Enchantments Traverse + Little Annapurna

At Colchuck Lake

Sept 10, 2023

21 miles, 6100ft gain

6am – 5pm

Ludwig hadn’t yet visited the enchanments so we decided to do a thru hike to see the whole area. Somehow despite me doing dozens of trips in there I’d never yet done a thru hike, so it sounded fun.

I had just attempted Rainier Friday, so took a rest day Saturday then drove to the Colchuck Lake trailhead Saturday night. Ludwig left a car at Snow Lakes trailhead and we slept in my truck at the Colchuck trailhead. We started hiking at 6am Sunday morning and were at Colchuck Lake a few hours later. After the lake we hardly saw any other people all day, which was kind of surprising.

The route

It was a steep hike up to Asgard Pass, then we entered the plateau. We took a short detour to tag Little Annapurna, which now has a nice hiker trail up it that I don’t remember. I think this qualifies it as one of the only four Bulgers with trails to the summit (Windy, St Helens, Remmel, and Little Annapurna).

We made good time across the plateau on the trail, seeing a few larches starting to turn yellow. The mountain goats were not at all afraid of hikers up there. Snow lake was surprisingly low, but I guess it’s always been low when I’ve been there. By 5pm we reached Ludwig’s car and got home at a reasonable hour.