For a long time I had thought about hiking from the Snow Creek trailhead in Leavenworth up through the Enchantments and down to the Stuart Lake trailhead in a day. The idea is that I would leave a bike on the other end of the eighteen mile tour and then ride down to my car.
The problem?
Oh yeah, there’s one of those.
Fires. Lots and lots of fires. The Stuart Lake Trailhead was closed, so my plan was undermined before it even began. So instead, I decided to do an “Enchantment Tour” in a day. In other words, I hiked approximately 11 miles up to Prusik Pass and then hiked back down to the car in a 12 hour 22 mile round trip.
The following are a series of photos from my day.
It’s hard to see in this photo, but this is Cashmere Mountain, near the Stuart Lake Trailhead at night.
After 11 miles of hiking, I took a half-an-hour break at Prusik Pass before reversing the whole trek.
This trip was only the second time I’ve been into the “core Enchantments.” I’ve been to Colchuck Lake seven or eight times, but only once previously up to the core to climb Prusik Peak. I’d forgotten how beautiful the area is. I’ll be back…probably sooner rather than later…
–Jason D. Martin