The Enchantments — Monday, Sep. 24, 2018

Plan: Through-hike as a send off to summer and beginning of Larch Madness. Depart Stuart Lake (6:15 AM), end Snow Lake (7 PM).

Road: Road up to Stuart Lake TH is washboarded but passable for all vehicles.

Trail: Hiking in, everything is clear. The typical choose your own adventure up Aasgard was only mildly complicated by a decent amount of ice at various points. Because of the early start time, the sun was not shining on Aasgard by the time we ascended and with temps at that elevation hovering around freezing, the criss-crossing of the streams coming down had some icy rocks all around. No traction necessary, but just some extra care/awareness. Trail through the core was spectacular as always. Watched the NFS cleaning/replacing toilets all day via helicopter. Only one real snow crossing skirting the edge of one of the small lakes after Isolation Lake. The snow bridge is very melted out underneath so hang far to the right when crossing it and don't trust old footprints that show a path center/center-left. Decided against Little Annapurna due to time, but did make the quick scramble up to Gnome Tarn despite a tight schedule. Coming down out of the core was the usual punishing semi-scramble semi-hike. Once in the Snow Lakes zone, there are a few blowdowns across the trail. All are passable over or under, but some could be a bit tricky with a full, multi-day pack. Some muddy sections, especially around Nada Lake and a few sections in the core including the meadow area around Perfection Lake.

N.B. WTA lists this as 18.5 miles, but as many previous trip reports have said, this is inaccurate. Among a group of six, the five of us tracking the hike with GPS came out to about 20.5 or so miles. 

Flora & Fauna: There were only 2-3 other big-ish groups out today (benefits of going on a Monday!!), so it was pretty quiet all day. Had a particularly nice series of interactions with one group, and in particular @thegreatjake1 who ended up as our personal hero on the day, from taking our group pic, to some good jokes, to the realization upon running into his group at the end of the day that he had found and carried a pair of gloves one of our group dropped in the first two miles and was then able to return. I love when the trail community shines so brightly! Spotted two sets of mama goat with kid. One looked pretty wary of our presence, but did not exhibit any aggressive behavior and after some pictures from a safe distance we left them be. The fall colors are spectacular. Larches are in the beginning of the peak, particularly in the Core zone. Along Colchuck, they're a few days to a week out from peak, but up in the Core most are going full bore. The next two weeks ought to be truly spectacular on that front.