Memorial Day Weekend in the Core Enchantment Zone
Mountain goat on the way up to Little Annapurna
Trip Dates: Thursday, May 25-Monday, May, 29, 2023
Location: The Enchantments near Leavenworth, WA
Permits Required: Yes, for overnight stays
On an ordinary Wednesday evening in May, we hit the jackpot. I decided to check Recreation.gov for any open Core Enchantment Zone permits. Occasionally, you can get lucky and find random days in the middle of summer weeks. Because I have a more flexible summer schedule, I figured, “why not just check?”
This year was the 5th year in a row that I have lost the annual Enchantment Permit Lottery. Even with <3% chance of winning Core Enchantment permits, I convince myself every year to at least try. I’ll admit that I don’t make it easy on myself - I have historically only bid on the Core Zone during the busiest times of the summer.
Imagine my reaction when I noticed two available permits pop up for the Core Zone over Memorial Day weekend. I immediately put them in my cart, crossing my fingers that a ‘system error’ wouldn’t ruin my excitement. I was practically shaking […is it me? am I the drama?] as I progressed through the final steps. Also, leave it to me to accidentally book a permit for 1 instead of 2 people. Luckily, I was able to go in and change that right away (phew!) We knew there was a strong likelihood of the Core Zone still being covered with snow, but after a brief discussion, we were IN!
Leading up to Memorial Day Weekend, Washington had a series of very warm days. We kept a (somewhat) close eye on conditions, trying to decide if it was worth bringing our skis. After reading a few recent trip reports, we decided to bring the skis. But after doing some last-minute Instagram research on the drive to Leavenworth, and seeing real-time images and videos of the trail from Snow Lake up to the Core Zone, we turned the car around to drop the skies and bring our hiking boots instead. While this added a solid 90 minutes to our journey to the trailhead, it was absolutely the right decision. We would have destroyed our feet hiking the entire way up in ski boots, only to maybe use our skis once. Yikes!
Our plan for day 1 was to go from Snow Lakes Trailhead to the Core Zone to find our camping spot for the weekend. This was my first backpacking trip of the year, and while my cardio was solid, the hike in was rougher than I expected. My watch clocked us in at 9ish miles and ~7K of elevation gain. I chronically overpack, and we needed climbing gear as well, so I estimate that my pack weighed at least 50lbs. The last mile leading up to Lake Viviane was real steep; a sloth would have traveled faster than me at this point. Each step felt like a huge effort and by the time we reached the top, I had lost all color in my face. Oooof, hello backpacking season!
We arrived at Lake Viviane right as the sun was setting and decided to set up camp [thank goodness!] We anticipated camping on snow, so imagine our surprise when we found a campsite on dirt (yay!) It did get chilly after the sun set, but that’s why we have puffy jackets, hats, and warm beverages :) We brought one of our favorite tents with us: the MSR Remote™ 2 Two-Person Mountaineering Tent. While it is on the heavier side for a backpacking tent, it is roomy and has a really large vestibule with lots of room for gear. We wanted to be prepared for all conditions, so we played it safe! I’m also glad we had a bigger tent since we spent more time inside of it than normal because of the cold.
We woke up on day 2 to a visit from one of the many resident goats looking for some tasty pee. Minerals, like sodium and chloride, are harder to find in the alpine [side note, alpine = high mountains where the environment is too harsh to support tree growth. It starts somewhere around 5K feet in Washington State] Some of the main minerals we excrete in urine are…sodium and chloride (aka salt). The goats also like to munch on sweaty clothes, shoes, pole straps…so be careful. I’ve had my hiking poles munched on before!
On the itinerary for day 2 was checking out the route up to the base of Prusik Peak (which we planned to climb the next day) and summiting Little Annapurna. The route to Little Annapurna was straight-forward and an easy summit to grab. The views of Prusik Peak were stunning and got us really excited (and me, a little nervous!) for the next day. As you can see in the photo below, we were running from a storm for much of the day, but we managed to stay fairly clear of the rain.
Jude on the summit of Little Annapurna
Jude in front of Prusik Peak
The wind majestically blowing the fur of “the perfect goat” on the summit of Little Annapurna.
Can you find the ptarmigan?
On day 3, we woke up before 5am so we could get to Prusik Peak early. It’s a popular climb , and we anticipated being slower than other groups. I’m planning to do a separate write-up of Prusik Peak, but I will say this for now: it was awesome! And I give a lot of props to those who climb it as a C2C. WOW, that would be a huge day.
Views of Lake Viviane at dusk from our campsite
On day 4, we slept in and had a slower morning before packing up the campsite and starting our descent. The descent from Lake Viviane back to Snow Lake Trailhead is almost as brutal as the way up. It’s also long, and by the time you reach the last series of - what feels like - 20+ switchbacks, you’re very ready to be back at the car. It was a really warm day, so we were so grateful for AC in the car and cold beers in Leavenworth later that day!
Thoughts on timing
Pros:
Few crowds - we saw 3 other groups total (and very briefly). It felt like we had all of the Core Zone to ourselves.
The snow was beautiful! I loved seeing it contrasting against the newly budding spring.
Easy to find lots of open campsites, although some were in snow.
Cons:
It was pretty cold later in the evening after the sun set. We had to hunker down inside the tent to stay warm enough.
Post-holing - we opted not to bring snowshoes, so found ourselves post-holing during especially warm times of the day. I had my mountaineering boots and gaiters, so both provided a layer of protection to keep my feet dry. If you’re not used to snow travel, you likely would want to bring snowshoes and micro spikes.
You’ll most likely need snow camping gear in order to stay warm at night.
Weather conditions can be more variable during this time of year.
