Our long-anticipated trip to The Enchantments began in mid-August with an overnight trip to Leanvenworth, WA and some amazing brats for dinner in town. This was the perfect base for an early start up to Colchuck Lake for our three day adventure that began with the engagement of my youngest daughter at our campsite on the lake. The following day we tackled the intimidating Aasgard Pass to visit the Core Enchantments area and some of the most amazing views in the state.

This was the view from our campsite. The trail shown is roughly the path to the top of Aasgard Pass

The Enchantments lie fully within the Alpine Lakes Wilderness area spanning the North Cascades Range of Washington state. President Ford signed the law protecting this area in 1972 saying, "Anywhere so beautiful should be preserved." That sentiment brought as many as 300 campers to The Enchantments on a single weekend. To regulate the abuse on the land, the US Forest Service started restricting access to The Enchantments to only 60 people at a time in 1981 by awarding overnight permits by lottery. Anyone may apply for a permit in February and find out by March if they won. I was very fortunate to win a permit this year to stay at Colchuck Lake for three days.

Colchuck Lake is fed by Colchuck Glacier. It is clear, cold and beautiful

The Enchantments are divided into five zones. The most popular are Snow and Colchuck which are adjacent to the Core zone at the top. Camping at either Snow or Colchuck require significant effort to visit the Core. For us, that meant climbing the formidable Aasgard Pass. This is a 3/4 mile distance covering 2200 ft in elevation. It can be quite dangerous and several people have died making the climb. This had us all pretty intimidated as we left early on the second day to make the trek before the rising sun reached the pass. As it turned out, the climb was really fun and took us only 2:07 min from the base to the top. We had great weather, light packs and perfect conditions. Large cairns (rock piles) marked the path all the way to the top.

Views of Colchuck Lake from Aasgard Pass can't be beat. We literally stumbled upon this goat resting under a rock on our descent

Once in the Core area you are rewarded with an entirely new ecoregion consisting of several lakes and tarns, each flowing into one-another fed by the melting glaciers on the surrounding cliffs. This time of year the glaciers are small and the lakes are shallow, but there are also NO bugs to speak of. There are also no trees, so shelter from the sun means hiding behind boulders in the shade.

The lakes and tarns in the Core area flow into one another as they make their way to either Snow or Colchuck Lake

A few weeks prior, I traveled to the Middle East and flew directly over this area. Now from the ground I could look up and see others making that same trip. The week before Jan and I traveled to Seattle from eastern Washington along I-90 and could easily see the mountains of the Stuart Range forming the semi-circular boundary of The Enchantments from the south. I knew if I could climb up to the edge I would be able to reverse that perspective as well, so I set my sights on a notch in the cliff and started up.

Looking south just after arriving at the Core. The "Notch" was too tempting to pass up

I wasn't disappointed upon reaching the notch where views opened up to the south revealing Mt Adams and Mt Rainier. I could even make out the I-90 valley winding its way up to the Snoqualmie Pass and wondered who might be looking back.