Enchanatments, page 3

So we dutifully followed the new route upwards until we reached a nice bench overlooking the Snow Lakes basin. This bench was dotted with picturesque gnarled trees, as you can see from the photos.

On Trauma Rim, looking over Snow Lakes basin.

The higher we went, the more incredibly beautiful the secenery became, particulary once we reached the Lower Enchantment Basin. The shattered silver granite peaks clawed upwards towards the sun. The lakes reflected the intense blue sky, and were surrounded by a blanket of dry white snow and a sprinkling of golden Lyalls Larch! The air was crisp and cold.

Lyalls Larch, by the way, is a tree with soft needles, but it's not coniferous like fir or other needled trees ... it's deciduous. That means the needles change color in the fall. The height of this change usually comes around the first week of October and you will only find these trees in certain areas above 5900'.

We set up camp at Leprecahn Lake, right below impressive Prusik Peak.

Prusik Peak and Leprecahn Lake

This mountain is name after the prusik knot, which is a friction knot that you use when connecting cords to a rope. It slides easily in one direction, but will lock into place when moved in the other direction and weight applied. Climbers use it to connect little rope loops to a climbing rope. They tie two loops to the rope, then slide them up, putting a foot in the loop to 'lock' it in place as they advance upwards. Anyhow, the story is that the guys who did the first ascent of Prusik had to use straight aid climbing and a bit of prusiking to surmount the top block.

MMR and I spent the night in our respective tents, although he kept telling me that his was far superior to my little Eureka Timberline and suggested we would be much warmer in one tent. I told him that Micki and I were just fine.

Micki taking a break at camp.

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