Enchantments Traverse, Washington
July 17-19, 2024

Since Laura and I had spent three of the last five days climbing, we decided that for family time, we would take Hazel on an 18 mile, three-night, backpacking trip through The Enchantments. Laura was lucky enough to win the lottery for permits and a backcountry camping site months ago. After packing up camp at Eightmile campground, we set up a car shuttle shuttle. Laura dropped Hazel and I off at the Colchuck Lake trailhead where we waited for her to go back and park the car and have grandma drop her off again. Hazel and I had a quick bite to eat and Hazel fell asleep and took a quick nap to prepare for the big hike that was ahead of us.

This would be her first backpacking trip where we did not bring the kid-carrier, so she was going to have to walk the whole thing on her own.

The first day we hiked through beautiful forest with big trees and green fields up to Colchuck Lake. It was about a 6 mile hike, but when we arrived at camp, Hazel was still full of energy and excited for Ramen and peppers.

We all took a quick swim in the lake and air dried before climbing in the tent and crashing for the night. It’s amazing how much fun and enjoyment Hazel gets out of helping set up the tent and blow up the sleeping pads.

She also was caught just standing at the lakeside shore, looking at the views and holding owl.

The next morning, we woke up early and were hiking by 8 AM up and over Aasgard Pass that leads to the main enchantment area. It’s about 2,000 feet of steep climbing over the pass and Hazel hiked all but maybe 800 feet of it. She was tired and struggling so I put her on my shoulders and carried her up and over the top of the pass, where we stopped for a quick lunch break.

We spent some time exploring the main enchantment zone and starting to descend down to the lower part of the main enchantment area. We decided to set up a chair and let Hazel take a nap. She was tired from the big hike up the pass. After a 45 minute nap, we woke her up and got back on the trail, hiking past all the beautiful lakes and scenery along with quite a few mountain goats all the way down to Upper Snow Lake.

When we got there, we found a really great campsite on a small island and Hazel helped set up the tent and sleeping pads while I cooked dinner. The three of us went swimming in the lake, which was pretty warm and pleasant to be in for more than a few minutes.

Our last day was about 8 1/2 miles and Hazel hiked about six of those miles down and out while Laura carried her out for a mile or two. We were so proud of how good she did hiking and we’re excited that she likes the backcountry and didn’t have any breakdowns or complain at all about the big consecutive hikes every day.