. there are very defined boot tracks going to the lake. only about 15 minutes from when you hit the snow to the lakes. got to the lakes about 1:00 pm after a few detours & eating lunch. hungout enjoyed the lakes for about an hour and headed down. got back to the car about 5:30 pm. great hike, cant wait to come back and do the enchantment lakes!

     We started our hike at approx. 11:15 from the Snow Lake parking lot. It was a beautiful day out, 70 degrees, with a nice breeze.
     Trail was in good shape. The brush was hanging alittle over the trail making it a good idea to wear long pants. Wild flowers were all over going up the trail, around five different types.
     In different spots on the trail, there were small streams of water running down the center of the trail. Having water proof boots recommended.
     At 3900 feet, there was a blow down and another alittle further up. Both had to climb over. Patches of snow started at 4400 feet until you reached Nada Lake, very managable.
     Encountered a mother mountain goat and her baby on the trail on the way down, she let us pass.