🏔 Wilderness
The Enchantments
About This Permit
The Enchantments core zone in Washington's Alpine Lakes Wilderness is consistently the most competitive wilderness permit in the Pacific Northwest. This subalpine granite landscape — with autumn larch forests, turquoise lakes, and resident mountain goats — accepts tens of thousands of lottery applicants for just 32 nightly core zone permits.
Frequently Asked Questions
When does the Enchantments lottery open?
The annual overnight lottery opens in February on recreation.gov. Results are announced before the summer permit season begins. Day users entering the core zone also need a free self-issued day-use permit — you cannot enter the core zone without one even for a day hike.
What are the Enchantments permit zones?
The permit area is divided into five zones: Core (most competitive, covering the main Enchantments lakes basin), Snow, Colchuck, Stuart, and Eightmile/Caroline. Each zone has its own quota and is a separate lottery entry.
What are the odds of winning the Enchantments core zone lottery?
Very low — typically a few percent for peak summer weekends. The lottery is by far the most reliable path; a small number of last-minute cancellations do appear on recreation.gov outside of lottery season.
Key Facts
- State
- WA
- Season
- May 15 – October 31
- Quota
- 24 people/day in the core zone (16 via advance lottery + 8 via daily lottery)
- Trailhead
- Snow Lake TH (upper) / Colchuck Lake TH / Icicle Creek TH (lower)
- Entry Point
- Colchuck Lake Trailhead
- Difficulty
- 5/5(Nearly impossible)
Get an SMS the moment a cancellation opens — we scan every 60 seconds.
Set an Alert for This Permit