15 miles of hiking • 3750' elevation gain • 2 nights
Due to a dropout, I was invited by my friend Anibal to join on a two day trip in the Enchantments. 5 Venezuelans​, 1 Persian, and 2 Americans made for an interesting group.
The forecast wasn't great, so I made sure to pack extra clothing in case of steady showers. We all weighed our packs at the trailhead, and I won the prize of heaviest pack, at almost 40 lbs. (This may have been because I brought a bear canister.) Pendar was a close second, and the only other person who brought a bear canister.
The trail climbed up quickly, but then mellowed out to a pretty easy grade to Eightmile Lake. Though the area burned in 2017, it still offered plenty of views and a steady stream of wildflowers and new growth.
We quickly set up camp in the rain. Once my tent was up, I retreated inside and changed into dry layers. Thankfully, the rain stopped, and I spent the evening watching the clouds dance around the top of the peaks surrounding the lake.
The next day, our group of 8 set out towards Lake Caroline, hoping to get to Windy Pass. I felt good, for once, my conditioning put me at the head of the pack instead of towards the back. It was hot, completely different weather than our pack in. The clouds still continued flowing over the barrier between Eightmile zone and Stuart, constantly changing.
The higher up we went, the views kept improving. Eventually, we were in a forest, trudging over lingering snow. I went ahead and scouted the way to Lake Caroline, making sure it was okay for our group of mixed abilities. I decided on microspikes for the final descent, and soon we were to the lake.
For most, the destination was enough as many were pretty exhausted. It would have been nice to push on to Windy Pass, but we were all pretty satisfied with our views on the way. Next time.
We went back to camp, and soaked our feet in the cold lake as we enjoyed our dinners.
It rained in the night, and as we packed up. It was a warm rain though, and I didn't bother with raingear as it was a relatively short hike out. I had warm comfortable clothing in the car.
Leavenworth bound, we enjoyed post hike beers and food in a town that reminded me of one from my youth. Leavenworth was Frankenmuth on steroids.
