The Enchantments Thru-Hike: Sunrise to Sunset in a Single Day

The Enchantments are one of the most beautiful places in Washington, and getting a permit to camp there is famously hard. So this year I stopped waiting on the lottery and decided to do the thru-hike instead: start at one trailhead, cross the entire Enchantments, and finish at another, all in a single push.

Our goal was simple and a little ridiculous. We wanted to see both sunrise and sunset in the core, which turned this into an almost 24 hour day.

Starting in the dark

My friend David and I slept in the car at the Stuart Lake trailhead, the one most people call the Colchuck Lake trailhead, and started hiking at 2:50 a.m. We reached Colchuck Lake in a little under two hours. That left the hardest part of the whole route in front of us, Aasgard Pass, and a race to beat the sunrise.

Racing up Aasgard Pass

Aasgard climbs nearly 2,000 feet in about three quarters of a mile, over loose rock and boulders, and the top you can see from the lake is a false summit. Most people take a few hours to get up it. We did it in about an hour and fifteen minutes, and the second we topped out it turned into a sprint to reach our spot before the sun came up.

We made it. Watching first light hit the peaks above the upper lakes, with the larches already glowing gold, was worth every step in the dark.

A whole day in the core

After sunrise we did something I almost never do on a big hike. We slowed down. We spent the entire day wandering the core of the Enchantments, sitting by the lakes and taking in the larches at their peak.

The goats were the highlight. They visited us again and again throughout the day, and at one point, while we were napping on a rock, a goat walked right past our heads. That is not normal and you should not expect it, but it is the kind of thing that can happen in a place this wild. Give them space and never feed them.

Sunset at Leprechaun Lake, then 10.5 miles in the dark

We caught sunset at Leprechaun Lake and then started the long way down: 10.5 miles to the Snow Lakes trailhead by headlamp. With all our wandering in the core, the day added up to about 26.5 miles.

Should you do it?

This hike is not for the weak, and it is not something to try without serious hiking experience. It is long, steep and rocky, and a good part of it can happen in the dark. But if you are capable, I cannot recommend it enough. Doing it in fall, when the larches turn, is a once in a lifetime bucket list day in one of Washington's most beautiful places.