Started at 7:30am in the Eightmile parking lot that still had several spots available. We were back around 1:30pm and the lot was slightly more full but nothing crazy. It is a definitely less crowded spot than the Colchuck lot further down the road.

The trail to Little Eightmile lake has a few bushy sections. From that lake, we decided to go up lake Caroline and despite all the bad words about the initial bushwhacking, the ascent was actually quite nice.

The first 800 feet up are the main culprit. That part of the trail is steep, very narrow and both long pants and long sleeves are ideal to avoid too many scratches. There is little coverage from the sun so you get hot pretty quickly. However, there are various burnt trees still standing from time to time to provide a local spot to rehydrate before moving on if you are early in the day. Then, the trail widens and the slope gets easier. You get nice views of both little Eightmile lake and its larger counterpart further up the valley.
It was a smoky day but the views were still great.

The trail gets really nice starting 1 mile from the lake and eventually you enter a beautiful forest before reaching the lake.
I had a quick swim at the lake before heading back.

The way back down goes pretty quickly and the bushes didn't feel nearly as troublesome by that point. There are a few points along the way down where streams cross the trail so that you could replenish your water at many locations. We didn't need too.

This was a great trail! Don't fear the initial bushwalk. It's a bit rough but it's short and the trail afterwards is definitely worth it. You get awesome views of the valley from up above.

trail in great shape, except overgrown from windy pass west down to jack trout th.

We decided to climb Cashmere Mountain as a 2-day trip, camping overnight at Lake Caroline. I snagged overnight permits early via the Enchantments lottery. However, we saw almost nobody the entire weekend, leading me to think that the permits aren't that popular. 

We arrived at the Eightmile Lake trailhead at around 8:30 am, and easily found a spot. It seemed like there might be some overflow parking at this trailhead from the nearby Colchuck Lake trailhead. The privy was open and stocked with TP. The trail to Little Eightmile lake was in great shape. At Little Eightmile lake, we turned north and made our way up to Lake Caroline. This section of the trail was quite hot, dusty and overgrown. There were half a dozen or more trees down over the trail. We were pushing through brush much of the way. There isn't much protection from the sun here. However, once you go over the pass and down to Lake Caroline the temperature goes down significantly. 

We arrived at Lake Caroline and found a campsite with a view of Cashmere Mountain. I had read reports of the bugs being bad here, but I did not experience this. There is a toilet near the lake, but somewhat hard to find as the sign is tucked away. There were a lot of ripe blueberries near our campsite. We filtered water at the lake and took a quick dip.

The next morning, we left at 6 am. We took a break at the last water source, which is a small stream below Windy Pass. The sun was up by the time we reached Windy Pass, and it was nice and cool and a bit breezy. From here we walked the ridge over to the boulder field. There is one section of scrambling on the ridge walk that is steep and loose, but it was short and not that bad. As we crept up the ridge, Colchuck Lake came into view to the south.

At the boulder field section, we stayed high (to the north) and followed the cairns. There is an easier high route to the north that wasn't obvious to us on the approach but we saw on the return route. We made it through without any issues. 

We crossed the saddle and then started the traverse east, following the cairns. Stay at about 8,220-8,240 feet of elevation for as long as you can before ascending. You will cross several gullies with loose rocks. Eventually you'll get to a gully due north of the summit. This is where you should start to ascend. As you ascend, keep looking to climber's left for a notch with a cairn; if you go through the notch, it takes you to easy class 2/3 terrain on the other side of the ridge that you can climb all the way to the summit. 

We couldn't find a summit register. After taking photos and eating our lunch, we went back the way we came. My advice for coming back is to not go too low on the traverse, because it's difficult to ascend back up the loose rock. 

All in all a very enjoyable trip, with extraordinary views and some very enjoyable scrambling, especially in the boulder field and final summit push. The approach is long but very scenic. 

Distance: 19.75 miles, Elevation gain: ~6000 feet

This was my first backpacking experience in the Enchantments as this was the first year I "won the lottery!". At first I was disappointed that I didn't get a permit for the other famous areas, but I was completely satisfied and delighted!

We easily found parking when we arrived at 9am on a Tuesday. We drove over from Seattle and Tacoma and found traffic to be very pleasant. A great start for our backpacking trip.

The trail to Eightmile Lake is beautiful with so much plant life from new young evergreens, cottonwoods, alders, mountain ash, bitter cherry, and many wildflowers still blooming. Many of the remaining upright dead trees from the wildfire were like sculptures. There was an abundance of birds as well! A grouse family gave us nice opportunities to watch them feed and use the downed trees as walkways. We found the upgrade very doable especially with the peek-a-boo views of Colchuck and the surrounding mountains. We appreciated many opportunities for a shade break under full blue skies. Also, make sure to smell the bark of the ponderosa pine trees! There were a few downed trees to navigate as you approach Eightmile Lake.

We found a great campsite looking up the lake and saw only two other campers. We were so grateful to not have the crowds and trash that the other Zones are experiencing right now. We found the first privy disgusting and opted to dig catholes. There was fecal material on the "seat" and as the previous writer shared the box is pretty full. Unfortunately there was much evidence of folks not packing out their wastepaper or digging the appropriate depth in the privy area.

On our second day, we day hiked up to Lake Caroline and found the trail challenging with all the brush to hike through and narrow sections with brush. Mindful foot placements and trekking poles were helpful. This trail would be a challenge with a full, weighted backpack on.It was a beautiful blue sky day and warming up so we took many shade breaks and a nice dip in Lake Caroline. We were the only ones at the lake and we enjoyed the abundance of huckleberries!

Back at camp, we enjoyed a delightful dip in Eightmile Lake. A larger group of backpackers had come in and were camped at the larger campsite up along the lake shore trail.

We had beautiful sunsets both nights and great star gazing!! We saw several meteors as well! I also brought my fly rod and caught a 6 inch cutthroat trout! It was great to fish again. 

It was hard to leave on our third day but we enjoyed a slow start and an easy walk out. We saw a few day hikers coming in and one backpacking group. The parking lot was much busier than our start with many cars traveling up to the Stuart Lake trailhead.

We had a very lovely and uncrowded multi-day trip out to Windy Pass. The first leg of the hike to Little Eightmile still has lots of ripe thimbleberries. We camped at Eightmile and had the place to ourselves. The open air privy was getting pretty full, but still clean. Bugs at the lake were minor and we didn't even need repellant. The climb up to Lake Caroline was definitely brushy and steep, but the trail was easy to follow. Poles are recommended for the way back down. Once up the exposed face there were huckleberries galore. We camped at Caroline and saw almost nobody. Bugs are worse here and we needed spray. We did not find the advertised privvy, so be sure to bring your trowel. Both lakes were relatively warm and nice for a dip.  The most beautiful part of the hike is up to Windy Pass through meadows still going strong with wildflowers and marmots chilling in the sun. There is water at Little Caroline and then again about halfway up to the pass at a stream crossing. Views were phenomenal and it's possible to walk quite a ways on the ridge without getting technical. Encountered a few friendly day hikers.

After all the recent bad press about overuse and neglect in the Enchantments, I am happy to report we saw no garbage or human waste. Thank you to all who help keep these special places beautiful.