Alpine Lakes Wilderness

September 12 - 15 , 2004

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Months of planning finally came together as I boarded a Greyhound Bus in Bellingham bound for Leavenworth. After being chastised by the bus driver who didn't like my packing job or the fact that my pack weighed a good 50lbs, I took my seat and settled in for the 4 hour ride.

You need a permit to stay overnight in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness Area. You can apply in February and I would not recommend waiting any later. We applied in March for this September trip and were not able to get permits for the areas we wanted on the dates we wanted. More info about permits is available from the Leavenworth Ranger Station (509) 548-6977 or on their web site.

Denise met me at the bus stop in Leavenworth at 12:35 and we quickly headed for the trailhead as I had just come through the nasty weather that was headed our way. Denise had picked up our permit at the Ranger Station only to find that they had messed it up. We had requested one night at Snow, one in the Enchantments and one at Colchuck. What they had given us was one at Snow and two at Colchuck but now our permit said 3 nights at Colchuck. There was no way this was going to work so we quickly went over our options on the short drive out along Icicle Road. We decided to hike in from the Stuart/Colchuck trailhead instead of our original plan of going in from the other end. The weather wasn't looking good and we knew we could make it to Colchuck in a couple of hours. And besides, our permit said we had to camp there anyway.

Unfortunately neither of us had a watch so I'm not going to be able to be too specific on the times as the only time I checked the time was when I dug my cel phone out of my pack. I estimate that it probably took us 2.5 hours to hike to our camp site at the far end of Colchuck Lake. Most of the trial is moderate with some steeper sections just before the lake. The trail along the lake was a little difficult to following a couple of places but not too bad.

We passed a group of people in running shoes with no packs who were searching for a couple of missing hikers. I hoped that the hikers had been better prepared than their search party. By the time we got to camp, The helicopter was out searching. I don't know if they found them or not.

We had a good view of Aasgard Pass from our camp site. Aasgard Pass (also affectionately known as AssGuard & AssWipe Pass) is a very steep, 2000ft climb up through the only 'break' in the mountains between Colchuck lake & the Upper Enchantments Basin.

By the time we finished dinner, the sky had (very surprisingly!) cleared. We lay out on a flat rock by the lake and looked at the stars. We went to bed hoping that Mother Nature had had a change of heart & looked forward to sunny skies in the morning.

Mother Nature was messing with us. It was dark & overcast in the morning & we scrambled to pack up before the rain started. There isn't much of a trail around the end of the lake but the route is well marked with cairns. We scrambled over boulders to the base of Aasgard Pass. We decided to break it down into smaller, more manageable sections and made our first goal the clump of trees about a quarter of the way up.

Denise and I hike at different speeds so I took off and told her I'd see her at the trees. The views of the lake & the surrounding peaks were nice but the clouds were moving in quickly and by the time I got to the trees the first flakes of snow were starting to fall. I scrambled over to a waterfall to refill my water, then sat down to wait for Denise.

It was too cold to sit around for long so we were soon on our way again. I kept Denise in sight the rest of the way up. I really didn't find it as bad as I was expecting. Aasgard Pass has a bad reputation but I was pleasantly surprised. Even with a very heavy pack, it was manageable. The really steep parts that required scrambling weren't much fun but it's well marked & I could probably have done it in less than 3 hours on my own, with a pack. Can be done is less than 2 without a pack.

The weather was deteriorating quickly & the wind was extremely cold & blowing hard. Snow was accumulating on the ground as we finally made it to the top of the pass. Visibility was terrible & we immediately began searching for a sheltered place to camp. It was about 2:30 when we found a spot. I set up the tent while Denise went for water. We gobbled up as much food as we could stuff in our faces and crawled into the tent with our tea where we would remain for the next 17 hours.

I don't know how people who get stuck in their tents for days & weeks on end do it. I was bored out of my mind. I was wearing ALL my clothes so I finally warmed up but every time there was a big gust of wind, it would 'snow' in the tent as all the frost was shaken loose. I was happy to see that my sleeping bag stayed dry inside because everything was pretty wet by morning.

The sun started to peek through around 8:30 so we got up. There were a few patches of blue but the sky was mostly filled with big dark gray clouds. It wasn't looking good. We made breakfast and were surprised to see the blue patches getting larger & before long things were looking up! I was very anxious to get going so we could climb Dragontail before the nasty weather came back but I realized that it would probably be smart to pack up while it was relatively dry. The wind was still blowing hard so we took advantage of it & let the tent & sleeping bags dry out. By the time we'd finished breakfast & had a preliminary look around, everything was pretty dry. We hastily packed up and headed for Dragontail.

Denise decided to stay back & I foolishly decided to try a shortcut in order to get up and back as quickly as possible. It quickly became obvious that I wasn't going to make it up my chosen route without getting extremely wet as there were waterfalls everywhere among the rocks I was climbing. The lower part of the glacier was pretty heavily crevassed and the upper part was steep. With all the new snow we'd had last night, it wasn't looking good. I realized that I would probably have to go back down and around a different way & still have to brave the upper glacier. This didn't seem like a good idea given the fact that I was alone and Denise was waiting for me so I sadly turned back.

The sun was still shining & it was absolutely beautiful. The lakes were sparkling like emeralds and the fresh snow covered the ground & clung to the surrounding peaks. Denise was still tired so I decided to hurry over to Little Annapurna so I could at least get one peak under my belt. It's pretty easy going once you're in the basin. I was going to stop for lunch but as soon as I'd found a spot & taken off my pack I realized that the bad weather was returning so I pressed on. Found a place to leave my pack at the base of Little Annapurna and started figuring out what I would need to take and what I could leave behind. I bundled up my pack with the rain cover in case I didn't make it back before the snow started. But when I stood up, I was blasted with such a strong gust of wind that I was nearly knocked right off my feet. The weather had deteriorated in the 10 minutes I'd been messing around and it was pretty apparent that today was not a good day to climb anything, especially alone. I was SO frustrated but not enough to risk my life.

I met up with Denise again on the trail and we decided to descend down to Snow Lake. The trail through the Enchantment Basin is truly delightful. There's always something to look at. Lake after lake after lake... all connected by beautiful streams and waterfalls. I'm sure there were probably some beautiful wild flowers earlier in the year but now it was mostly just rocks & snow.

We passed lots of wonderful campsites on the way down & I was busy planning a return trip next year. This year was not going too well but it was a good opportunity to scope out the area and figure out what I would do differently next time.

I waited for Denise high above Lake Vivian then we made our way down the steep cliffs down to the lake. We had about another 2 hours to go before we'd make it down to Snow Lake and it was already 5:30. It was raining now that we had dropped down enough for it to warm up a bit. We decided to camp at Vivian since there was nowhere to camp between Vivian & Snow and there was a reasonably good chance we weren't going to make it down to Snow that night.

Much to our surprise, the rain let up long enough for us to make & enjoy dinner. Mountain House Pasta Primavera with a packet of Albacore Tuna is my favorite trail food. The big chunks of veggies are SO yummy & it really fills you up. We tried to eat as much of our food as we could as neither of us much fancied carrying it down the 6000 feet we had to descend the next day.

It rained on and off all night and was absolutely pouring by morning. We didn't bother with cooking breakfast or making tea. Denise set off ahead of me as I knew I'd catch up with her anyway. I tried to take down the tent as quickly as I could so it didn't get even wetter but you know how that goes..... more haste, less speed. By the time I was done both the tent and I were thoroughly soaked. Note to self: Do not attempt to shake out the fly when you are downwind in a wind tunnel.

The trial down to Snow is made up of several steep rocky bluffs & forest. The rain didn't let up until I made it down to Snow Lake. The bridge was washed out so there was a bit of a tricky crossing over a log jam at the mouth of the raging river. We filtered some water out of the river & had a short rest before continuing down. We hadn't been filtering the water in the Upper Enchantments basin because it was too bloody cold & we decided to take our chances with the water critters but down here I wasn't feeling as brave.

There are some nice campsites along upper Snow Lake with beach access. I imagine it might be quite pleasant there on a nice summer day. The trail goes around the south side of the big lake and then over a dam between the upper & lower lakes. The trail is forested below Lake Vivian, all the way down. Nada Lake came into view fairly quickly & I marveled at a waterfall as I waited for Denise to catch up. She was pretty tired so when she emerged from the trees I took out her food, clothes, sleeping bag, camera, sleeping pad & anything else that seemed heavy & jammed it all into and onto my pack.

The trail was pretty straightforward from this point on but it's pretty unpleasant. After Nada Lake, you emerge into a burned out forest which you switchback through for about 6 miles. It's ugly, it's downhill the whole way... I hated every second of it. My pack was ridiculously heavy and my knees were killing me but I was NOT stopping. Fortunately I had Advil & Tylenol with Codeine in the outside pocked of my pack where I could easily reach it.

I would not recommend this section of trail to anyone who can manage Aasgard Pass. It's truly miserable. It seems never ending & has no redeeming value. I will never hike it again. I would MUCH rather come in via Aasgard and return the same way.

I was very happy to find that I had cel phone reception about 30 minutes from the parking lot so I called Mark who was already in Leavenworth. I'd booked a hotel room for the night & he had come down to meet me. He pulled into the parking lot at the trailhead just as I was dropping my pack.

Soaking wet, smelly & exhausted, I crawled into the truck & made the mistake of taking off my boots. Thank God for antibacterial wipes. Denise made it out 45 minutes later and we headed back to civilization.

All in all, not the best trip ever but I will absolutely return and do it differently next year. Oh yeah.... I don't know if it was the water but my stomach has been upset for the past 3 days since I got back so I don't think I'll take that chance again.

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