The next morning, we woke up to a beautiful sunny day. Our plan was to leave camp and day hike up into the heart of the Enchantments and do some exploring.
We made breakfast, oatmeal with dried fruit, hashbrowns (got the freeze dried kind from Costco, and they were easy to make and delicious), and instant coffee. We packed lunch in the day pack I brought, and we headed out with the rest of the group.
The first part was to hike to the other end of Upper Snow Lake. From there we headed up, straight up, to the core Enchantment zone.
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| good morning Snow Lake |
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| group shot |
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| came across another camper |
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| hiking up steep flat rocks, fun |
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| view point of where we came from |
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| up, up and up |
The scenery as we hiked upward was gorgeous. At some points you'd turn around and wonder how you even made it up on such an incline, but you just kept going one step at a time following the marked trail. I couldn't imagine doing this part of the hike with my huge pack on. A lot of people hike the Enchantments as a loop, so I was thankful we opted for doing a day hike. Hiking is so much easier without carrying anything.
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Gemma and I waiting for the
boys to catch up |
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| oh hey, Hagerman! |
After about an hour and a half, we made it to the first lake in the core zone, Lake Viviane. It was absolutely gorgeous. The blue sky, crystal clear water, the rocks...so beautiful. It really made the hike up worth it.
We stopped for a while to take it all in. From our view way up there, we could see where we had started from. It was a cool feeling of accomplishment to see how far we'd come in such a short time.
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| hi from Lake Viviane! |
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| chillin out maxin relaxin all cool |
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| view down to Upper and Lower Snow Lake |
Along the Enchantment trail, you'll see signs that point you in the direction of a toilet. They're all located in a private spot, and the views are incredible.
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| Clint on his throne |
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| outback toilet |
From Lake Viviane, we headed even higher to continue along the trail. Some parts got tricky. The rocks are pretty smooth and can be slippery. We even came across a portion where someone had drilled rebar into the granite so that your feet had something to grasp onto, crazy!
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| one last view of Lake Viviane before moving on |
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our first encounter with snow - crazy to see when it
was so warm out! |
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| Gemma and I in the snow |
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| our first glimpse of Leprechaun Lake |
After a short hike, we made it to the next lake, Leprechaun Lake. Again, the views were amazing. It looked like a movie set, everything was so perfect, almost like it had been landscaped that way.
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| Leprechaun Lake |
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| couples shots - Matt and Gemma |
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| Clint and me |
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| Amanda and Ben |
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| and Duaney and Matt |
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| last view of Leprechaun Lake, on to the next one |
As we passed Leprechaun Lake, we came across our first billy goat sightings! A mom with her baby were coming right down the trail. We kept our distance since we had heard they can be violent if they feel threatened, but they didn't seem to notice or care about us. They just continued on their way.
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| sweet little baby goat |
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| Clint got this great shot - thanks |
Continuing along the trail, we came across this awesome waterfall. It seriously looked man made, so perfect.
Around the corner from the waterfall, we came across the stream that feeds into it. There were some large flat rocks that made for a perfect lunch spot for us.
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| lunch spot |
We pulled out our lunches and took a little break. Ours was an interesting one...tortilla wraps with tuna salad and a sliced hard boiled egg. We also had string cheese, turkey jerkey, and a cliff bar. Hiking food sounds so gross now, but when you're out there, anything is delicious!
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| lunch break |
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| second goat sighting - across the stream as we ate lunch |
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Hagerman was brave enough to jump in the freezing
water - he also felt the need to hug Duane after |
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| perfect blue skies |
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| lunch |
After lunch, we kept moving. We followed the stream as it wound around the Enchantments. Every turn we made led to more and more beautiful sights. The gorgeous weather made it that much more amazing.
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| no turning back |
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| yikes |
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after jumping he didn't say much - I think the cold
knocked the wind out of him! |
We made our way back the same way we had come in, and Clint then gave in and had to jump into Sprite Lake.
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| getting ready |
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| bystanders |
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| head down! |
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| point those toes! |
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| so cold! |
Now that they had that out of their system, we headed straight back to camp. But not before our last goat sighting of the day. I think this was probably the same little family we had seen earlier. They were heading straight for us on the trail. We had to move over to let them by.
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| billy goat train |
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| getting out of their way |
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another interesting toilet - not sure about those boxes -
do they carry them down the mountain when full? |
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| back to Lake Viviane |
At this point, we booked it back to camp. Going downhill was a lot easier than going up. My joints were feeling a little sore, but for the most part I was feeling good.
When we got back to camp, we started dinner. On the menu was another freeze dried backpacker's meal, instant potatoes, stuffing, and easy mac. Quite the feast! As it got dark, we broke out the headlamps and played a few rounds of Cards Against Humanity (thanks to Duane for lugging it all the way up there). We also finished off the fireball and whiskey...wouldn't want to have to carry that all the home the next day.
Exhausted from another day of hiking, we crashed for the night around midnight.
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