I have always wanted to hike the Enchantments where pristine alpine lakes, towering granite peaks, blazing larches, and abundant wildlife cohere magically. Finally on July 4, 2016, we hit the trail from Stuart Lake Trailhead at 5:50am. The trail is well graded and we did not see a single soul before reaching Colchuck Lake where a group of campers just woke up.
The lake was beautiful and we sat in front the of it for a short break to have breakfast, enjoying the amazing emerald green color and admiring the towering granite peaks. The formidable Aasgard Pass was clearly visible but our brains were fully occupied by the images of the beautiful upper basin.
After skirting the lake for about one hour with lots of photo taking, we began ascending Aasgard Pass with an elevation of 7600 feet. While we did not find it was too difficult to climb the pass, some loose gravel did add a bit of flavor to the hike. My advise is do not follow the well wore trail, step on solid rocks. There was a big snowfield just a few hundred feet below the pass which can be scary if you do not pay attention. I had no issue to cross it with regular running shoes.
Once at the top, we were into a winter wonderland. All the tarns and major lakes in the upper basin are still covered by snow. Isolation lake barely starts to melt with a beautiful blue color. Dragontail Peak towers into the clouds. This is one of those places that even the most beautiful photos cannot do the justice. The feeling is just so surreal.
After taking lots of photos, we were reluctant to descend. The snow was solid to walk on. So no need to follow in other people's footsteps. Starting from Inspiration Lake, almost all lakes start melting and look very beautiful. Unfortunately, it was quite windy. There were ripples and no reflections of the surrounding larches and granite peaks.
There were a few goats followed us for easy salt……
.One mistake we made in this hike was time mismanagement. We knew we had a long way descending from 7600 feet to 1400 feet at Snow Lake Trailhead, we spent way too much time enjoying the beautiful scenery and taking too many photos. We also clearly underestimated the difficulty of the descending which turned out nearly as hard as ascending Aasgard and one section in the shade was very slippery.
By the time we reached Lake Viviane at 6800 feet, it was already approaching 7pm. After that, we did not take any more photos. That did not mean neither Snow Lakes nor Nada Lake was beautiful. They are just in the wrong places next to much more beautiful upper lakes. I felt sorry for them.
It was almost dark when we reached the footbridge crossing above Snow Creek. We put on headlamps to push on. Luckily the trail was not bad at all even with some down trees. When we finally arrived at Snow Lake Trailhead it was after 11pm. We had to drive to Stuart Lake TH to pick up the other car. By the time we were back to the hotel, it was 1am. Our legs felt like rubber but we were all happy we survived the through hike within one day.
