In September 2017, 6 friends, my boyfriend and I climbed 7500’ up into the Cascade mountains to a remote region in Washington known as The Enchantments: an alpine wonderland of granite, larch, and stunning natural architecture.
The Enchantments are the stuff of legends. The area is protected, and overnight camping (which is basically a necessity on the 18-mile, grueling adventure) is permitted only by a strict lottery system. There are 5 “zones” that make up The Enchantments, with the most prized permits being those that allow overnight camping in the “Core” zone.
What are your favorite hikes? For the next week I’ll post a link to one of my favorite local hikes every day in the comments so please stop back by!
Some folks I know have applied to the lottery for over 5 years and never received a permit. My friend Pete and I lucked out on our first try (crazy!), and I can honestly say this particular hike will stay with me the rest of my life.
One of the best parts of the trail are the mountain goats. Yep, goats. You hear tales of them being attracted to the salt in hikers urine and becoming too friendly with through-hikers in the hopes of snagging a lick. A goat is a muscly few-hundred pounds of mischief and can be quite dangerous if provoked to charge (especially when hiking narrow ridge lines, and precarious cliffs).
Our camp ground was goat paradise. Specifically baby goat paradise (cute!). We chose a secluded, circular area filled with grass, which in retrospect must have been their pasture. It didn’t help that Pete chose to ignore all the advice we heard, and peed on a nearby rock. Goat antics ensued. This is actually really bad trail etiquette and I do not condone this behavior, and now Pete doesn’t either. We woke up to 4-6 goats in the camp every morning, but had only peaceful (and charming) encounters with them.
We opted for a 4 day trip that basically broke down like this:
Day One: Hike 5+ miles and 5,000’ elevation. Day one was brutal, especially with a 50-lb pack in late summer! Thank goodness for that legalized (and very lightweight!) mary jane to ease my muscles at camp!
Day Two: Hike another 5+ miles and 2,500’ elevation. Establish a basecamp at the foot of the Core.
Day Three: Explore the Core and spend time enjoying camp!
Day Four: Hike all the way out! To be clear that’s over 10 miles and over 7,500’ of elevation to drop in 1 day. We did it because a huge rain storm was coming in and we wanted to sleep in our warm dry beds. Ultimately worth it, but physically tough!
None of these photos are touched up. I don’t claim to be a photographer. I took the photos on my iPhone and that’s all there is to it. No filters, no photoshop. The Enchantments are just naturally beautiful!
You’ll notice that there’s a certain kind of haze in a lot of these pictures. That’s because when we hiked into the Core wildfires were raging in the forests around us. In fact, we had to adapt our hiking route at the last minute to avoid zones that had been closed due to fires!
Last but not least, I can’t close this series without a post of me and my love on this adventure. This man makes my heart swoon (a lot) and he’s the only one I’d want to talk me through climbing down the side of a rock cliff with nothing to hold onto. (A good friend sent me this pic, and I do think she edited it a bit. But I love it, so I had to include it.)
Hope you enjoyed hearing about this adventure. If you ever have the chance to do this hike don’t think about it just say YES. It’s a once in a lifetime kind of thing.
What are your favorite hikes? Leave links below! For the next week I’ll post a link to one of my favorite local hikes every day in the comments so please stop back by!
I’m new here and intend to use steemit to share thoughts on artistic practice, arts opportunities, my personal projects, and other fun things happening in my world--like hiking!
The last few days I wrote some heavier articles on Theatre of the Oppressed and Equity in Art Making, so I decided to switch it up today and share some of the things I do for self-care to decompress! For me, there is nothing like being out in nature.
To start my time on steemit right, I’m doing the #DolphinSchool Bootcamp with @markmorris, and will be putting out some content every day!
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