Hiking the Enchantments 2012: Start

The sudden opportunity came up for me to hike once more to the Enchantments Alpine Lake Wilderness area with a friend that had a permit. (previous times second & third)

Wildfires had been burning in Eastern Washington for some weeks. The Colchuck Lake entrance to the Enchantments had even been closed down because of the fire and smoke. This was our view as we started up the trail so we were worried - until we realized the wind was blowing the smoke away from us.

Our trail.

First we passed Nada Lake. I think it is inappropriately named because it is quite beautiful. It is also in the water supply flow to the Leavenworth fish hatchery.

Nada is fed from the Snow Lakes, but these days by an unnatural method. They tunneled into the mountain and made a bathtub drain in the bottom of the Upper Snow Lake. This feeds a nozzle that shoots into Nada. The roar could be heard for a mile and shoots hundreds of feet down the hill!

We camped at the far side of the Upper Snow Lake.

And fisherman Rex had a blast catching and releasing. The fish were so hungry and plentiful that he got bored and quit after catching nearly 30 fish.

The sunset was smoky. Water from the Enchantment lakes above comes into Snow at this end.