The Enchantments — Friday, Aug. 19, 2022

-it’s 20miles, not 18 (verified twice)

-Aasgard sucks major balls, argue with me I dare you

-start early

-bring layers

-allow plenty of time for pictures, as this place is absolutely stunning

The nitty gritty:

This is my second time doing the enchantments, thru-hiked both times. I did it last October with 2 friends who are no longer my friends so wanted a redo. I learned from some mistakes last time and this time the planning and execution was much better.

We started at 430 at the Stuart lake trail head (we did see some people hiking in through Snow lakes — if you did, I would love to understand why you chose this brutal approach!).

I divide this hike mentally into 4 sections — Colchuck, Aasgard, The core enchantments, and the Descent.

The beginning to Colchuck Is quite easy and pleasant. We arrived at Colchuck a little after sunrise and it was beautiful. 

And then the pain beings …

Oh Aasgard. Aasgard is like child birth — it is horrendously painful when ou do it, but as soon as you see the fruits of your labor you immediately have amnesia and forget about it. It’s true. Aasgard just sucks there’s no way around it. I had a legit meltdown half way up — I have not hiked since I did this hike in October and after 2 rounds of covid I was HURTING. But, mind over matter and David Goggins quotes got me through (as well as a mountain goat!) and then the fun began. But for real — do not underestimate this portion. It is HARD and a little scary at times. It started to rain a little and got very slick and I had some close calls. Just take your time, be patient and stay positive and it’ll pay off.

And now the best portion — the core enchantments. No words to describe the beauty of this place. It is like walking on another planet. In terms of difficulty, this portion is very easy technically which is great because you will be distracted by the beauty. I was worried after seeing the larches in full glory this portion would be boring in the summer but it was far from it. 

I highly recommend taking a dip in at least one of the lakes. We decided on Perfection Lake and it did NOT disappoint. It was frigid but at 10 miles in, it was the perfect halfway point and rest stop to rejuvenated our tired joints. I really truly believe this helped my recovery the next day.

And then, the descent. 

After snow lakes, as WTA says, it is truly a mind over matter slog. I was mentally and physically done at Snow Lakes, but surprise! We still have 6 miles left! The one good thing about this is that in the summer you have lots of daylight so we were hiking back in the pristine pre-sunset glare so it at least made the views pretty. But again, there is no way to circumvent the pain. It is endless, descent after descent of switchbacks upon switchbacks. The is when your hiking buddy can make or break it for you, as it broke it for me my last time. This time, not so much. We talked we commiserated, I ate thimbleberries. 

Finally after an endless slog we made it at the perfect time back to snow lake trail head, right at sunset. 

Absolutely worth every bit of the pain!

Points to note:

-know your limits. I started early because I am a slow hiker not cuz I am out of shape but because I like to stop a lot and admire the beauty 

Food: this really made. Huge difference this time. Last year I brought a lot of snacks and not enough “real food.” Having a real meal after Aasgard was absolutely wonderful and I think really made a difference in my energy and recovery.

-Water: plentiful water sources of course so you can save weight and bring water filters. I will say the downside of that is that it took a lot of time to pump water into our bottles so if you want to save time and don’t care about the extra weight, bring a lot of water. I drank 4-5 liters and ran out towards the end (we didn’t want to stop) so make sure you bring plenty

-layers. Bring layers. Even in the summer. I need up wearing all ny layers (pants, windbreaker, etc) and also ended up in only shorts and a tank top. Weather can change quickly especially on Aasgard so be preapred

-Swimming! Highly recommend taking a dip in one of the frigid lakes. It  felt amazing on the body and joints after the relentless ascent on Aasgard

-Mountain goats: They were aplenty! Which was so fun. I was really surprised at their total indifference to humans — not scared nor curious (for the most part) just completely ignored us. Follow WTA guidelines on hiking in their territory and try to use the toilets along the way since they like human urine.

-bugs: previous trip reports said bugs were awful. I didn’t find them that bad (but maybe it’s because I’ve been in the south). I sprayed myself once with bug spray before we started and was fine the entire time

This hike will never get old and I already plan on doing it again!

Also, I felt badass finising this hike and then at the Snow Lakes trail head we ran into a guy who had started at Snow Lakes TH at 0600, ran all the way up and through to Colchuck TH, and then back to Snow Lakes TH … in less time than we had hikes OMG! So 40 miles in 14 hours. Yeah … 

Our Gaia stats:

-Up at 0300

-Start at 0430

-Finish: 802pm

-Moving time: 12h 50m

-stop time: 2h 47m

-loding: Fox Den bed and breakfast (highly recommend)

I took tons of pics, feel free to check them out on my instagram:

@rhabdorizzo