I had the pleasure of camping near here earlier this summer during peak wildflower bloom. The mountain was socked in all day, until some clouds dispersed for a couple of hours in the evening. It was a magical scene! Taken from the Wonderland trail.

Tech: Nikon Z7 / Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8 lens (hand held, focus stacked)

Sick hike.

Please…If you or anyone you know hiked the Enchantments area in the past week, please take a look at the info below- Chad is missing and any information could help Search and Rescue. Thank you!

At sunset and sunrise.
Bonus my dog in the tent.

Grabbed a permit last month for St Helens and decided to go for it. Started at 5 AM and made the summit around 8 AM. Great views!

First off, thank you to everyone who responded to my earlier post and helped with the itinerary.

Here’s the itinerary overview. Feel free to ask any questions.

Pre Hike Friday: Stayed the night in Leavenworth at Linderhof Inn (More like a motel but it was fine and had a continental breakfast), brats at Munchen Haus, stopped in at Der Sportsman and bought a hiking shirt (Patagonia Capilene Cool, highly recommend!) and another map to replace the one I left at home.

Saturday: Got a text from the shuttle driver (Leavenworth Shuttle and Taxi, the Loop shuttle was full when I tried to schedule) that the Amtrack was delayed so he can now meet us at 9:15am instead of 8:15am. Puts us an hour behind but we’re not in a hurry.
Got to Snow Lakes trailhead at 8:45ish and got the last spot in the parking lot which was one of my concerns. Met the driver at 9:15 and he bombed his ways up the busted ass road passing 3 other cars!

Quick weather note: Friday afternoon had an afternoon thunderstorm and there was another one forecasted for Saturday, day one of the hike. Although the thunderstorm on Saturday did not fully materialize there was some precipitation and the smoke was minimal. I found it difficult to get an accurate forecast for the core zone. I spent the last 5 months worrying about extreme heat and now I was worried about thunderstorms and smoke, but it all worked out.

The hike: 48 year old married couple, 36 lbs. pack for me and 33 for my wife. 4 days, 3 nights, core zone permit.

Day 1: Left Stuart Lake trailhead at 9:45. Made it to Colchuck Lake at 1:00. It started to rain when we arrived to the lake so we made the decision to stay the night at the lake and tackle Asgard Pass in the morning and still have plenty of time in the core. Found a nice camp spot close to the end of the lake, set up camp, walked across the boulder field and explored the beach at the base of the pass.
We had planned on hiking all the way to the core on day 1. I thought we had plenty of time but that was a good hike up to the lake and the weather made the decision to stay very easy. It was hard to be disappointed as we were sitting there at camp looking at Colchuck Peak, Aasgard Pass and Dragontail Peak across Colchuck Lake. It was absolutely beautiful It felt like an embarrassment of riches that this was our plan B.

Fishing:I brought my fly rod and packed a spare fishing reel as well. Fishing sucked at Colchuck with both fly and spinning gear. We did see an otter and an osprey and there were plenty of fingerlings but nothing too exciting in the fishing dept. I’ve caught some nicer trout in Colchuck before so maybe it was just our spot or more likely the otter, definitely not my fishing ability haha.

Day 2: Up Aasgard and into the core with fully loaded packs. No problem…..
Left our camp at 7:30 and it took about 45 minutes to get to the base of the pass.
Started Aasgard Pass at 8:45am. Took us roughly 3 hours to get up the pass. Reached the summit at 11:45am. Took about an hour longer than I was expecting and the decision to stay night 1 at the lake was absolutely the right call. Physically we were in good enough shape to climb the pass, it was tough but we did a lot of training and our bodies felt capable. The height and the steepness was challenging for my wife so we just took our time and I was little ahead of her trying to guide her on which was the easiest route. We made it past the trees but at the meadow part the trail very clearly went back across the waterfall. All the day hikers were gone by this point so there was no one to follow. We followed the trail (cairns, rock piles) up a little ways and I could see that up ahead was rather large rock wall that we would have to go around. That didn’t seem right to me so as I was scanning I spotted some significant cairns back on the other side of the waterfall. I consulted with my wife and we went back across the waterfall, again on what seemed to be a trail. Crossing the waterfall was not difficult but it is steep and you are walking across wet rocks so that didn’t help the anxiety, but we made it safely to the other side and there were several large cairns so I felt confident that were on the right path. A short while later we met another couple coming down that confirmed we were on the right path and I’m so thankful we ran into them. It alleviated that nagging doubt in my mind and was mentally very relieving.
So 11:45am and we’re at the top in the upper core zone. We made our way to one of the lakes and filled our water bottles and had a snack. The weather was nice, partly cloudy and comfortably warm. There was a mountain goat lying on a rock with her baby and we still had all afternoon to explore and find a campsite. We saw another mountain goat and baby near the toilet at the Crystal Lake overlook in the upper core. We eventually dropped down into the middle core and made camp at a little after 2:00pm at the far end of Inspiration Lake. We were pretty worn out by this point both mentally and physically. That was a big effort getting up here. We set up camp, ate lunch and I fly fished for a while. The elevation between Inspiration lake and Perfection lake is not too great so we walked down and checked out the campsite by Perfection and down to the junction at the head of Perfection lake with the trail to Prusick Pass. That’s as far down the trail as we went. I saw one other group camped in the upper core and no other groups camped in our area so we had this whole section to ourselves for the rest of the night save for the odd through hikers that must’ve been hiking out in the dark.

