The Enchantments

I joined a group of friends to hike The Enchantments thru-hike in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness near Leavenworth. When a friend said she wanted to hike it and asked if anyone wanted to join her I immediately knew I wanted to. On Wednesday I went up to Leavenworth with a group of girls. We stopped in Wenatchee to pick one girl up and then we had dinner at a small Thai restaurant. I didn't want something too heavy before our morning of the hike and what I ordered was perfect. Full of veggies and seasoned well. We rented two condos to accommodate all of us. We went to bed early knowing we'd be up before dark the next morning. 

Thursday morning we were up by 4, dark and early! We were ready to embark!

Heather, Lyndee, Cameron, Kimberly, Lon, Jen, Shane, Carly

me, Amy, Tineal

Our first destination was up to Colchuck Lake. We had fun walking in the dark led by headlamps, talking and enjoying the hike. 

Sun's coming up!

Heather, Carly, me, Lyndee

Stopped at the first clearing for a view. 

Colchuck Lake. Can't get over that clear reflection. The lake looks so pure.

An invigorating hike, a great view. Just made me more excited to continue on up through the Enchantments.

Pic of the crew before we go our separate ways. Heather, Amy, Tineal, Shane, and Jen (begrudgingly. She could not keep up with us and had to be convinced by Lon and Shane she needed to go back because she wouldn't be able to get through the entire hike before dark.) went back to the trailhead. They weren't hiking the thru-hike. 

Amy, Lyndee, and me. Fun hiking with friends. 

After hiking around Colchuck and bouldering over the boulder field we made it to the base of Asgard Pass. Thor's challenge we called it. It's almost straight up and all rocks and boulders. There's no marked path. You just scale your way over rocks and boulders, finding the path that works best for you. It was challenging but I really enjoyed it! I just kept making my way up. I thought Cameron was ahead of me but before I knew it I looked back and saw that he was a long ways down from me. I was nicknamed mountain goat and told to slow down. haha. 

Part way up the pass and looking back at Colchuck. 

A little further up Asgard pass. The Lake is slowly looking smaller. 

and smaller

and smaller

A little waterfall going down the pass. It looks like I'm almost to the top! But looks are deceiving. It still took a bit of time to get up there. 

Just before we summited we came across a mountain goat and her calf coming down. They were so close we could have touched them. 

Cameron, me, and Lyndee were the first ones to make it to the top. It took us an hour and 45 minutes to get to hike Asgard. Granted we did stop a few times to rest and take in the views around us. We turned around and saw the descent down into the core of the Enchantments. So many beautiful teal blue lakes. 

Cairns were all over for us to follow. There were a few moments when we had to stop and literally look around for them. Grateful for markers to lead the way. 

After the others got to the top we stopped to eat our lunch. Lon was the last to catch up to us because he had to convince his cousin Jen to turn back. But on his way to us he met a girl named Ashley who was hiking all by herself. She was just going to hike to Asgard and back but he invited her to join us to hike the entire thing and she did! 

After lunch it was nice to have the flatter ground to be able to hike across after we had the long uphill. 

Blue skies, blue waters, warm temps. I loved it!

The water in every lake was so clear. 

So many different types of terrain that we crossed. 

Walking along a rock ledge- things like this make the hike fun. I like it to be a little challenging and exciting. 

The wilderness. There was no trail that could be seen. Just cairns occasionally leading the way. It really did feel like an untouched place in the world even though people hike it all the time. 

Steep slopes.

We saw another mountain goat and her calf resting in the shade.

I loved hearing the streams and waterfalls we'd come across. 

Crossing over a stream

Lyndee, Cameron, Ashley (our new crew member), Carly, Kimberly, Lon

So much beauty. It was so breathtaking. 

Everywhere you looked. 

Lyndee, me, Cameron, Ashley

Working our way into the descent now. 

More rivers on the way down. This one was so pretty and had the best sound. 

Lon, Kimberly, me, Ashley, Lyndee, Cameron, Carly

We were excited to reach the end! The last 5 miles or so we ran or speed walked just wanting to get to the end. There was less to see and just a dusty trail of switchbacks to the end. 

We finished in good time. We hiked just over 20 miles in 12 hours and 45 minutes, making sure to stop for lunch, breaks to filter and refill water, and even dipping our feet in some water. 

It was a 5,000ft elevation gain and 7,000ft descent. Something I didn't know I wanted to do until the opportunity arose. Such an incredible experience with an incredible group. 

I was pleased with how well my body handled such a hike. I thought for sure I would be super sore afterwards but I wasn't. My calves were pretty sore but that was about it. And by Saturday they felt fine. I thought I'd wake up Friday morning being stiff and sore but it was very mild soreness. (I'm usually more sore after a good workout in the gym.) Unlike Lyndee and Cameron. Hahaha! They were so sore Thursday night that they could hardly walk down the stairs in the restaurant after dinner. It gave us a good laugh. 

I would say the hike was totally worth it. This world God created is amazing. So beautiful and I feel so blessed to have been able to see all that I did and have the strength to have been able to attempt and accomplish such a hike.