The Enchantments — Wednesday, Jul. 8, 2009

Central Cascades > Leavenworth Area

Started the hike around 9 AM on Wednesday, July 8th at the Snow Creek trailhead. Weather was warm and skies were partly cloudy. Thimble berries (Red-caps?) are about to ripen in about 1 week. Water depth over the dam between Upper and Lower Snow Lakes was a few inches-- easily crossable with waterproof boots, sandals, or even bare feet. Mosquitoes were present at Nada and the Snow Lakes, but not a big problem. We hiked up to Leprechaun Lake and set up base camp. Had our first encounter with mountain goats and their craving for the salt in urine. Be careful when you are peeing; they will stampede toward you! The Forest Service requests that you pee on the rocks so the goats don't destroy the vegetation while getting to your pee. Temperature got to around freezing for the 2 nights that we stayed in the 'chants. Daytime temps probably hit a high of around 70 degrees. The second day, we dayhiked across the basin to Aasgard Pass. Skies were clear in the morning, but later became partly cloudy. Scrambled to the top of Little Annapurna around noon. No wind and pretty good views, but couldn't see any distant volcanic peaks. The wind started to pick up and a threatening cloud was approaching from the SW when we decided to descend. Rather than climb back down, we slid down the Snow Creek glacier. The snow was soft enough that we could stop sliding pretty easily. Lower Enchantment Lakes are pretty much snow-free. The Upper lakes have a little more snow-- a few snow-covered creek crossings, and the lakes, while still visible, are covered with snow. Thunder could be heard as we approached Inspiration Lake. About every 10 minutes for the next 1-2 hours we would hear some more thunder. A few raindrops fell, but we never had a shower. On the way back, we saw mosquitoes emerging from puddles around Perfection Lake. That evening, more mosquitoes were out, but they were not aggressive. I think there will be a lot more bugs in the next couple of weeks. On the last day, we packed up and hiked back down the Snow Creek trail. Sky was mostly clear and the temperature increased a lot as the day grew and we descended in elevation. Took a dip in Nada Lake to cool off. It was cold but swimable. Not so with Leprechaun Lake at our campsite; I tried to swim in it, but only made it waist deep before getting out. It took about 5 minutes until the pain and numbness wore off and would have been more if my core was chilled too. The hike back seems to go on forever! We went to the Heidelburger for burger and shakes. The thermometer at the restaurant read 90 degrees.