It was Madolyn's birthday last week, so naturally, we all -- Madolyn's friend Lauren, brother Spencer, and I -- celebrated with a 3-4 day trip through the Enchantments Core.
Starting from the Stuart Lake Trailhead, we passed by Colchuck Lake and Dragontail Peak on our way to Aasgard Pass, the gateway to the Enchantments.
After a grueling, 3 hour, ~1900 feet elevation gain in 3/4 of a mile hike up Aasgard, we were [thankfully] in the Enchantments Core.
We setup camp just off the trail near Isolation Lake, where snow was still plentiful and the water crystal blue.
The next day, we made our way through the beautiful Enchantments basin area to the junction between Perfection and Inspiration Lakes.
After a quick stop between Perfection and Inspiration Lakes, we made our way back through the basin area and summited Little Annapurna (~8460 feet) where we were treated with some of the most classic views of the Enchantments.
Roaming the plateau on top of Little Annapurna had me feeling like I was in Lord of the Rings, scrambling over rock stacks and through alpine meadows.
We then began our way back to the junction between Perfection and Inspiration Lakes, descending Little Annapurna and crossing once again through the Enchantments basin.
We met up with Madolyn's brother Spencer, who hiked out during our summit of Little Annapurna from the Snow Lake Trailhead. After resting for a little while, we setup camp between Perfection and Inspiration Lakes. We explored around our campsite, catching a view of Prusik Peak over Perfection Lake.
After everybody caught sunset and went to bed, I setup my tripod and roamed out around 11:30pm to catch the Milky Way over McClellan Peak.
Around 4:30am, I woke up to catch sunrise from above camp, both of McClellan Peak and Prusik Peak.
Once everybody else had woken up and eaten, we broke camp. We made our way over to Prusik Pass, from which we unloaded our packs and scrambled our way up to Enchantment Peak (~8252 feet).
Thorough the entire trip, especially in the Enchantments Core Zone, there were plenty of mountain goats. They would majestically roam around in the cold, alpine wind, only to stalk you for the salt in your pee when you went to the bathroom. Taking care of business with a family of these goats around you is quite nerve-wracking.
Anyhow, from the plateau on top of Enchantment Peak, we were able to catch a gorgeous, sweeping view of the North Cascades.
Some of the viewpoints would've required some sketchy, unprotected climbing/scrambling, so we held off on pushing for anything higher than we were comfortable with.
After descending back to Prusik Pass, we hung around and rested in the afternoon. As I had plans to go to Jack Johnson at The Gorge Amphitheater on the final day, I broke off from the group around 1pm. I endured an Aasgard Pass descent and whipped by Colchuck Lake on my way to the Stuart Lake Trailhead and out of the Enchantments. The rest of the group continued exploring other peaks in the area, and left towards the Snow Lake Trailhead.
All in all, it was a magical 3 days in the Enchantments. I will be back in larch season at the end of September, whether with an overnight permit or to through-hike as I don't think I'll be able to believe this place can be more magical than it already it.