Hiking the Enchantments 2010: Start

The Enchantments are series of alpine lakes near Leavenworth, WA. The beauty of the area draws many hikers. I returned with my friend Rex for a third visit.

Rex and the rest of the group started at the trailhead at 7AM on a Sunday morning.

I had to start much later at 3:30PM. Because of the lateness in the year I hiked into the darkness with a headlamp. The trail was easy to follow, and I had all I needed with me, so I wasn't worried. I was surprised, however, to meet two other groups hiking down in the dark.

As soon as I got to camp, we turned in.

Next morning was cold. In fact, it was cold on this hike any time you were not in direct sunshine.

We had camped by the Snow Lakes. The trail in goes across a stone dam that separates them.

However, the Upper Snow Lake had been drawn down to support the steady water needs of the Leavenworth fish hatchery. It was down maybe 50 feet! We hiked along the left side of the lake and up the distant valley.

This is me, part-way up. One of the Snow Lakes is visible between the trees.

We took a break at the first of the Enchantment lakes, Lake Viviane.

Then we continued on up to Inspiration Lake and set up camp. The rocks shielded us from some of the wind.

We had fishermen in our group, and the fishing was good, so we ate fantastic fresh fish that night. In fact we had fresh fish for the next 2 nights as well.