We camped at Lake Stuart and did a day hike to Colchuck Lake, up Asgard Pass to Lake Reginlief and Isolation Lake and back down.
The trail to Colchuck is in great shape. We saw lots of traffic, from people heading to camp in the Core, to through hikers, to people just heading to the lake to cool off.
The trail around the lake is challenging and really just an appropriate precursor to climbing Asgard Pass.
The climb up was challenging, we were slow but steady. Navigating is challenging but there are lots of helpful cairns along the way. The key for us was to stay left until finally crossing under a waterfall near the top. The top area was steep and really benefitted from wearing gloves.
Once at the top, we enjoyed exploring the area, seeing mountain goats, lots of people camping at the lakes. The smoke was heavy and we had ash falling down on us, so there was a definite Mordor vibe. Mindful of daylight, we worked our way back to the pass and gingerly worked our way down. We saw nobody else going down, and considering the number of slips and slides, we understood why.
This was a very long day, head lamps at each end and very tired legs.
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