Introduction
The Enchantments is one of the most beautiful places in Washington. It features high granite spires (that I will one day climb), larches that turn golden in the fall, and lakes that redefine the concept of serenity. Because of this immense beauty, it is also one of the hardest places to get an overnight permit. According to the US Forest Service, 36,827 people applied for the permits, and only 2,528 permits were awarded – less than a 7% chance. My buddies and I have applied for permits for the past 3 seasons to the Core Area with no luck. In 2022, however, we did score some last-minute canceled permits to the Eightmile / Caroline Lake area and had a blast. This year, with the summer in full effect and again, not having any luck with the overnight permits, we decided that we would just do the 23-mile through hike in a day. Now this isn’t a novel idea, if you decide to do this, you will quickly realize what I mean. This is an established and fortified method of seeing this beautiful area, with hundreds of people showing up on the weekends to see the mountain goats and igneous wonders that this place offers. While certainly not easy, my buddies and I – and hundreds of others – were not about to let a permit system keep us from enjoying nature (all while still following the rules).
Trailhead Tribulations
Being corporate backpackers, my friends and I got off work around 4 pm PST and left as soon as we were all packed up. Located near Leavenworth, we had a 4.5-hour drive to the trailhead at Snow Lake. Our original idea was to camp at a site near the trailhead and wake up early enough to drive back over to Snow Lake Trailhead so the shuttle service could pick us up. When we finally reached the trailhead, it was 10 pm and a madhouse. There was one spot left in the main parking lot which we decided not to grab. After seeing the insanity, we decided to park in one of the spots on the road and car camp. We figured that if it was this hard to find a spot now, the morning was going to be far worse. We found a spot and went to bed deciding that only getting 5 hours of sleep was agreeable and we would get up at 4 am – the shuttle was scheduled to pick us up at 5:15 am. We woke up around 4 am, ate, brushed our teeth, and got ready for the day. I had 6 liters of water (2L in Camelbak, and 2 2L water bottles), a ham and cheese sandwich, pb&j, some trail mix, a few cliff bars, and some powdered electrolytes with caffeine to keep me going if my spirits got down. I ended up choosing the shuttle service that had the earliest time available, Leavenworth Shuttle. Despite my concerns about booking online, they turned out to be real and communicated effectively amongst the 5 am chaos with at least 5 other shuttle companies trying to find their clients as well. My only complaint was that the people in the backseat, despite having an extra seat, refused to move over to make room for my friend, so he had to sit on the floor for the 25-minute car ride. With it being so early, he told me that he really didn’t even care, I don’t he was able to process anger that early in the morning. We arrived at the Trailhead for Colchuck Lake at about 5:45 am and began hiking – the parking was was a zoo filled with hundreds of people all about to do the same, like a sort of weird, unorganized race.
The Hike – Start time, 5:47 am
The first leg was a 3.1 mile ~2,000 ft elevation gain hike to Colchuck Lake. It was dark and we started with our headlamps on to guide us. Quickly, the sun began to sprinkle light along our path and we put the headlamps away. We huffed our way to the lake, just trying to escape the myriad of hikers. We hardly took any breaks and made it to the lake in less than an hour and a half. We took a break at the lake to appreciate the beauty around 7:30am. The early morning light, still present, sparkled across the still water and illuminated our next objective, Azgard Pass. Arguably the hard part of the hike, Azgard’s Pass is a sort of barrier to entry to the Core Enchantments area. It’s only a mile but with nearly 1k ft elevation, it’s no joke. We chugged along the loose rock and sparsely marked trail and took a few breaks to catch our breath. My heart was beating rapidly as the air became thinner and my lack of training became apparent. My buddy slipped and cut his knee, but despite the large amount of blood, assured us he was okay. He patched himself up with a first-aid kit and we trekked on. We crossed a creek and continued up the Sisyphean steps. Eventually, we made it to the top and looked down at the lake we were at before. Having exerted a ton of energy, we all paused for a break to snack on our sandwiches and enjoy the view our hard work had provided. My buddy had mango sour patch kids that really hit the spot – we joked that they were healthy since they were fruit-flavored. We were finally in the Core Enchantment Area, a spot so often spoken about but before, had only been seen by us online. It felt like a great accomplishment until reality hit: we still had 13 miles left to go.
The Core Enchantment Area
After making it to the top of Azgard Pass at around 9:30 am, we were greeted with tall granite peaks (Dragontail Peak and Little Anapurna) and beautiful alpine lakes (Isolation Lake, Tranquil Lake, and Lake Reginleif).
