Hiking the Enchantments Traverse in Leavenworth, Washington: How to Get an Overnight Permit?
Distance (Thru-Hike): 20.5 miles / 33.0 km
Surrounded by towering peaks, pristine glacial lakes, and some of the most beautiful wilderness in the country, the Enchantments Traverse is, without a doubt, one of the best backcountry trips in the lower 48!
That being said, this goes without saying that simply obtaining one of these elusive permits for either Colchuck Lake or the Core Zone, which are easily the two most desirable sites, is no easy task.
However, I only attempted to get an Enchantment permit for two years in a row before I was successful because I used a method that's a bit more guaranteed than the lottery, which you can read more about below.
How to Get an Enchantment Permit?
The easiest and most straightforward way to camp in the Enchantments is to win the lottery.
Now, that’s not as easy as it may sound, as both Colchuck Lake and the Core Zone see tens of thousands of applicants every year. This is why even Pacific Northwest locals will sometimes say they’ve been trying for a lifetime without any luck.
In any case, always enter the lottery at the beginning of the year because you never know if you’ll get lucky.
In the likely chance that you are unsuccessful in the lottery, the best method then becomes claiming one of the unpaid permits. By this, I mean that every year following the lottery, there’s always a date and time when they release the unpaid permits to the general public that lottery winners didn’t follow through on.
It is then, on this exact date and time, which is posted on the website, you need to have an account made, be logged in, have your payment method ready, and refresh the page right at the exact second.
From here, you have less than 30 seconds to claim your permit by entering the checkout menu. In my experience, the more people you try to include, the less likely you are to get a permit.
If you scroll around looking for specific dates or the number of people available, you will lose out. I mean it is truly that competitive, and I lost out my first year trying because I clicked one wrong button when it came to the type of permit I wanted, which was overnight.
Therefore, if you see dates in the middle of the summer, regardless of the month, number of people available, or consecutive nights available, just buy them! The second you start scrolling around looking for better options is when you lose out for the entire year.
Best of luck! ᨒ 🤘🏼
Book Here: Enchantment Permits
Enchantments Traverse Trailhead Parking
Parking for the Enchantments Traverse is located at either the Colchuck Lake or Snow Lakes Trailhead, with the most popular being Colchuck Lake.
That being said, we were concerned about finding a parking spot because of how popular of a day hike Colchuck Lake is, so we decided to wake up early, but to our surprise, there were designated parking spots for Enchantment permit holders. All you need to do is display your parking pass on your dashboard.
Google Maps Directions: Colchuck Lake Trailhead
Hiking Checklist - The Enchantments
Obviously, for camping, you will need general backpacking gear. For this reason, I wrote a separate post about what backpacking gear is worth the money, from my experience, and what the best alternatives are to save you money.
Read My Separate Post: Best Ultralight Backpacking Gear
In addition, here is a complete list of must-have things that you will want for any overnight hike in Washington.
Hiking the Enchantments Traverse Trail
From the Stewart-Colchuck Lake Trailhead, the total distance is roughly 4.1 miles (6.6 km).
In my opinion, it’s honestly a little unfortunate that the hike to Colchuck Lake is so short because that’s what attracts the massive amount of day hikers. However, that’s what also sets the Core Zone apart from other zones, as Aasgard Pass is a great barrier that most day hikers never climb.
In any case, the hike to Colchuck Lake is fairly straightforward. At the 5,000-ft. (1,524 m) mark, there should be a sign that states that fires are not allowed above this elevation.
Then, once at Colchuck Lake, you’ll find most of the best campsites along the west side (trail side) of the lake, which may take some searching around for. Therefore, I advise hiking in early.
Aasgard Pass
At only 1.5 miles (2.4 km) and roughly 2,200 ft. (671 m) of elevation gain, Aasgard Pass is often the most dreaded part of the Enchantments Traverse, and to give you an idea, it’s the pass to the left of Dragontail Peak in the photo above.
From the beginning of Colchuck Lake, the hike is 0.9 miles (1.4 km) to the bottom of Aasgard Pass.
That being said, if you have Core Zone permits, I personally wouldn’t stop at Colchuck Lake for the night, even though you are allowed to camp in any zone with Core Zone permits. I say this because of how crowded Colchuck Lake can be.
Regardless, as long as you hike often, trail run, and are in decent shape, Aasgard Pass is really not bad, especially if you climb it in the early morning because it’s almost entirely in the shade!
However, my experience might be flawed because I was visiting the Enchantments shortly after summiting Denali, so these elevations were kind of a breeze.
