An Enchantments Proposal

The Proposal at Prusik Pass <3

With all that's going on in the world right now, and wanting to break my writing block, I am finally sitting down to write about last summer's epic trip to the Enchantments and getting proposed to after hiking up to Prusik Pass.

Cody and I have been dating for almost 4 years now. How did we meet? On Bumble:) We had a bunch of backpacking trips planned last summer, ending the epic summer backpacking plans with a 3 night/4 day trip to the Enchantments. Cody and I had talked about getting engaged for a few months by then, and we even went ring shopping in July, so I knew it was coming, but I just didn't know when! Was it going to be on our Canada backpacking trip to Berg Lake? Or how about our fire lookout stay at Red Top while we were volunteering with the Forest Service? But as each trip came and went... Cody never popped the question! Cody could totally tell I was getting annoyed lol. Then things got rough at my work, I was super stressed leading up to our Enchanments trip, and I actually even considered canceling on my friends because my work life was so stressful and I was super unhappy. But in the end, I opted to go unpaid (cuz I ran out of vacation days last year....) and just unplug from reality for a week and it was totally worth it! I had already also given up hope that Cody was going to propose to me on some epic backpacking trip lol.

When did we go? Tuesday-Friday September 3-6, 2019
Who went? Katherine, Mateo, Amanda, Kaelee, Andrew, Cody, and me

That Tuesday morning, my friends and I met up at Stuart Lake Trailhead to hike to Colchuck that day. Our plans were to camp at Colchuck for a night, then continue into the Upper Enchantments the following day, and camp the following 2 nights in the Core, and then hike out on Friday.

Our conga line on Colchuck

Our day at Colchuck was spent swimming in the lake, making conga lines with our sleep pads while floating around the lake, and then ended the afternoon with some mountain yoga with Andrew and some night photography of the starry night.

Day 2 we all woke up bright and early knowing we had a hard day ahead, going up Aasgard Pass... per WTA, it's almost 2000 ft elevation gain in less than a mile. Katherine, Mateo, Cody, and I made up the caboose of our group but we eventually all made it up and reunited with the rest of our friends and found the perfect camp site for the rest of our trip. We all took another lake dip and just lounged around our campsite that day. I still had no idea that Cody was going to propose to me on this trip.

Proposal Day!

On day 3, Amanda, Kaelee, and Andrew decided to hike up Little Annapurna, while Mateo, Katherine, and I took our time making breakfast and told the group we would meet up with them a lil bit later down the trail to go hike to Gnome Tarn.

After spying our friends on the peak of Little Annapurna, our group hiked out. First in search of a toilet, then to hike on to explore the rest of the area and find Gnome Tarn. I didn't know this at the time, but while we were stopped at the toilet near Isolation Lake, that was when Cody slipped the ring into his pocket. From there we hiked on and our friends caught up to us. We were in search of that lil tarn still and decided we needed to go up to Prusik Pass so we could get a better view of the area and to see if we could spy it from higher grounds. While Kaelee, Amanda, and Andrew led the pack, we got to the top of the saddle and that's when our entire group split up... Amanda, Kaelee, and Andrew kept hiking up, while Mateo walked to the other side of the saddle to get a better view.

We found Gnome Tarn btw:)

That's when I asked Katherine to take a photo of Cody and me. Which was apparently what Cody had been waiting for since he had slipped the ring into his pocket... was for me to ask someone to take a photo of us! We got into position, then Cody asked me what pose he should do, then he dropped into a push up position (which is not abnormal), which I then proceed to lecture him about how he was wasting energy and that he really needed to just stand up and take a normal photo, Cody then also asked, "How about the pro-pose?"... then Katherine goes, "You know, it sure looks like he's about to propo...." In which I look over and Cody's on one knee with a ring out..... AHHHHH, I had not expected this! We don't even know if he actually said the words, "Will you marry me?" Cuz you know, you kinda just black out and go through the motions. Also, no one saw the proposal but Katherine, the rest of the group just heard me yelling, "CODY JUST PROPOSED". He put the ring on my dirty finger and I probably said yes! (Again we both apparently blacked out and just went through the movements, so who knows if I actually said yes)

 Cody, stop wasting your energy, we still have to hike back!

Caught me off guard

We all eventually caught up with each other, found Gnome Tarn, and then proceeded to go swimming in Lake Perfection. But before I jumped into the lake, Cody did ask for the ring back lol. He didn't want me losing it in the lake....

We all caught an amazing sunset that night and talked about how this trip was probably the best trip of the summer. Which, looking back, even if the proposal didn't happen, it was pretty amazing. We couldn't have asked for a better group of friends to be with, we went swimming every single day, and we made friends with a bunch of goats!

 Definitely got lucky with all the clear nights we got on this trip!

Milky Way over Upper Enchantments

That Friday was a drag of a hike out, our group opted to go back down Aasgard Pass and exit the same way we came in. Katherine, Mateo, Cody, and I ended our day in Leavenworth with brats at Munchen Haus. Of course I made several phone calls to my family and friends when we got service.

What a trip to end the summer.

So yeah, there's my proposal story:)

Until next time Enchantments!

Thanks for these photos Andrew! (@fieldstoferries)

The perfect day at Perfection Lake

And here are some more photos from our trip just cuz....

 Love Katherine's art! @arts_of_katherine

 Thanks to Mateo for scoring the permits and thanks to Katherine for mapping out the trip!