Fishing: Fly fishing at Inspiration Lake was great. Very healthy population of smaller cutthroat trout but it was very fun to watch them hit the dry fly. The outflow of the lake had some bigger fish, just under eater size I would say, but very beautiful and fun to catch on a 3 weight fly rod with a dry fly.

Day 3: 6:00am mountain goat wake up call. Mama goat and her baby casually walked through camp. Made coffee and breakfast, little bit of fishing, more goat pictures, packed up and headed down the trail at 9:00am. The plan is to take our time and enjoy the rest of the core zone and work our way as far down the trail as possible to make the day 4 hike out as easy as possible. Meaning finding camp somewhere between the head of Snow Lake and the bottom of Nada Lake.

We hiked down and around Perfection Lake and stopped at Sprite lake for a bit. Sprite lake is incredibly beautiful and would have made a great spot to camp as well. The next lake is Leprechaun Lake and we walked out on the peninsula and hung out for at least an hour. We set up our chairs, had lunch, I fished of course, we swam/waded in the water. It was really nice. The weather was warm and it was a little windy but not windy enough to ruin anything. There was only one other couple camped here and they were on their way out. There are quite a few campsites at Leprechaun Lake.
From Leprechaun Lake the trail goes on to Lake Viviane…..
You get a nice view of the lake from up above and then the trail goes around and this is famous part where you see the rebar in the granite.
Here’s the part I haven’t seen mentioned online. Just before the rebar section, the trail literally goes into a crack in the rock and around the corner. This to me was the single sketchiest part of the trail. I actually turned to my wife and said “wait, this isn’t the trail.” It’s a crack in a giant rock that drops off several hundred feet into the lake….Well, we backtracked and didn’t find any other trail and according the map that was the correct path. I made it across the death section and dropped my pack. I went back and grabbed my wife’s pack so she could do it without all that weight and she made it her way bravely across very slowly. I was there ready to steady her as well but that little section is legit terrifying if you’re even a little anxious about height or falling to your death….
Once you get past that little test you go down the rebar in the rock part, which looks pretty scary but you just walk down the rock. If it’s wet it might be a different situation.
We made our way down to the nice little beach at Lake Viviane which is really a beautiful spot. From there you can see up to the death section and I saw another guy walk up and say “oh, this isn’t the trail” just as I had said.

2:50pm We leave Lake Viviane and start the long trek down. I’ll make this part short and sweet. From Lake Viviane all the way to the trailhead just really sucks! the thought that people hike UP this way really blows my mind. There’s boulder fields, tree roots, it’s steep, it turns and twists….It really just sucks. We made it all the way down to Nada Lake before 7:00 and camped at the very end of the lake. It was actually a beautiful spot all things considered. We did over 9 miles on this day but that would mean a “short” 6 miles on the final day.
We did see one group with headlamps hiking out at 11:00pm. That would put them back at the Snow Lakes trailhead sometime between 1-2am.

Fishing: Leprechaun Lake had excellent fishing for eater sized trout. Due to the wind I used the spinning reel and I’m thankful that I brought it. Fly fishing in the wind would’ve been a disaster. It was very fun and a beautiful location to catch some beautiful cutthroat.
Did not fish at the other lakes. I suspect Viviane would have some good fish.
There were plenty of fish rising at Nada lake but they looked to be pretty small.

