Silver Star Mountain

I finally made it up this local gem! It's always a great day with my adventure sister, Lidia! It was cloudy and cool with a few surprise moments of sunshine today. Fall was definitely in the air and the colors were spectacular! Normally you can see Mt. Hood, St. Helens and Rainier in the distance but that view will have to wait for another day. This hike is a good one! Via the Silver Star trail, we hiked 7.20 miles round trip and had a total of 2,130 feet elevation gain. It was great to get back on the trail after a week of resting following our Enchantments adventure! I love my hiking life!

Great view of the clouds! ;)

The Enchantments

The Enchantments ... what an adventure!! I've heard about the Enchantments for years, watched people's faces light up when discussing them and have viewed very beautiful pictures of the area but never did I believe I would get there myself! You must have a permit to hike in the Enchantments. Permits to stay overnight are awarded by lottery... and there aren't many to be had! Over the past couple of years I've heard fellow hikers talking about applying for the permits and not getting them... disappointed again and again. This year it just so happened that my adventure sister, Lidia, was lucky enough to be one of the recipients! I was lucky enough that she invited me to go along! Wooohoooo! Yes, please, and thank you!! I didn't hesitate for a second to accept her invitation. I knew this was going to be something very special!

The Enchantments are located within the Alpine Lakes Wilderness about 15 miles southwest of Leavenworth, Washington (another favorite place of mine!). It is impossible for me to describe the area but the word "magical" comes to mind and at times it looked like I was on a different planet. It is very rocky (granite), there are beautiful meadows and unbelievably gorgeous alpine lakes. The Washington Trail Association's page says, "In the Enchantments, nature has carved one of the magnificent places of this world -- an alpine paradise of granite worn smooth by glaciers, larches manicured by the wind and cold, and crystal blue lakes strung together by a creek that tumbles and thunders between them." It's truly a sight to behold.

Luke, Lidia and I started our trip at the Lake Stuart trailhead. Luke studied maps and books about the area before our trip and was full of knowledge about distances, elevation gains and difficulty ratings of each climb we were going to do. I was in great company - and safe - with these two knowledgable hikers!

Our original plan was to camp at Horseshoe Lake but a fire in 2017 made the already steep and slippery trail up to that lake even more difficult. We decided to set up camp below at Lake Stuart and then day hike up to Horseshoe to see if it was something we wanted to attempt with our heavy backpacks. For a couple of miles we climbed over many downed/burned trees while trying to follow a trail that was basically buried by logs and debris. Eventually we came upon a horseshoe nailed to a tree and turned right to head straight up the mountain to the lake (and I do mean straight up). The way up from here was completely covered in at least 6 inches of ash as well as more burned logs to get over or around. It wasn't an easy climb for me... nor a clean one! I was a mess... (I had no idea just how dirty I was until I saw these pictures! haha) but Horseshoe Lake was stunning! It was well worth the climb up to see it but we decided not to move camp. It would have been too difficult to go up and down the burn area every time we wanted to hike to another location.

Ummm yes, that's soot on my face, neck and arms! haha

Horseshoe Lake

Mt. Stuart

Lake Stuart down below

Camp at Lake Stuart ... the perfect location. It was beautiful and beyond peaceful.

We made plans to hike up Aasgard Pass but wanted to sit and view it from Colchuck Lake before the day of the climb.  We also wanted to spend time at the lake and not just be on a mission to get somewhere else. This plan meant we would be hiking to Colchuck Lake twice from Lake Stuart... and back. We definitely were adding up the miles during this trip.

The hike up to Colchuck Lake is very rocky and almost like stairs the entire way. I found this to be "enjoyable" (if you like taking the stairs!) and much easier than deep ash or slippery slopes.

Colchuck Lake is absolutely stunning! It is the most beautiful lake I have ever seen.

Aasgard Pass... WOW.  After spending the day at Colchuck Lake and looking up at Aasgard Pass, we knew we would need to leave camp early in the morning to accomplish this feat and hopefully make it back to camp before dark. We would also need to bring along plenty of food, water and sunscreen.

"Achieving the pass is a thigh-burning, chest-bursting, eye-popping endeavor that offers as many extraordinary views as beads of sweat that will fall from your brow as you ascend nearly 2000 feet in just three-quarters of a mile." (My favorite description of getting over the Pass found on the Washington Trails Association's page.) Thigh-burning, chest-bursting... you got that right! Knee-busting too on the way back down!

We left camp at sunrise and headed back up to Colchuck Lake. We had to go around to the other side of the lake and the size of the granite boulders we had to cross to get there totally blew my mind! They were massive!!

Colchuck Lake way below!

Luke celebrating! (Where did he find all that energy?!)

I made it to the top! Damn that was hard!
Thank you, Lidia, for capturing this very special moment!

Oh. My. Gosh. The top. AMAZING! WOW!! It was so worth the climb! I felt like I was on a different planet up there. It was so awe-inspiring! WOW!!! There were several beautiful lakes, it was silent and there were goats walking around. This... this is the upper Enchantments! Wow... I am so happy I was able to see this amazing, beautiful, mystical place!

What an awesome day! Aasgard Pass will certainly be a lifetime memory for me! What a climb! The day took approximately 15 hours (yes, we returned to camp in the dark), we hiked over 13 miles, we mastered massive boulder climbing, and had no end of "thigh-burning" activity going on. It was crazy in such a great way and I'm so, so proud to have accomplished this.

Climbing Aasgard was the last climb on our list. We were tired and worn out but each of us smiling with hearts filled with happiness! What an awesome trip! We had one more night left on our permits to stay in the Enchantments but decided since we were not going to hike to any new destination, we might as well hike out and go home. A shower and the comfort of our own beds were certainly calling our names.

The hike out was long, not only because of our slow exhausted crawl, but also because we didn't want to let it go... didn't want our time in this magical place to come to an end yet. It was amazing. What a great experience! 

Celebrating with fellow hikers in the parking lot ;)

Lidia and Luke - I'm so happy to have shared this awesome experience with both of you! WE ROCKED IT!!