Back Packing the Enchantments

Will and I try to get out once a year on a great Back Pack trip. This year, we chose the Enchantments, which are just outside Leavenworth, WA. We had to get our permits last March, after being denied last year.
We were going to hike for three days, two nights. The hike was about 19 miles, with about 6,500ft elevation gain (in dramatic fashion).
The first day was about 7 miles of slowly working our way through the forest and up, up, up.
This was the first lake we came to, and the first of a million carnes that we would follow.
At one point, we came to a HUGE, POWERFUL......SIDEWAYS waterfall. It was just jetting out from the mountain side. We decided to go in for a closer look.
Turned out not to be a waterfall at all. Completely man-made......which made way more sense.
We made our camp at Snow Lake the first night. We found this cool little strip of sandy beach, with great natural rocks slopping into the water. It was a really cool spot, with 360 degrees of mountains around us.

It hadn't been too hard of a day, but it was still great to chill out, eat some dinner, and watch the evening stars appear.
Yes, it was a little chilly (hence, the puffy, chubby clothing). It was reaching the low 30's at night, so we had to stay warm.
To wind down, we played a little cards in the tent.
In the morning, we got packed up and headed out for our toughest day.
Yes, we normally follow the "leave no trace" rule........but sometimes a mother has to do what a mother has to do!
Again, we slowly worked our way up the mountain, following a primitive trail of carnes through the forest.
Soon, we were walking over HUGE granite boulders, heading up to the top of this mountain.
It was steep, but a fun climb to the top.
At this point, we were almost to popping over the top to the Enchantment Basin.
This was once we got over the ledge, at the first lake, Lake Vivianne. It was gorgeous.

HUGE DISCLAIMER: THE PICTURES DO NOT DO THIS AREA JUSTICE. IT MAKES IT LOOK BARREN AND ALMOST BORING, BUT IT WAS FAR FROM THAT!!!

This was the beginning of a ton of lakes, with crystal blue waters, gorgeous edges and dramatic back drops.
Will filtering water. About this point, as we are eating lunch, I said, "Well, the only thing that could make this any better would be if a mountain goat was sitting on the rocks".

Cue the goat:

Not a minute later, a goat shows up and just hangs out with us until we choose to leave.



He was the fluffiest, cleanest, well groomed goat I have ever seen!!!
Eventually, we headed on, up some more steep granite walls. Here was the only part in the trail that they had actually screwed in steel for a little bit of grip.
The following pictures are of my FAVORITE area of our trip. It was just amazing how everything came together to create this flowing landscape. Water, waterfalls, mountains, trees, boulders, snow. It was breathtaking.



This type scenery went on for miles. We just meandered through, running out of words to describe what we were seeing.


This carne took the "tallest" award for sure.
So many gorgeous waterfalls.



Oh, did I mention we had perfect weather too?! The blue backdrop was incredible.



This was one of Will's favorite spots, where the grass lined the sides of the lakes.



During this time, we had slowly been gaining in elevation. Towards the end of the basin, we started having to climb a little more aggressively, even over a few snowed in areas.

At one point, we reached this incredible view! It's hard for the camera to capture the layers and depth to the view, but it was stunning.

We ran into a few more mountain goats.
At this elevation, it became a little more barren, but it was still so beautiful!!
An ice covered lake.
So........at this point, we had reached the very top of our climb (about 14 miles in). The next part of the trip took us practically straight down to the lake you see below. It's about 2,000 ft down, in less than a mile. Whether you go up it, or go down it, it is brutal (I have a black toe nail to prove it).

We didn't take any pics on the way down because we were focusing on not slipping and falling to our deaths. We were so grateful to get down!!
Right at the base, we found a little beach campsite right by the lake and we called it good for the night. It had been a long day and our legs were a little shaky. The view back behind our site was incredible. We were at the base of a sheer rock cliff. It was so close that I couldn't capture it with the camera until we were on the other side of the lake.


In the morning, we took our time packing up and enjoying the views.
The reflection in the lake's still water was incredible.
We left camp and starting walking around the edge of the lake. You can see our campsite below, on the right hand side of the lake.
We had to cross over a huge boulder field that was a little tricky (and swallowed up my sunglasses).
This is from the other side of the lake looking back. The pass we came down is on the left side of the mountain, but you can't see it all here. The last 700 ft is behind the mountain.
Heading back down the mountain, starting to talk about the hotel room we booked and what we are going to eat for dinner!!
Hike completed!!! It was AWESOME!!!
Even once we were in our car, heading down the mountain, we saw two black bear. The shot below is of the baby cub.
With-in 45 minutes, we were in our hotel room, soaking in a jetted tub, toasting with sparkling cider!! It took us a long time to stop saying, "Man, that was incredible".
I absolutely adore the opportunity to spend a few days alone with Will. It's so great to be just his wife.....and just me.

I especially enjoy doing that when nature is involved. I had lots of moments this trip that really touched my heart, in terms of things spiritual.

The one that has really stayed with me happened the first night. We watched the stars come out, and then went to bed. Around 3am, I had to get up, so we both got out of the tent. As soon as we did, we realized that after we had gone to bed, the moon had come up, lighting up the mountains, reflecting on the lake but still leaving the stars completely in view. It was SO BEAUTIFUL!!

Will even said, "It doesn't even look real".

Of course, for 1/2 a second, I thought, I've got to grab my camera, but then quickly realized that that was pointless and it would never capture the "moment".

In the morning, as we hiked, it really struck me how similar that experience was to our many little experiences with God. I have had many, many moments where I have been overwhelmed with with spirit, realizing how real God is and that He knows and loves me individually.

I would love to boxed those moments up, or capture them with a camera, and be able to hand them to people in my life that I love. To be able to have them instintaneously feel what I have felt and to know what I know, but it just doesn't work that way......for a reason.

God wants us EACH to come to him individually to have those experiences with Him. It is the only way we can come to know Him and to FEEL Him and His love for us. We could never adequately explain how that feels to someone else. They just have to have their moment.

You just would have had to been there at 3am, 7 miles up the trail, but let me tell you, it was incredible.