Most years I feel I have a better chance of winning the Powerball than the Enchantments Wilderness Permit lottery. A number of times I’ve pondered attempting to go with a day of walkup permit, but hadn’t seized the gumption to do so. Instead, opting for other non-permitted hikes each time. 2019 was no exception to losing the elusive sweepstakes; despite my wife, my brother, and a friend all rolling the dice. My wife was hell bent on going the walkup route and her persistence paid off for us.
For 2020, walkups permits are suspended at the Leavenworth Ranger Station, due to the pandemic. The permits will be randomly distributed online every Monday between 5 am and 9 am PST on Recreation.gov. I’m expecting this format be an aberration, so I’ll focus on what a standard year looks like.
The Rules of Enchantment
Between March 15th and October 31st, a lengthened season as of 2019, a permit is required for any overnight trip in the Enchantments. And for good reason, access to the area is a short drive for five million people by my rough count. It’s also a dream destination for hikers across the world. It’s as beautiful of an area as you’ll find anywhere, but had been overused for years. It was common to find hundreds of campers on weekends, infinite user trails, and an abundance of rubbish left behind. The permit system was instituted in 1987 to combat this. It’s also a guarantee that a ranger will check your permits, so no poaching. Many trekkers thru-hike in a day, but only attempt this if you’re superbly fit for a brutal 18 mile jaunt.
Your first second chance is in the spring after unclaimed permits from the lottery are returned. The passes go online in a first come, first serve free for all. I nearly snagged dates for the core zone that August. The permits were visible, but my older Mac slowed at the wrong moment and I wasn’t able to secure them. C’est la vie.
There are five permitted zones to access the Enchantments; Snow Lakes, Colchuck Lake, Stuart Lake, Eightmile/Caroline, and the elusive Core Enchantment Zone. Every destination here is worth a visit in it’s own right, but the Core Zone is the highlight. Whichever zone you choose is the area you must camp in, sans the Core Zone, which allows for camping in any section. Eightmile/Caroline does not provide dayhiking access to the Core Zone, so it’s out the window for our purposes. Stuart Lake is also best left on the drawing table, as the prospect of hiking sixteen miles, including Colchuck Pass twice sounds too grueling, even for me. So that leaves three reasonable overnight choices fro entrance into the Core Zone.
The Core Zone
The Core Enchantment Zone is the ideal, as it gives you the most options and is the only way to spend a night in the middle of it all. Want to ascend to the Core Zone in one day? You can do it! If you’d rather take two days to get up there and break up the big climbs, that’s also an option. But most importantly, there’s nothing like camping next to alpine lakes surrounded by picturesque peaks with just goats and a highly limited number of campers as neighbors. If you have this as a choice, go for it!
The Colchuk Lake Zone
For starters, I haven’t hiked in this side, but plan to on my next trip. That said, I did deliberate and research accessing the Core Zone from this here. It’s the shorter, steeper route, which was a consideration, but the main reason I passed on this path is Colchuck pass, also known as Asgaard Pass (I defer to Native American names out of respect). The hike up the pass climbs 1900 masochistic feet in three-quarters of a mile and has route finding and scrambling challenges, snow patches until mid-summer, and a possible water crossing.
The last descent down into the Core Zone is also a snowfield until at least midsummer. We, and by we, I mean me, my wife, and a mountain goat who was posted up above the route, witnessed numerous hikers sliding down in an uncontrolled manner. The goat seemed to be chuckling, thinking that’s not how it’s done. The icy slip ‘n slide didn’t look too sketchy. Then we witnessed one slalomer careen off track and head toward the chilly waters of Inspiration Lake. At the last second they managed to right themselves before splashdown. I would highly recommend at least snow spikes if attempting this route when it has snow covered sections.
The Snow Lakes Zone and Our Experience
For the long Fourth of July weekend we headed to Leavenworth for the attempt. You’ll find a familiar refrain of late starts with me, it’s hereditary. You can verify that with my bro. Oddly enough, I hate running late to work, appointments, etc and I’m easily distracted… okay back to the post! The original plan was to drive north in the evening from Portland and camp in the parking lot for the 7:45 lineup the morning of the Fourth. We ended up driving the morning of the Fourth and spent the afternoon eating brats and drinking beer. There was not a firework to be heard and it was glorious.
We rolled into the Leavenworth Ranger Staton at 7:30 on the 5th. It’s a drawing so it doesn’t matter how early you get there. They do require that you are there by 7:45 and your entire party must be present, as the passes are for departing the same day you get them. Everyone wanted the Core Zone, but if we had all entered for that, one group would’ve been left out with no recourse to choose another zone. We still had two nights, so when it came to my turn to announce my entry I announced Snow Zone. There was a cheer from the small crowd, as it ensured the rest would get the Core Zone. Hero for a day, but also calculated as it gave us a shorter hike on day one and a whole day to hike the Core Zone, with a second night at Snow Lakes. It was definitely the right choice, as even though we could’ve camped at Snow Lakes with the Core permit, we didn’t need it.
In the end, we deduced that the holiday weekend had actually reduced the number of people trying for walk-in permits. One of the other groups had friends get permits the day before and also have no issue. Of course, there are no shortage of stories about showing up and the number of groups severely outnumbering the available permits, even on weekdays. So It’s highly possible that holiday weekends may be the best time to acquire the coveted walk-in permits. Or maybe the scary stories about the lines are hyperbolic (doubtful). In the end try when you can, that’s what we did and it worked. And as I always preach, have a backup plan with maps and any other necessary gear prepped and ready to go!
For tips on planning a trip during these crazy times check out my article, How the Heck Do You Plan a Backpacking Trip During a Pandemic?
If you enjoyed this article please comment, share on social media, or tell a friend!
And if you’d like to know more about me, check out my About and Random Stuff I Dig pages.