Little Annapurna - Enchantment Lakes Wilderness - Week 8

Week 8 had us taking a three day trip into the Enchantments with the objective of climbing Little Annapurna on Sunday. This was a brutal hike in to a beautiful area. So brutal I fell twice going in suffering only a minor cut that made the snow look gory from the blood for those following.

We made the 9.7 mile hike in on Saturday to Lake Viviane (el. 6,800’) by way of the Snow Lakes trail out of Leavenworth, Washington encountering snow at around 4,000’. I know I said last week was the hardest hike I had ever done but this one beat it. Not only was it a respectable 9.7 miles in but the elevation gain from trailhead to camp was close to 6,000 feet with the last 3,000 or so in wet snow and steep terrain, again. Our group got a little bit of a late start and it took close to 11 hours getting us at camp just before dark. The good news was that our class continues to luck out with wonderful weather. All three days were sunny and warm with Monday’s hike out being a bit to warm on the lower 3,000 feet of trail.

The Enchantments are a wonderful and beautiful group of lakes and peaks making it a desired destination that requires permits after the snow melts out. We briefly encountered a couple of other climbing groups but overall the area was empty for us. I do plan on trying to return in the fall either this year or next as I would love to see it when the lakes are melted out and the hike in will be a bit less torturous.

For those who are interested in these things about half the photos, mostly from Sunday, were from my Nikon D300 DSLR which I packed in with me. The rest are using one of my point and shoots.