The Enchantments Backpacking - Day 1

 

The picture above shows the map of the whole Enchantment area.  We had a permit to camp in the Snow Zone.  So we started day one in the area that shows at the top of the green Snow Zone.  And we hiked all the way to the end of it and camped on the far side of the lake (Upper Snow Lake).  That is a distance of 9 miles and an elevation gain of about 5000 feet.  We started hiking at 7:27 am and got to our camp spot at 3:30.  We took a one hour lunch break at Nada Lake and a couple of snack breaks.  But we pretty much walked uphill for 7 hours that day!

The good news is --- it was not that hard!  We had energy left at the end of the day to set up camp, have high tea, make dinner and hang our food.  But when it got dark at about 7:15, we were all ready for bed!  It was all we could do to stay up until about 8:30.  Grace climbed into the tent at about 7:30 and I followed at about 7:45.  We read on our Kindles for awhile and then called it a day.

The pics below are of our hike before lunch.  We hiked up a canyon alongside a beautiful creek.  All morning we were in the shade.  In fact, we kept chasing the sun - we kept saying we would take a break when we met up with it.  But it was so elusive.  It always looked closer than it actually was.  It was chilly walking up the canyon which meant we could not stop for very long because we got cold.

There is a fungus among us!

Trails varied from all dirt to all rocks

Up, up and more up

Quick break in the shade - you can see I put on a rain coat and a hood as soon as we stopped or else I would get to cold

We took our lunch break at 11:50 at Nada Lake.  It was the first lake we came to.  There were little chipmunks throughout the whole trip but they were not very aggressive and didn't chew up any of our gear.

Nada Lake

Lunch at Nada - cheese, crackers, apples and fresh tomatos

Checking out how much farther we had to go

At lunch time, we took out the map and the trip reports and checked out how much farther it would be.  The consensus was that we had about 400 feet more elevation gain - but we are pretty sure whoever wrote that was on crack!  The next section of the hike went on and on and on!

From Nada Lake we hiked to Lower Snow Lake and then to the far end of Upper Snow Lake to camp.

Mapping it out

All the mountains had these beautiful peaks

Lower Snow Lake

High Tea

Once we got to Upper Snow we found an awesome camp spot high above the lake on granite rocks.  We were close to a creek for water which was key because the lake was super low and too hard to climb down to.  As soon as we found a camp site, we dropped our stuff and took a break to have high tea and snack!  It seemed like a fair reward for a job well done!

Water boiler for tea time!

Nada Lake

Getting more water for the second half of the day

Dam between Lower and Upper Snow Lake

Dinner for me and G - burritos - they were delish!

This shows how small our tent is.  It was just big enough for two of us to sleep.

Dinner for Susan and Shannon - couscous and homemade monastery cheese!

Upper Snow

Susan and Shannon's tent

Home Sweet Home for me and G

Hanging our food from bears and critters

After setting up camp - Grace and I were in our new ultralight tent and Shannon and Susan were in our REI tent - we made dinner and cleaned up.  Last item for the day was to hang our food in a branch high enough that a bear couldn't reach it.  Everyone brought too much food but Shannon and Susan had significantly more than G and me.  So much in fact, that when we tried to hang in, the branch broke and came down on top of us!  Luckily there were no injuries just lots of giggles.

That nite, the temp got below freezing because there was ice on our tents and sleeping bags the next morning.  In temps like that, you go to sleep with all your clothes on!  I was even wearing my rain coat, gloves, a hood and a beanie!

At the end of the day we reflected on what was the best part of the day - here were our thoughts:

1. Tea time (Chris and Susan's choices)
2.  The first time we reached sunshine during the day (Shannon's choice)
3.  Shannon's dad's advice to "take time to look up!" (Grace's choice)

We also had a discussion on what everyone's intentions were on the hike.  Shannon is in a state of transition with what she wants to do with her life so she had very lofty goals of taking time to contemplate her career crossroads, to push herself physically and learn from others.  It was quite different from me, G and Susan who were merely there to see the beautiful scenery, enjoy the friendship and live in the moment!  But after much discussion, we all agreed - everyone's intentions for the hike were perfect for them and we would all support the others in their quest!

All in all - PERFECT first day!