JoshK Posted June 17, 2006 Share Posted June 17, 2006 Climb: Enchantment Lakes-Hike Date of Climb: 6/15/2006 Trip Report: I wouldn't normally post a hike report, but people are always asking about enchantment conditions and I wanted to recommend this trip as a way to see the entirety of the enchantments without the pain of overnight permit hassles. I had been wanting to try a loop hike from the Snow Creek trailhead, through the enchantments, and out via assmaster pass and the colchuck lake trailhead. With a "partly cloudy" forecast i did this on Thursday. I started out by caching a bike at the colchuck lake trailhead. The hike was beautiful, as expected, and the snow because quite solid around 6500 feet. Above that the snow pack was still quite significant and I was on snow the rest of the way, until assmaster pass. A freeze overnight left the snow very easy to walk on. The bike ride down was a nice bonus. Very quick and almost entirely downhill. It only takes like 20 minutes to get back to the car. All totaled it is about 16 miles on foot and 8 miles on the bike. I highly recommend this as a fun and interesting training hike. I definitely plan on repeating it when the snow is gone and the larches are yellow. I used tennis shoes the majority of the way on trail and switched to lightweight boots for the higher parts on snow. I could have gotten away with just tennis shoes. Assmaster pass can currently be descended almost entirely on snow. This made for a way more pleasant descent of the pass than is normal. Total time was about 11 hours and this was moving fairly slow. I was consantly stopping as I took ~300 pics and was totally without sleep. This hike could certainly be completely muched faster. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MountaingirlBC Posted June 18, 2006 Share Posted June 18, 2006 thx a lot for this... exactly what I was looking for as we're heading in there on the 30th. Now I have to rethink my camp spot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ivan Posted June 18, 2006 Share Posted June 18, 2006 nice beyotch - sounds as if you'll be in shape for this summer's crazy time! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoroastr Posted June 18, 2006 Share Posted June 18, 2006 Thankx for the conditions report, JoshK; my climbing partner and I have been thinking of repeating on Prusik's W. Ridge--some snow might actually help on the approach. I did your hike a few times b4, but w/o benefit of bike, opting to get the boring road section up to the Colchuck Lk. trailhead done first, then "Assmaster." That way, you get to descend all the way through the Enchantments and the lower lakes and back along the freaking interminable lower section till the burnout. There's a few snaps from one of the trips on my cheesy personal site--click on the "Image Gallery" button...cheers! http://www.pioneernet.net/zoroastr/default.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoshK Posted June 18, 2006 Author Share Posted June 18, 2006 zo, i highly recommend trying the other direction as well. The gentle approach through the ever chaning scenery you get from the snow lakes approach is very nice. After that you drop down and get out real quick via assmaster, which is great. The bike is HIGHLY recommended!! The snow makes things very easy to get up to prusik right now, IMHO. I found travel efficient with only boots. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olyclimber Posted October 9, 2006 Share Posted October 9, 2006 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony_Bentley Posted October 9, 2006 Share Posted October 9, 2006 Huh...I was there on Sunday and went from SL-TH to SC-TH. I wish I had the weather you had. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olyclimber Posted October 10, 2006 Share Posted October 10, 2006 the stumble down assblaster was way cool. i still recommend going that way though, because the bike ride at top speed on the washboards of the road make it all worthwhile. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MisterMo Posted October 11, 2006 Share Posted October 11, 2006 Very cool photos. Make me wanna quit my job & just go do stuff the rest of my days. Taken this year? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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