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Winning The Lottery

Three days in the Enchantments

By Adventures Not Vacations

April 27^th, 2017

Getting Lucky

The Enchantments is a protected area in Washington’s Alpine Lakes Wilderness. To stay overnight it requires a special permit obtained via lottery. Thousands of people enter the lottery every year, and a lucky few win a chance to spend the night in this special place. After years of trying, Meghan and I finally won one of the coveted permits. We gathered a group of friends and planned the trip. We would do three days and two nights for the 18 mile thru-hike.

Getting to the core

Most people hike the Enchantments starting at the Lake Stuart trailhead and head towards Colchuck Lake. They'll head up past Colchuck and into the Core Enchantments before heading down to the Snow Lakes trailhead a few miles outside of Leavenworth, WA. Going this direction saves you a couple thousand feet of climbing, but it also takes you over one of the most imposing sections of trail in the country, Aasgard Pass. At 2000' in 3/4 of a mile, it's reputation is well earned.

We stayed in nearby Plain, Washington the night before our hike so we could get an early start. After a pleasant hike to Colchuck lake and a short water break, we started the climb. While this is a common route into the Enchantments, there is almost no trail to be found. Scrambling over boulders and scree, we made our way up the pass.

It took some effort, but eventually, we all made it. My friend Phil and I were the first to the top, joined by a mountain goat and his mom, eager to lick the salt from where we had placed our hands on the rocks. While we waited for the rest, we decided to explore some of the nearby peaks and got some amazing pictures. Our original plan included Dragontail, but the scary snow field was more than we bargained for, not having any traction or ice axes. We bailed before getting too close.

Soon after, the rest of our friends made it to the top. We got some food and headed into the core to find a home for the next two nights.

The Core

As we went further into the core, we passed unnamed tarns (small mountain lakes) and rushing streams of snowmelt. We eventually settled on a site near the banks of Inspiration Lake. It was down out of the wind, with great views of Little Annapurna.

Even after our exhausting first day, I couldn't wait to get up and explore the core. I woke up before everyone and went for a morning stroll to look at Prusik Peak. I hiked right to the base and saw a few climbers making their way to the top. I also managed to find the Gnome Tarn, a small glacial pond with the stunning spires of Prusik Peak framing the background. I marked the location on my GPS so that I could take people back later. It was time to head back to meet up with the group and climb Little Annapurna.

After a hearty breakfast of precooked bacon and pancakes, we started hiking towards the mountain. It's a prominent peak, but along one side it is very mellow and easily climbable. That is where we headed.

Loaded only with small day packs, we were able to move fast and before we knew it, we were at the top. The top is flat with large stepped rock formations making up the true summit. We scrambled to the top and posed for pictures, looking over the steep edge at mountains and volcanoes in the distance.

Our Failed Assault On DragonTail

Despite not having ice axes, Phil and I weren't ready to give up on Dragontail just yet. A guide mentioned an alternate route from the ridge near Little Annapurna. With this information, we headed off while the rest of the group headed back to camp.

We headed across a saddle below Little Annapurna and made our way towards the ridge. As we got closer, there looked to be two possible options. We chose one and made our way. Unfortunately it proved to be too steep and we couldn't safely make it up. With the other way a long distance and climb away we were discouraged.

We had one more option. We decided to make our way back towards the top of Aasgard Pass and the traditional route up to Dragontail. Maybe the route wasn't so bad up close. We headed across the snow towards the Witches Tower, where it looked like we might be able to make our way down to the pass.

At the base of the tower, we were stymied once again. What looked like a relatively mellow pitch on our map was actually a steep section of glacial ice. This time, we called it a day. I did get to see a large (4-5 foot) boulder release from the ice and tumble down the away from the tower. It shattered into pieces as it slammed into one of the walls on the way down. Good thing we didn't decide to go that way.

On our way back to camp, we stopped at a small lake in the snow and jumped in. It was the coldest water I've ever been in.

The long way home

After our long day exploring the core, we headed up to the Gnome Tarn from our campsite to make dinner and watch the sunset on our last night in the Enchantments. We stayed until dark to watch the stars before making the trek back to camp with just our headlamps to guide us.

In the morning, I went off on my own again to explore the core and made my way up above our campsite. It was here that I heard a voice on my walkie talkie. It was our friend Seth. Our group was too large to include him on our camping permit, so he decided to day hike the enchantments on our last day and walk out with us. I told him where we were camped and headed back to meet up with everyone.

After breakfast, we packed up camp and headed out. Our campsite was a bit less than halfway through the trail and we had a long way to go before getting back to our car. At least it was all downhill.

Near the end of the trail, we saw what looked like a large waterfall shooting sideways out of the mountainside just above Nada Lake. As we got closer, we realized it was a pipe. It looked like some sort of dam project, with an amazing amount of pressure coming out of the mountain. It turns out that there is a tunnel bored between Snow Lakes and Nada Lake to get cold water from higher elevations down into Icicle Creek so that the Leavenworth Fish Hatchery can grow salmon.

After a few more miles, we made it back to our cars and went into Leavenworth for some bratwurst and a well earned mug of beer. We may not have become millionaires, but it still felt amazing winning that lottery.