Since the Aasgard Pass is so steep, you may prefer trekking poles, such as the ones I use linked below.
My Print - The Top of Aasgard Pass
Core Zone
In total, the Core Zone is a relatively short section of the entire Enchantments Traverse, at only 3.4 miles (5.5 km) each way.
Therefore, finding a campsite should be easier than Colchuck Lake below, but many of the most popular locations around Inspiration and Perfection Lake are likely to be more competitive.
Since our permits were for Colchuck Lake only, we only decided to hike as far as the end of the Core Zone and back.
According to the National Forest Service, the end of the Core Zone is right at Lake Viviane, which is also the viewpoint above Upper Snow Lake. This will make more sense visually when you get there because, from Lake Viviane, the Enchantments Trail starts to drop significantly in elevation for the entirety of the hike to the Snow Lake Trailhead.
Additional Early Season Gear
Depending on the winter snowpack and time in the season, the Core Zone can be covered in snow into the middle of July.
For this reason, micro-spikes may be a must on upper-elevation trails until at least the second week of July, and possibly even later.
I personally use the Yaktrax below.
My Print - The Top of Aasgard Pass
Lake Olrun
From the top of Aasgard Pass, the trail through the Core Zone is much milder in regards to elevation changes compared to the hike up to this point, making it a very fun place to explore!
Inspiration Lake
In my opinion, Inspiration Lake was the most beautiful of all the lakes in the Core Zone, and it’s where I would have chosen to set up camp had we scored permits up here.
I say this because it’s not only a very beautiful place to camp and swim, but Inspiration Lake is more central to most of the rest of the Core Zone.
Perfection Lake
Following Inspiration Lake, Perfection Lake is located shortly after, where you’ll want to continue down the north side of the lake to navigate down these cliffs.
Lake Viviane
Finally, the Core Zone ends at the mouth of Lake Viviane, where the trail begins to descend steeply down into the Snow Lakes Basin.
Along with Aasgard Pass, this is also the part of the trail that most hikers dread.
Snow Lakes Basin
From Lake Viviane to the Snow Lake Trailhead, the Enchantments Trail descends for about 10.4 miles (16.7 km), completing the entire traverse.
That being said, the rest of the trail isn’t called the 'Snow Lake Slog' for no reason. Essentially, the Enchantments Traverse has so much to offer up until Snow Lake, but when the trail leaves the lakes and descends back below the tree line, most consider this to be the most boring and tedious part of the trail.
However, this was the one part of the traverse that I have yet to do, being that it didn’t make sense with our permits for Colchuck Lake.
My Camping Experience at Colchuck Lake
When we first arrived at Colchuck Lake, we were incredibly happy with the campsite we chose, and it was marked as a designated campsite on the map.
However, over the course of our three-day stay, we constantly had to keep telling people to get out of our campsite. We would do everything to try and show that it was our campsite by setting up all of our hammocks and hanging clothes on lines, among other things. I don’t know why people were so rude and entitled, but they would literally push our stuff aside to help themselves to a campsite that we were happy to have.
We constantly had to keep telling people that, no, our campsite was not where the trail was, and that they were actually off-trail. Some people would listen, and some people would rudely disregard us and come in anyway. Patience really runs short after dealing with the 100th hiker of the day.
That being said, the shoreline around Colchuck Lake is huge, and I have no idea why people constantly kept insisting that our campsite was where they were going to swim, and I mean they would literally get out of the lake then walk by our tents, splashing water on our gear.
It’s truly unfortunate, but Colchuck Lake is too short of a hike, and Seattle is too big of a city, which inevitably attracts the wrong crowd. For this reason, I like harder hikes because it always weeds out the numbers.
All said, if you’re looking for a more secluded backcountry trip with your friends, there are so many better options than how popular the Enchantments are, which you can read more about below.
My Print - Colchuck Lake
Other Backcountry Trips I Recommend Instead
If you weren’t successful at obtaining an Enchantment permit or are just taking my advice from above, check out some of these other backpacking options!
Seriously, there are much better and much less-crowded places than the Enchantments.
Safety
There are black bears found throughout Washington, and while hiking in black bear territory usually presents less danger compared to grizzlies, hiking with bear spray is never a bad idea. However, it’s really up to your own comfort level.
On top of this, some of the biggest risk associated with the Enchantments is rockfall on Aasgard Pass. If there are other hikers above you, consider giving some space or staggering yourself to lessen the chance of being struck, if rocks were to come down.
