On this three night backpacking trip in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness, we hiked in via the Stuart Lake trailhead to Colchuck Lake.

TRIP PLANNING

• distance & elevation gain to Colchuck Lake campsite: 4.5 miles, 2,300 ft. gain
• best months: July – September
• location: Alpine Lakes Wilderness; nearest town: Leavenworth
• land management: Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest
• trail conditions: Colchuck Lake Trail #1599A
• hike description: Washington Trails Association – Colchuck Lake
• permits: overnight camping in the Enchantments requires a limited overnight permit available each spring via a lottery process
• trailhead pass: NW Forest Pass
• regulations: campfires and dogs are not allowed
• note: this area is extremely popular and gets overcrowded on weekends, so trips during the week are highly recommended

Day 1

backpack in to campsite
4.5 miles, 2,300 ft. gain

Starting at the Stuart Lake trailhead, we hiked in to our campsite at Colchuck Lake. The first two miles are an easy hike through the forest next to Mountaineer Creek.

Cross the creek on a bridge and the next mile begins to ascend a little more steeply. The last mile to Colchuck is much steeper, with a lot of rock steps that can be challenging to navigate with a full pack on. At first, I went the wrong direction after the bridge, scrambling on the boulders until I realized it wasn’t the trail.

We made it! We finally had views of Colchuck Lake with Dragontail Peak and Colchuck Peak.

Once at the lake, we made our way around, up and down larger rock, following the trail around the lake to the campsite.

Day 2

This was week number five in a row of backpacking trips for me, and I almost didn’t go on this trip due to back issues, so I hung out with another friend at the campsite all day while the rest of our friends went up Aasgard Pass to the Core Enchantments.

We hiked around a bit to take photos, napped, and went wading and swimming at a small lake next to our campsite.

At dusk, we ran around to take photos of the sunset, then we stayed up late to see the stars, laying on top of a large rock slab for a better view. The milky way was in full view, and we saw a big shooting star. At night in our tents, we could hear a rock avalanche that sounded like loud thunder on one of the peaks surrounding us.

Day 3

It was much cooler and windy on this day, so we hung around the campsite, spending a lot of time at the smaller lake where it was warmer and out of the wind.

Day 4

hike out to trailhead
4.5 miles with 2,300 ft. elevation loss

After breakfast we hiked out, and stopped in Leavenworth for lunch before the long drive home (5.5 hours) back to Portland.