travel guide: the enchantments thru-hike

the ultimate guide to one of the most popular hikes in washington state

THE ENCHANTMENTS 

The Enchantments are a stunning area of alpine lakes located in western Washington, made especially popular by their incredible views and highly varied terrain. The spectacular views are made even more special because of how remote they are, with stunning lakes and varied terrains not accessible by car (or even casual hike). The Enchantments is hands down my favorite hike / experience I’ve ever had in the states - I found many of the areas reminded me of our time in Torres del Paine, minus the multi-day international travel.

This post is the complete guide to completing a thru-hike of the enchantments, an increasingly popular option for hikers who want to experience the famous “core enchantments” but who aren’t able to get camping permits for the backcounty. This guide includes;

• Details about the enchantments including how to get there, parking, transportation and other logistics

• Tips for preparation including training, packing, and planning your hike direction.

• A segment by segment recap of our experience, with photos!

This is one of my favorite hikes I’ve ever done, and one of the most popular travel guides I have ever put together. I can’t wait to hear what you think!

DETAILS AT A GLANCE:

Distance: Due to the amount of exploring off the beaten trail folks do while exploring the core enchantments, exact distance reports vary greatly - most range from 19 miles up to over 23. Our hike clocked in at 19.66 miles.  

Difficulty: Extremely strenuous: recommended only for experienced hikers.  

Highest elevation point: 7800 feet 

Elevation gain: 4500 feet 

Elevation loss: 7000 feet

Approximate time to complete: Just like how overall distance ranges vary greatly the time it will take to complete the hike varies greatly depending on a lot of factors including fitness, and how much time you spend exploring or taking photos. In our research to prepare, we saw reports anywhere from 12 to 18 hours. We clocked our hike at 12 hours and 23 minutes total, with our total “moving time” at 9 hours and 30 minutes. We are fairly fast hikers in general (especially uphill - all credit / blame to Mark, who hikes like a mountain goat) and were doing this as a planned training hike for Mount Kilimanjaro. 

OPTIONS FOR VISITING THE ENCHANTMENTS: 

The Core Enchantments area is accessible by two different trailheads: Stuart / Colchuk Lake and Snow Lakes Trailheads. Because of the popularity of the area, backpacking permits to camp in the core Enchantments area are required May 15-October 31st, and they are in high demand -- I’ve applied three years in a row without any luck. 

If you aren’t one of the lucky few to get a backpacking & camping permit, most people visit the Core Enchantments area by a day hike. Either direction is a long, difficult hike to access the core lakes area - an extremely strenuous hike, but hands down one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever done. With some planning (and maybe a little training), it’s absolutely worth it. 

PREPARATION:

One of the most common questions / responses I got to sharing our Enchantments trip was people asking how hard it was — if I was dying, if they could do it, how we trained for it.

We are big hikers, and this is one of the hardest hikes we have ever done - mostly due to the sheer length and the impact of elevation. I would recommend the through-hike ONLY to seasoned hikers with experience carrying gear (food, water, layers, first aid), with prior hikes of at least 10-15 miles including heavy elevation changes (plus/ minus 3000 ft at least). 

You’ll need to be mentally and physically prepared to hike 20+ hard miles in tough terrain. The trails can be fairly rocky and uneven, and the pretty intense elevation changes can be tough -- many reports highlight how demoralizing people found “false summits” going up Aasgard Pass, or how they hiked substantially farther than the estimated distance because of challenges following the trail cairns. 

THERE ARE NO “TECHNICAL” SECTIONS (IN OTHER WORDS: SECTIONS THAT WOULD REQUIRE MOUNTAINEERING SKILLS), BUT THE HIKE IS SUBSTANTIALLY EASIER WITH PRIOR EXPERIENCE NAVIGATING DIFFERENT TERRAINS LIKE BOULDER FIELDS, AND EXPERIENCE WITH BIG DESCENTS. 

All that being said: as an experienced hiker,  I will say that it was substantially easier than I was expecting after reading other trail reports and blog recaps. I personally found the biggest challenge of an Enchantments through hike is more mental than physical -- many reports highlight hikers who ran out of food or water, because they didn’t know how much longer the hike would be, or how they spent the last few miles of the downhill looking frantically for the trailhead parking lot.

SAFETY 

For your sake, and for everyone else’s: please take safety seriously on this hike (or any other!). Sending out search and rescue is a pain in the butt for everyone involved.

FIRST AID

Bring a standard first aid kit (blisters, cuts, scrapes, sprains, SUNSCREEN, etc). Going slow and being smart in order to prevent injury is the safest way to avoid a situation. I have several friends who reported DESTROYING their feet with blisters and hot spots on the hike, and Mark and I took a ton of caution to adjust in order to stop a problem before it started. We both brought dry socks and stopped more than once to adjust lacing / add moleskine or cushion bandages to avoid slight discomfort turning into a disaster. Same can be said for descents and exploration: any serious falls or injuries can be extremely dangerous because of how long the hike in/out is, and the fact that there is *zero* cell phone service. Plan accordingly. 

HYDRATION

The trail is long, weather can be unpredictable, and the experience is incredibly physically taxing. You should most likely drink at least 3L water during the hike, maybe more depending on the weather and how fast you’re going. Mark and I both brought 1.5L smartwater bottles as well as the Sawyer Mini water filter which screws on to the top of standard plastic bottles easily. This allowed us to refill the bottles from running streams and drink directly from the filter without waiting to filter into a separate container.  In retrospect I would recommend taking electrolyte tablets during lunch or a snack break versus just water to pre-empt dehydration and restore electrolytes lost through sweat during the hike -- I waited to take nuun tablets until the end and wished I hadn’t. 

Pro tip: please please PLEASE be smart about hydration, especially on the last segments. We ran into a hiker at the end who had run out of water about 4 miles before and hadn’t found any running water near the trail to refill with. They almost collapsed right as we found them, and we ended up giving them an entire one of our bottles of filtered water and electrolyte tablets while we waited for the rest of their group to come back and collect them. Dehydration and heat are no joke, and while there are a lot of hikers on the trail, you can’t rely on someone to come by with any regularity, or to have extra supplies to support your trek. Please please please be smart and safe, and when in doubt, just fill up the bottles. 

OTHER CONCERNS & CONSIDERATIONS:

The Enchantments / Alpine Lake Wilderness area are bear country. Carry your bear spray and stay alert. 

Leave No Trace: Public use of the Enchantments is already severely limited via the backpacking permitting system. To avoid further lottery restrictions for day hikers, Please practice the seven principles of Leave No Trace: plan ahead, stay on the trail, pack out what you bring to the hiking trail, properly dispose of waste, leave areas as you found them, minimize campfire impacts, be considerate of other hikers, and do not approach or feed wildlife.

PLANNING YOUR THROUGH HIKE: