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Stories: Hiking the Enchantments; Published in a similar form in Northwest Travel

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HIKING THE ENCHANTMENTS
Story and photos by Mike Matson

This is a new experience, I'm thinking sarcastically to myself, punching another hole into the snow with my thin leather rock climbing slippers. I plant my fingers in the snow spread out like claws in an effort to gain some security on the slippery, steep slope and try not to think about the fact that I can’t feel my freezing toes. I don’t even want to know what my climbing partner and girlfriend Sonja, who is a few steps behind me, is thinking. I do know it can’t be good. There’s only another fifty yards of this and we’ll be back on solid ground where our backpacks and shoes await. But after a full day in cramped shoes, climbing an airy and exposed alpine rock route above the Enchantment Lakes Basin, a sense of desperation is creeping rapidly into the back of my mind. We continue putting one foot carefully in front of the other and in five long minutes we reach the end of the snowfield. Jeff, Sonja’s father and our unofficial guide is waiting with our hiking boots. Taking off my climbing shoes has never felt so good!

With the danger past, the three of us are all smiles as we retrace our steps down the lower part of the ridge and take a moment to enjoy the soft evening light warming Prusik Peak, the lichen speckled spire we’ve just climbed. We have completed the West Ridge, a classic Northwest climb first established by local climbing legend Fred Beckey in May of 1957. The climb lived up to its lofty reputation, providing moderate, yet stimulating climbing on immaculate alpine granite in a mind-blowing setting!

We follow the trail downward in the waning evening light as it snakes past Inspiration, Perfection, Spirit, and finally Leprechaun Lake, to the camp we established the night before. Our two tents are pitched on the east shore of Leprechaun in the shadow of Prusik, amongst granite boulders and patches of weather stunted tamarack trees, the alpine larch known for its autumn display of brilliant golden needles. We devour a quick dinner before triumphantly collapsing into our sleeping bags and enjoying deep, exhausted sleep.

With Prusik Peak in the bag, we focus our attention on the real reason we’re here: backpacking the Enchantments Loop trail. The trail snakes through 18 miles of some of the most ruggedly beautiful terrain Washington State has to offer. So popular with backpackers a strictly enforced permit system has been established to limit the impact of users, the Enchantments has become one of the most coveted backcountry treks in the Northwest. Flexible and lucky enough to score a permit, we’ve come to sample this spectacle of pristine meadows, sparkling alpine lakes and glacier polished rock.

The next day is a rest day, meaning we’ll hike just a few miles. In the morning we spread out on the trail, each of us finding our own pace, moving slowly through the lower basin, past icy cold waterfalls and an endless series of rock cairns, the small stacks of stone marking the trail where it crosses the smooth granite. This is our time for reflection and for absorbing the scenery. The sun is shinning under cloudless blue skies and I can’t keep my camera in my pack because everything here is worth a picture. Slowing down makes me wish we had more time on our permit to explore the endless hidden wonders I am undoubtedly missing as I wander past. I find myself imaging this place before it had become Washington’s backpacking Mecca. Before the trails were established, the peaks had been climbed and the glaciers had melted away.

Although the Enchantments Basin was first discovered and named in 1908 by A.H. Sylvester, it was the Leavenworth couple Bill and Peg Stark who truly exposed this place to the outside world. Starting in 1959 the Starks made annual trips into the basin giving names inspired by Scandinavian legends to many of the features in the basin. Names like Gnome Tarn, Dwarves Tower, and the High Priest evoke images of mystery and discovery. With each step I gain more insight into the excitement and awe these pioneers must have felt in those early years. I wish for their perspective, but content myself with the present, knowing this is still a place only a handful of people get to experience each year.

As we climb higher in the basin each successive lake is more frozen than the previous one. The landscape is barren and devoid of trees, becoming an abstract patchwork of rock and snow with ribbons of running water. At 8,000 feet spring thaw has just reached the Upper Enchantments in this first week of July.

The third night we pitch our tents at a crossroads, a site perched between two seemingly different worlds. Behind us to the north are ten rugged miles of trail, a beautiful wilderness, and one of the best rock climbs of our collective lives. Above, beckons the Lost World Plateau, a cold and barren landscape so recently released from the icy grip of the Snow Creek Glaciers not even the hearty alpine larch trees have established themselves in the sandy soil. The ice-choked waters of Tranquil and Isolation Lakes fill the valley floor. Rising early to overcast skies my mind is filled with mixed emotions on the last day of our trip. Breaking camp and moving quickly to stay warm, the three of us quietly make good time over the plateau. Promises are made to return with more time to climb peaks here: the gentle beckoning Little Annapurna, and the fearsome Dragontail, because this is the only way we can let ourselves leave.

Sad to leave such a beautiful and otherworldly setting, yet happy to rest our aching bodies, we pick our way down Aasgard Pass. The trail drops 2,200 feet in less than a mile. We pass two hikers near the top of the pass moving fast with light packs, avoiding the permit system by racing the 18 mile loop in a single day push. Imagining the challenge that lies ahead of them, I’m happy to be in the slow lane with time to savor what is around us. Even so, I know it has already passed too quickly.

More on hiking and climbing in the Enchantments...