The Enchantments is an area with in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness, near Leavenworth, Washington.

Crammed into a small area there are myriad lakes, tarns and jagged peaks. One of the many allures of the Enchantments are the larches which turn bright orange and yellow in the fall. The juxtaposition of (hopefully) blue skies, green spruce, orange larch and as we encountered, white snow, is a wonder on the eyes!

To camp overnight requires a permit. To get a permit involves entering a lottery and hoping for good luck!

Earlier this year I decided to apply for the permits and was lucky enough to win a permit for October. However the weather at the start of October was horrific, high winds, a veritable deluge of rain and in the upper alpine zones, snow. By the time my allotted time came around things started to brighten up, and so, off I went.

Parking area

Foot Bridge at the start…

Fall Colors on the way up

I managed to recruit two hardy souls to come along and we headed over Stevens Pass to Leavenworth and on up to the Snow Lakes Trail head. the first days hike was a little more than 10 miles and 4,000feet of elevation gain and we camped out on a sand bar along the shore of Upper Snow Lake.
Upper Snow Lake
Day two brought partly sunny skies and we hoisted our heavy packs for the 4 mile hike up to Lake Viviane. The trail was steep in spots and there was much snow. The area around the lake was very windy, and it took some time to find a flat, sheltered place for the tent.
Lake Viviane

Lake Viviane

Lake Viviane
The snow was as much as 2 to 3 feet deep in places. But so many people had traveled over the path that hiking was relatively easy.

At night I tried a few starry sky shots…

The 3rd day we awoke early to more sun and clouds and headed further up, on towards the Upper Lakes.

The mix of clouds, sky, larch and snow was perfect.

Leprechaun Lake was especially photogenic!

By late afternoon the skies looked decidedly dark and so we made our way back down to Upper Snow Lake and back to the car the next day…

I am definitely planning on entering the lottery again for the next years hiking season!