Colchuck Lake, Enchantment Lakes, Snow Lakes

    I led my Alpine Larch Spectacular backpack for the Cascadians last week, 10/7 – 11, to the Enchantments. I drove over Tue evening and stayed in Tumwater campground to be at the Leavenworth Ranger Station at 7:30 to try for a permit through the morning lottery. As I had a party of 4 including myself and there are only permits for 5 individuals given out, I could hardly believe my good luck when my name was drawn second after a solo hiker. The plan was to go to Colchuck Lake on Wed, up Aasgard Pass on Thurs, spend a couple of days up amongst the larches & lakes, and then descend Aasgard pass & return to the car on Sun, but just as a precaution I left my truck at the Snow Lake Trailhead. The forecast was for sunny, but cold weather the entire time.
    We arrived at Colchuck Lake in mid-afternoon and set up camp on the north side of the lake with a good view of Colchuck, Dragontail, & Aasgard Pass. The lake was very low due to construction on the dam and we were able to easily explore the east side of the lake. That evening we were treated to a very colorful sunset.
    The next morning it was up & over Aasgard Pass. Knowing that we had all day, we took our time. We left camp about 10, started the actual ascent about 11, and were on top about 2. The last 600’ or so of elevation gain were very icy with a couple of extremely treacherous spots. By the time we were on top I was having second thoughts about descending that way and was glad I had left my truck where I did. After lunch at the pass, we made our way through the upper & middle basins and down the chute to Talisman (Inspiration) Lake. This chute was also very icy and gave us a taste of what going down Aasgard might be like. We set up camp in a very nice spot at the NE corner of Talisman.
    Much to our surprise, we woke the next morning to low clouds, which, after a few hours, did not show any sign of burning off. I was planning on taking a leisurely day hike though the lower Enchantments that day, but wanted sun, so we decided to go up to Prusik Pass instead with a thought of perhaps going down to Shield Lake where none of us had ever been. Once on the pass we found we had cell phone service & one of the party called his wife who got on the internet to check the weather on the NOAA site and informed us that the forecast was for mostly cloudy that day, but sunny on Sat & Sun. There was, however, an arctic air mass moving in & they were going to have near record lows in Yakima Sat night. The low for the Enchantments was going to be something like 16.
    Given the weather for the day, we decided to go down to Shield Lake. We didn’t see the beginning of the easy route down the gully and instead followed a cairned route down a rib to the right of the gully. This was also very icy & treacherous and confirmed our decision from earlier in the day to go out via Snow Lakes on Sun. Once down in the larches, however, the walking was easy & beautiful. But after the exertion of the prior couple of days, this old man was pretty tired, so I just puttered around the south shore of Shield Lake while the others went on to Earle & Mesa Lakes. Then it was back over Prusik Pass and dinner under cold, gray skies.
    Much to our surprise, we woke Sat morning to overcast, which, once again, did not show any sign of clearing. We decided to pack up and, if it did not clear up, we would take our camp down to Snow Lake in the late afternoon to shorten the hike out. If it did clear up, we would make camp lower down in the basin. Matt & Jay decided that they were going to climb Little Annapurna and Bob decided to slowly walk through the lower basin and perhaps head down mid-afternoon if it wasn’t clearing. I spent an hour or so around Talisman, then packed up and, about 11, headed down myself. By the time I got to Sprite Lake, patches of blue were beginning to show. I had lunch by Leprechaun Lake and by 1:30 or so it had become very nice. I was finally getting to see the Enchantments again in all their autumn glory. When Matt & Jay arrived we decided to stay & set up camp above Lake Viviane. Poor Bob was already down at Snow Lake. The rest of the day was spent photographing golden sunlit larches.
    Sat night was supposed to be the cold night, and cold it was. When I looked at my thermometer at 7:15 Sun morning it read 10°. Matt & I spent an hour or so photographing in the morning light, then it was time to have breakfast, pack up, & head out. We were on the trail a little after 10 and down to the dam at Snow Lakes by noon. The hike out from here has a reputation of just being a long, boring walk, but I found it quite pleasant: easy walking, views from time to time, and nice fall color. We were out to the truck by 4.
    Although there were plenty of other campers in the area, it never seemed crowded, except on Sat when all the thru-hikers went by. Then it was almost like a parade. I’ll bet there were almost 200 of them. The weather wasn’t quite what I hoped for or expected, but the larches, lakes, & granite slabs were beautiful nonetheless and this old man was able to get in there, perhaps for the last time.