The beauty of the core (and the exerting nature of the pass) was breathtaking. Within the first 15 minutes of hiking through the Core, we saw at least 4 mountain goats. I found that I had to keep telling myself to look down so I wouldn’t trip because my eyes kept wandering at the jagged peaks and picturesque surroundings. The Core area really only lasts for about 3 miles so we tried to enjoy it as much as we could, while still remembering that there was much more to go. We saw a lot of parties swimming and loitering about the lakes. We decided we would swim at one of the lower lakes to avoid wasting time and hiking 12 miles in wet clothing. In hindsight, I wish I had brought a change of clothes and enjoyed those lakes a little more.
We took a break at Inspiration Lake where I found inspiration in the bag of my trail mix and watched the fish eat the flies floating on the water. Besides the sporadic breaches, the water was still and calm. After our break, we continued the trek and passed various parties swimming in the cold, alpine lakes. We linked up with a group of guys from Georgia, probably in their early 30s that questioned me about one of the mushrooms I had found. “Can you eat that one?” one guy asked.
I told them I didn’t know and we started chatting about where they were from, etc. Turns out they had seen the Enchantments on some Instagram post and decided it would be the perfect spot for them to all get together and have a guys’ weekend. Nice guys and we exchange some funny banter. A lady passed us going the other way and said, “The best part is almost over.” Quite a statement to tell a group of people enjoying a beautiful hike and wonderful day; but she was right, and we didn’t really know it at the time. We had cruised through the Core without realizing it in about an hour and a half. We stopped one last time at the top of Lake Viviane and scoped out our descent.
The Rest – End Time, 4:35 pm
The rest of the hike was fine. The descent involved sliding on our butts down some rocks and a lot of downhill. We took a few breaks here and there and after maybe a mile, we were on level ground again. We still had about 10 miles left to go and decided to take our real lunch at Upper Snow Lake at around 1:00 pm – making great time. As the water level lowered, stadium seating formed in the mud and offered a perfect spot to eat and swim. While we had planned on swimming here, we ultimately decided to save the swimming for the river at the end of the hike. The notion of not wanting to hike in wet clothes prevailed. I ate my PB&J and the rest of my other sandwich and listened to a live Grateful Dead song. My buddy was anxious to get going and I joked with him saying, “Yeah, sure! Just after this song is done!” The song was 18 minutes long and bought me some much-needed time to rest. The lake was beautiful but hardly comparable to the lakes in the Core.
Eventually, we got going and I saw a bunch of mushrooms along the trail, always a welcomed sight. We hiked through the trees and down to Lower Snow Lake, where we saw our friends from Georgia taking a dip. We told them we decided to not swim and kept going. After Lower Snow Lake, we had nearly 6 grueling miles of switchbacks in the hot sun. We paused here and there to eat some Thimbleberries and drink water, but we were mainly hustling. Not much conversation was had as we powered through the final stretch. As our patience wore thin, we began to resent the trail runners and their good moods passing us. It just kept going on and on until finally, we saw the car from 2 miles out. We continued the descent and eventually made it to the bottom around 4:30 pm. We stopped before crossing the final bridge and washed off in Icicle Creek. Freezing and running fast, the water soothed our muscles as the dirt, sweat, and blood washed away.
Take Aways
Whether it was 18 miles or 21 miles, that was a hard hike; but a little bit of grit and determination go a long way. It took us nearly 12 hours to complete the hike and we were spent by the end, but also got to see one of the most beautiful places in Washington. When I do the hike again, I would still start the same way but the second half of the hike wasn’t all that. I think I would just go up Azgard Pass and back down Azgard Pass – maybe even climb Prusik Peak, who knows? What I absolutely would not do, is go up the Snow Lake way. I can only imagine how grueling that way is going up if we suffered that much going down. In terms of popularity, it makes sense but the sheer number of people on the trail really takes away from the experience. I felt like I was relating to nature rather than connecting with it because I had to share it with so many other hikers. But overall, it was a great trip, we ended up grabbing a nice German meal in Leavenworth and opted to drive home rather than camp and made it back home around 10:30 pm with a Sunday to rest before returning to the corporate ennui.
2 responses to “Core Enchantments Thru-Hike”
Super cool and awesome pic! No permit is getting between you guys and nature
This design is steller! You certainly know how
to keep a reader amused. Between your wit and your videos, I was almost moved to start my
own blog (well, almost…HaHa!) Great job. I really loved what you had to say,
and more than that, how you presented it. Too cool!