Enchantment Lakes
Jul 30, 2009
by
wolfwoman
—
last modified
Jul 31, 2009 12:19 AM
- Type of Outing
- Multi-night backpack
- Read More in our Hiking Guide
- Hike: Enchantment Lakes
- Region: Central Cascades -- Leavenworth Area
- Agency: Wenatchee National Forest, Wenatchee River Ranger District
- Trails: Enchantment Lakes (#1553)
- Avg Rating: 4.52
- Why You Should Go Now
- Wildflowers blooming
- Be Aware Of
- Bugs
This trip was conceived during a ski trip to the Methow last winter when Ace volunteered to get passes to the Enchantments. Our party included Yoyo, Blissman, Cisco Kid, Cascade Dreams, Ace and Dale -- a fantastic group! Our first day involved the grunt up and over Aasgard Pass via Colchuck Lake. We were fortunate to have some clouds and a slight breeze to save us from the heat. The trail is getting more defined all the time, although eroded in places. We saw several parties on the way up. We were greeted at the pass by a lone Billy Goat. Several of his buddies soon joined us. We spent the first night at Lake Brynhild. There were several parties camped in the Upper Enchantments. More than I had seen on previous visits. That night we were entertained by 10 - 12 goats with three kids. We watched with awe and envy as they did some major slab work with ease. We then saw an interplay between two kids that was pretty amazing. They were perched on a step slab pushing each other around and around in what looked to be a game of "push the goat off the rock"! We couldn't get enough. A fabulous sunset and to bed. Yoyo awoke to lightening that night which was to visit us every night of the trip. Day two was a day of leisurely exploring and a walk to Little Anapurna for Ace and myself, while the rest looked to scramble East Dragontail. We met back in camp by 4:00 PM and moved down to Talisman Lake. We were the first of only two parties to camp here. The bugs were many, but tolerable at the upper basin, but they were awful at the lower lakes. Mosquitos galore! After a quick dinner, we escaped to the safety of our tents while the mosquitos waited outside. That night we had some thunder, lightening, and a short, but intense rain. Day three involved a scramble of Cannon. I'd done this on an earlier trip, but wanted to do it again. I especially love Druid Plateau. The scramble is very straightforward. Up to Prusik Pass where you can pick up a cairned path which you can follow to a small gully and stream about 1/4 mile from the pass. You then contour up and around the left side of a slabby hill until you reach a rather large tarn with lots of larch. Go to the far end and up a shallow, lush and flowery gully until you are at the base of a granite wall with some steep rocky gullys. Pick your poison and follow it up to the top of the wall. You will emerge onto the wonderful Druid Plateau. Spend lots of time here and look down into the valleys and over to the rock basins and cliffs that border the plateau. There really could be Druids here. The summit of Cannon is obvious from here, but the easier route is the north side as it's a bit gentler here. The scramble to the summit is over extremely large boulders covered with lichen. It requires some large steps and a bit of nerve, but it's worth it. We began hearing thunder and seeing lightening on the summit so we didn't linger there. However, we just couldn't leave the plateau so we spent enough time for the storm to pass by us. The Druids were with us today! The plan for day three was to spend the morning exploring the area and then moving down to Snow Lakes in the early afternoon. Yoyo and Cisco scrambled McClellan while Ace, Blissman and myself spent the morning exploring Crystal Lake and taking photos. We then went to Snow Lakes for our last night. The trail down is rough, but interesting and we found ourselves at Snow Lake in no time. We snagged a great camp with a nice beach and a rock peninsula that juts out into the lake. The mosquitos were terrible in the woods, but virtually gone on our rock so we finally got to relax without being attacked by the vicious beasties! We spent much time swimming and loafing until our nightly thunderstorm and lightening which was quite close this time. It was fun to watch, but the rain caused us to flee to our tents again. Day five was the hot, hot, hot hike out to the trailhead. It was really hot. Extremely hot. Stifling hot. I could almost see the waves of heat radiating off of the rocks. The bridge over Snow Creek made a nice waiting place while waiting for Yoyo to shuttle the other drivers to the Colchuck trailhead. A fine meal was had by our hungry scramblers at Ducks and Drakes in Leavenworth. Followed by various stops for chocolate, ice cream, and Coca Cola!
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