📷 Would you do the same hike three times in two years?
During the dark days of December 2020, I was spending my life studying for the LSAT and ordering takeout.1 One night, after a long day of solving logic puzzles, I came across a photo from a hike called “The Enchantments.” Spotless white goats were chilling amongst a forest of gold. A flaming red sunset contrasted against rainy Seattle and a life of practice exams.
The photos etched themselves in my mind. I needed to experience something that beautiful in person. I resolved that after the LSAT, I would go.
Trip 1: The dayhike
Fast forward eight months, I am in Big 5 Sporting Goods buying a backpack for my Enchantments trip. I take a “spam call” that turns out to be my law school acceptance.
My friends and I dayhike the 18-mile trail the following week. We march for 13 hours but barely stop to take pictures. My legs abandon me for three days afterwards. It is too fast. I need to go back and camp there.
Hidden tips for the Enchantments permits
As it turns out, camping in the Enchantments requires permits. Getting them is an adventure in its own right. About 70% are allocated through a lottery in March, while the rest are available through a daily lottery.2
There are different permit types for specific hiking zones. The “Core Enchantments Zone” is the most prestigious, as it lets you camp in the area where all the best views are. Unfortunately, securing Core permits through the lottery is a fool’s errand, with a 1% success rate. That is why I’d recommend applying for the “Snow” or “Colchuck” zones and day-hike 2-3 miles up to the Core. Those are vastly easier to get.3
If you didn’t win the lottery, all hope is not lost. One option is to log onto the permit website at 7am on April 1st, when unclaimed permits and cancellations are released. When the clock turns 7, quickly refresh the page and click to select a date. One year, a friend with insane reflexes snagged a permit by clicking right at 7:00:01.
Of course, the ultimate fallback option is the dayhike.4
Trip 2: Two nights isn’t enough
I get permits for two nights and go back a month later. I feel I barely scratched the surface. There are so many nooks and crannies that I have not explored. So many shots that I missed.
That trip did teach me a few lessons about camping here:
How to not be attacked by invisible, invincible creatures. I wake up an hour before sunrise and start reading a book on my phone inside my tent. A few minutes into reading, a small, dark, eight-legged creature climbs onto my phone from my sleeping bag. I instantly recognize that it’s a tick, which has probably been feeding on my blood all night. In my panic, I try to crush it using a tissue and the tip of my fingernails. Unfortunately, due to its exoskeleton, I deal no damage even after applying pressure for a minute. I immediately throw my phone (with the tick on it) outside the tent, which cracks the screen. At least I got a fun story to tell.
To prevent ticks from feeding on your blood and transmitting diseases, I recommend treating your clothes with permethrin.
Cameras are relatively waterproof. My first night, I went to do some astrophotography with my low-quality tripod that came as a free accessory. While taking a long exposure, the tripod promptly fails, sending the camera tumbling down a ledge into the lake. I fish out the camera and it is dead. The following day, I put the camera out to dry in the sun. I check every hour, but it doesn’t turn on. My spirits fall each time. I’d beaten 100-to-1 odds to be here, but I was going to go home with nothing to show for it. Alas. The sun sets, and the camera comes back to life. The autofocus has failed, but they say the pros use manual.
Staying Connected. Being in the middle of nowhere, the vast majority of the Enchantments has no cell signal. However, if you have Verizon, there is a small spot (approximately 50-100 square meters) where you get 3-4 bars of 4G LTE (47° 28’ 43.932” N 120° 48’ 6.192” W).
Trip 3: Cashing Out
I go back the following October. October in the Enchantments is a gamble. You can get golden larches or a foot of snow.5 We got the larches :) We spend our entire first day just getting up to the core Enchantments, two full days exploring the area, and a final day descending.
The Enchantments has pit toilets, usually located in a secluded corner of the forest. One day, I follow the signs but get a bit lost. As I try to locate the restroom, I see a pair of goats in the forest. This is the shot from 2020. I finally get what I came for.
That night, I sip tea over sunset at the aptly named Paradise Lake. This is the most beautiful hike I have ever done.
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The LSAT is the entrance exam for law school. I studied for it five months full-time.
See this website for more info on the permits: https://www.fs.usda.gov/r06/okanogan-wenatchee/recreation/enchantments-overnight-permits
Dashboard with winrates by day: https://outdoorstatus.com/articles/enchantments-lottery/
More info here: www.earthtrekkers.com/enchantments-thru-hike-complete-guide/
The lottery does let you select three dates for each application, so it might be a good idea to mix summer and October dates.