The enchantmentS

July 17-19, 2009

Alan invited Kirsten, Steve, Brooke and I to go backpacking to the Enchantments with him and Kelly. This area is described as the most scenic in the Cascades, and therefore gets a lot of use. Because of that, there is a permit lottery in place. Alan was lucky enough to get a permit this year for the trip. The permit allowed us to camp two nights in the Snow Lakes Zone, so we camped at the far end of Upper Snow Lake both nights. The hike can be done as a loop, so on Friday we hiked in on the Snow Lakes trail and set up camp and swam in the lake. Saturday we took a day hike up into the Enchantment basins and climbed Little Annapurna. On Sunday we packed up and hiked back up through the Enchantment Basins, over Aasgard Pass and out on the Stuart Lake trail.

Steve, Kelly, and Alan setting up their cameras for a group photo at the trail head.	Not a good picture, but here is the bear we saw across the canyon below the Snow Creek Wall shortly after starting the hike.	Kirsten and Steve along Nada Lake.	The big log jam at the outlet of Upper Snow Lake.	Alan, Kelly, and Brooke crossing the dam/bridge between Upper and Lower Snow Lakes.
Me diving into the lake off the rocks by our camp. It was a hot hike up, gaining 4100 ft, so the lake felt really good. That's Brooke in the water.	Steve taking a dive into the lake as well.	Kelly relaxing and checking out her pictures while we made dinner.	Alan is either taking a self portrait, or making sure his lens is clean...	Kirsten relaxing on the couch with her throw blanket. How posh...
After dinner Steve decided to see how well the prototype Thermarest worked as a raft. Not too shabby...	Kirsten watching Steve show off in the lake.	After finding some fishing line and a hook in a tree, Kirsten decided she was determined to catch a fish. A coupe fish showed some interest, but none took the bait. Maybe next time.	There was a little color in the sky at sunset, but not too much.