Back from a week in the Enchantments

[danderson]

  I just got back from a week of hiking and exploring in the Enchantments, 2 years in a row of drawing a limited entry permit,  what some may have said is like next to impossible I find its much easier than you would imagine, there's a five dollar a day fee per person to over night in one of the five zones, my personal favorite is the core zone it allows you to camp over night in any of the 5 zones the core zone is the most popular since that's were most of the mt goats are located and were most the climbable peaks are at, for me I say climbable because I'm not a rock climber but just someone willing to push myself to go a little beyond my comfort range, you could choose to through hike the entire route but let me tell you its not for the average hiker more not even the  average trail runner,they airlifted a guy off the mountain we were climbing while we were up there think he fell and broke his leg didn't hear,  I have seen seasoned marathon runners reduced to mush the higher route is dotted with rock faces that not only wear out the soles of the best hiking boots but demand 3 points of contact that makes for what I would call a bit more experience than the average Joe hikers, give the lottery a try this spring its only 7 dollar application fee in the spring through recreation.gov to apply you choose 3 different start dates if drawn plenty of time to plan and get a group together, I have all my friends put in every year so the odds are much better for us seems like one of our group draws one of the 5 zones each year,odds are much better  than drawing a quality hunting tag by a long shot, here's just a taste of what you can expect.another great thing about hiking in the permit season is its almost deserted in the core area making for a truly spectacular experance

[BDildine]

  awesome shots! Sounds like a heck of an excursion, might have to look into that further down the line

[kentrek]

Is the "enchantments" a park ?? Why is it so special ? Where is it even at ?

I guess I could google...

[bracer40]

Those are beautiful photos. A couple of those goats look awfully close.

[bowhunterforever]

Those are beautiful photos. A couple of those goats look awfully close.

[pope]

Those are beautiful photos. A couple of those goats look awfully close.

They love to lick the sweat off an abandoned backpack.

If you go up there in spring, expect snow and lots of it. My favorite time is late fall when cold nights thin out the bugs and autumn colors pervade.

[Skyvalhunter]

Yes the goats like posing for a photo shot up there. Good you got to spend more time up there than the one day hike thru I have done.

[danderson]

  One thing that people need to know about being around goats especially for extended trips is never pee in your camp, they will run ya right out of your spot, a little knowledge about the rules in the Enchantment can be found on recreation.com interacting with Mt goats, we found them very layed back friendly and comical most all the time, pee is like crack to goats so don't give um any and you will be fine.

[Elkrunner]

thats awesome.

[3dvapor]

Did you try fishing the lake behind your camp?

[Elkrunner]

If you draw a tag and pee, would that be considered baiting?

[danderson]

  I didn't fish, but I seen fish in just about every creek and body of water most fish I seen were pretty small 6 inch and under, you cant have fires in there so cooking fish would be a bit messy and I had all my dehydrated food pretty much planned out for each day, I don't think these goats are in a area that's open for hunting but it wouldn't be much of of hunt regardless, I don't know how there regulated don't see any sign of predators but obviously something is controlling the population because every one of these mamma goats had a kid I seen a few with twins, they probably get snatched up closer to Leavenworth were I know there's a pretty good cat population, not much cover in the higher elevations.

[Tjv28]

Awesome trip d. I was up there 7? Years ago I think. We had a pissing rock 50 yards from camp. One time my dad was on the rock peeing and a huge billy was dancing around at his feet... It was absolute one of the funniest things I've ever seen. He kept saying get back vermin! Get back! Did you scramble up little Annapurna? Or dragon tail? It's killer up there

[Tree Killer]

Awesome stuff danderson!    The Enchantments are on my bucketlist. 

Have camera, will travel! 

[danderson]

Yeah we climbed little Annapurna, had a pretty good snow field to cross just below the summit was straight up for about 100 yards at about a 75 degree slope we kicked in our steps since on one had crampons, had a great view from the top