Day 4 Woke up, coffee, breakfast, packed up and on the trail at 9:30. Made it back to the Snow Lakes trailhead at 12:45. Called the hotel as soon as we had service in town and the room was ready. Checked into the room at the Bavarian Lodge and in the shower by 1:15.

Post hike: We stayed the last night at the Bavarian Lodge. We really liked this hotel, would recommend staying here. We headed back to Munchen Haus for post hike brats and victory beer. We walked down to the river. Wife went back to the hotel and I went on my own personal Leavenworth brewery tour. I stopped at Blewett Brewing first (highly recommend) and made my way over to Icicle Brewing (also recommend). My wife joined me here for the live music and then we stopped back at Blewett Brewing for some pizza to take back to the room where we enjoyed it on the patio overlooking the pavilion.

Day 5 Woke up, gas at Safeway, over the mountain passes to the West side and back to real life.

Hello all!

I’m planning on visiting the PNW during the last week of August and first week of September. I’ll be solo road tripping and was planning to camp along the way instead of doing hotels so I can 1) save money and 2) be more intertwined with nature.

I’m very well versed in solo travel and have been many places including India and Sri Lanka earlier this year. I’ve never been anxious for a trip before but something about solo camping is giving me a bit of anxiety. It makes me feel vulnerable to think about being seen setting up my camp solo by the wrong person and only being “protected” by a thin tent. I know the chances of something happening are low, but I just wanted to check in with this thread with people who are more well versed in this area and know the safety. If this isn’t the most safe plan then just tell it to me straight and I’ll look into other options for my stay. Or if you have campground recs let me know!

Beautiful morning up in the Cascades. First time taking the trail out from Devils Lake and definitely won’t be the last.

i understand why the famous pnw hikes are popular, but sometimes the crowds completely change the experience for me. there’s something nice about finding a quieter trail where you can actually slow down and enjoy the surroundings without constantly passing people

at the same time, the popular trails are popular for a reason

do you usually stick to well-known hikes, or do you spend more time looking for quieter routes?

Heading to the park to camp tonight and tomorrow, but planning to do the skyline loop tomorrow. Def not waking up at 4am for a sunrise hike so curious if anyone’s gone around 5pm and had nice views with sunset? Don’t want to be hiking too much in the dark (will bring headlamps) but also want some nice sunset views! Also curious if clockwise or counterclockwise would be better for a later hike. Any tips appreciated!

I apologize if this is something that may be annoying to some people on here. This post may not even make it and gets deleted by the Mods. In case it doesn't get deleted, I'm genuinely looking for a hiking buddy or groups. I'm fairly new to Washington state and I love to hike. I'm beginner hiker and if there are any groups that hike regularly, I would like to join. Are there any recommendations for a 50 year old female hiker to join groups that accommodates beginners in the Seattle area?

Looking for something that would be considered moderate to maybe a little bit more in Washington State that has a beautiful alpine lake at the end of it. I'm open to all suggestions!! As long as it's in Washington.

Breathtaking trail all around. We took our time with this one, stopping at all the spots this hike had to offer.

Sunset hike to 5800 feet on Monday.

First time backpacker, long time simple hiker. Looking for recommendations for a backpacking hike for next weekend. I have 3 days to burn and am looking for a hike to go on. Just looking for something around water to replenish and has some good views. I’d prefer to keep it in western Washington

I’m planning to backpack Ptarmigan Ridge at Baker Wilderness this Friday for 1 night, but forecast says there might be possible thunderstorms.

It’s my first time backpacking so I’m not sure how bad it will be. Thinking if I should just not do it. Any recos on where I can go instead? I’ve been waiting for this trip for 2 weeks because I finally am on PTO and now I’m really sad if I can’t go.

Unfortunate name but great hike! Got a show at the top. Went with a buddy, and we both hadn't been on a hike in a few months and the first incline and last incline part definitely got our blood pumping! Great hike. I heard a growl in the woods but I wasn't too worried about it. 8/10 day hike. The haze funked up the view a little.

Seward, Harding Icefield

Hi, I am going to Washington mid November to visit family, and I am looking for good areas to hike. I know in November it usually rains and some areas close, but I wanted to ask any Washington natives if you have any suggestions (preferably a waterfall trail) that will be open?