Enchantments page 6: Loop dayhike, part 1

On day 4 the plan was to hike up to nearby Prusik Pass, and on either to the Druid Plateau, or the Shield Lake below, then return to camp and pack on down to Snow Lake. But a steep snow slope on the north side of Prusik Pass undid both of those plans. Instead, we hiked up a hill to near Prusik Peak and decided to do a cross-country loop that took in Gnome Lake, down to Temple Lake, and around the east side of Viviane Lake and to the trail to return to camp. This was a spectacular loop, but took longer than we expected, more than 6 hours.

The trail up to Prusik Pass, about 1 mile from and 300 feet above Perfection Lake

Shield Lake

Viviane Lake, the eastern entrance to the Enchantments

Perfection Lake, Inspiration Lake to the right, and the northern slopes of Little Annapurna

We were a bit early for alpine flowers, but some were starting to show

Inspiration Lake

Can't remember which lake this is

Once again, Perfection Lake, Inspiration behind.

The continuing views of Prusik Peak. Starting from the west, looking east at its steeple. The hike continued east till we were seeing it from the south.

Back to Perfection Lake camp or on to conclusion of loop hike