Length: 18.92 mi
Elev. gain: 5795 ft
Time: 12 hrs 35 mins
The hike:
https://www.alltrails.com/explore/recording/the-enchantments-trail-01d8bae
The Enchantments Trail is one of the most beautiful day hikes in the U.S. or maybe even in the world. It’s an 18-mile point-to-point trail near Leavenworth, Washington. To hike this trail, you need to leave your car at the Snow Lakes Trailhead and take a shuttle to the Stuart Lake Trailhead to start the hike.
I was dropped off at the trailhead at 5:41am. It was still dark. But there were already plenty of other hikers on the trail.
The trail was relatively flat at first but soon the ascent started.
There was a huge waterfall along the trail.
After about 2 miles, I came upon a big field of boulders.
After traversing the boulders, I kept climbing.
Finally, after almost 4 miles, the first lake Colchuck Lake came into view.
A few people took a break at the lake to enjoy the view. I hiked on. It was about 2 hours into the hike now.
Soon I came to the most difficult section of the hike. It was a long and steep (grade as much as 77%) uphill climb of boulder fields. There was a lot of route finding and scrambling. I was lost for a bit but fortunately was able to head to the right direction after I saw some other hikers (They were hard to spot among big boulders).
The climb was very strenuous and seemed never to end.
I kept looking back to enjoy the views of Colchuck Lake in the back.
Final ascent. After this, the suffering was finally over!
After almost 5 hours, I finally finished the climb. From now on, the trail would be either flat or going downhill. This is when I ran into some mountain goats, including a mama goat and a baby goat.
After that, it was just one beautiful lake after another and more mountain goats.
Nada Lake was the final lake on the trail.
After Nada Lake, it was another 5 miles to reach the trailhead and complete the hike. It was a long day but the beautiful scenery was extremely rewarding.
My route:
