101 Things

A few summers ago, a friend of mine asked me if I wanted to join him for a Death March. How could I say no to a Death March? I said no. I’ve regretted it ever since.

The Death March, also known as the Enchantments Traverse, is a twenty-mile hike with over a mile of elevation gain through the Enchantment Lakes Basin, one of the prettiest places anywhere ever. If you are lucky enough to get one of the coveted camping permits, you can do the traverse at a more leisurely pace. Eric and I, of course, wanted no part of that.



Our original plan was to climb Prusik Peak while we were at it, because man, a twenty-mile hike? We can do better! But then the weather looked really cold in the basin, and we looked at all those warm clothes and decided we’d rather carry them without also carrying a rope and harnesses and climbing gear.


By the time we’d hiked ten miles uphill to get into the lower basin and caught our first view of Prusik Peak, all while making really good time, I was basically insane with regret that we hadn’t set our alarm for 3 AM so we could climb that thing. Look at that thing!


Two summers ago, the idea of a 20+ mile uphill hike sounded terrifying, and then this weekend I couldn’t get rid of the nagging feeling that we were not being hardcore enough.


Then five miles later the downpour started and oh thank goodness we didn’t climb Prusik Peak.



Another fun sufferfest with Eric! Even with the downpour, it was a pretty great day, and I loved it.



THING #6: DONE. (20/101)