9/29, Saturday, partly cloudy. My alarm set off at 5:30am, not the first person who got up. I could hear cars going up to Colchuck TH, one by one. Ate two bites of bread and some cucumbers. Only then, I realized that I forgot my sandwich in the office fridge! So packed all my food. 47°F, the car said when we drove to Snow Lakes TH. The lot was full and plenty cars parked on the road. A couple of girls hitching a ride on the road. A shuttle bus came, we geared up, and paid $25/pp to the driver. About 10 hikers already on board. 6:30am, he drove to Colchuck TH. Maybe 1/4 mile of cars parked by the road. We were dropped off at the trailhead. I put up gaiters and two hiking poles, while Olga filled up the day hike permit. She didn't bother with any of these "extra" tools.
We started hiking a few minutes before 7am. I have never seen so many people on a trail before. We passed a series of folks and were passed by a few. There are also runners, climbers (with crampons and ice tools). 
What I had for breakfast was not enough. 1:30hr later, I had to make a rest stop here to eat a Lara Bar. I was having a minor headache, need more blood sugar. ~20 minutes later, we arrived Colchuck Lake, still dark in the shade.
It takes ~3/4 an hour to walk around Colchuck to the base of the gully towards Assgard Pass. Some boulder hopping and traffic jam. Before the real climb, I stopped and had another Lara Bar. 
I didn't reached the pass until 11:30am. This is the view looking down Colchuck Lake, and mountains beyond. Could barely make out Glacier Peak. Somewhat cloudy. Chilly here. People scattered here and there, a very busy place.
A little later, I found Olga behind a big rock in a knee length down jacket. I have no idea how long she had waited. From then on, we more or less stayed together. Cooked lunch at the shore of Isolation Lake(s), one of my favorite lakes here. Relaxed, and admired the surrounding.
Crowds thinned out, as there were now more room to roam. Both upper and lower basins are utterly beautiful. This morning, I was vowing not to return, due to the crowd/traffic. Now I felt such a bliss, yeah, I wanted to be back. I took 193 photos today! Upper basin is more rocky, more tarns, more dramatic. Lower basin has more larches, golden everywhere, deeper lakes.
We had plenty time to wander, so took a side trip to Prusik Pass. Didn't encounter anyone until at the pass. Besides the golden larch, there were some red huckleberry adding the color, no berries. 
Perfection Lake from this side, and Shield and Earle Lake down the north side of Prusik Pass. Saw one guy dangling on the wall of Prusik Peak. I'm sure there were more climbers.We also visited the peninsular of Leprechaun Lake to look for my old camp site. I refilled 1L of water. My bottle rolled off to the lake. It was quite easy to fetch the bottle with my pole! That was ~4pm.
No goats!
~4:20, we headed down from Vivian Lake, keeping the waterfall to the right. I don't remember having these many iron bars before? Steep downhill. We planned to cook dinner at Snow Lake and watch sunset. Well, no sunset today. Clouds were thickening. The water level was also too low at upper Snow Lake. 
It takes ~30 minutes to get to the dam between the two Snow Lakes. Lots of logs jammed to the upper end of the dam. Here, Lower Snow Lake surface could be easily reached from trail. Some campsites here. Olga didn't like it here for some reason. So we continued down hill to Nada Lake. The releasing valve was on, and water jet was shooting out into the sky. Cooked dinner by Nada Lake.After dinner, almost 7pm. It was getting dark quickly. We lost trail twice, briefly. Olga was good locating trails. Very soon it was pitch dark. Moon wouldn't rise until much later. A few headlight here and there. The rest of the trail is tedious. Lots of rocks and roots, so had to pay attention to where our feet land. We reached the car at 9:44pm.
Back to the camp, I walked to the same water spigot to wash and fill water.
My phone registered 64600 steps today.
Surprisingly warm night.
9/30, Sunday. I woke up around 7am. Tent was dry. I cooked breakfast. Olga only had tea. She planned to eat a sausage breakfast in Leavenworth. Well, no one serves bratwurst this early. Already in the 60°F's, not 9am yet. 1/3 of the art dealers were open. I didn't know it was autumn festival weekend. Plenty tourists up early. Quite a number of old Corvettes, one Cobra Jet, one Ford, a few Mustangs. A parade is scheduled later on. Olga found a place open for breakfast, not the bratwurst she had hoped. I looked up WTA for a hike nearby.
Sauer Mountain is a few miles south of Leavenworth, on our way, off the town of Peshastin. On the way there, we stopped at one fruit stand, bought some apples and pears. Olga bought a whole box. Since I had to take a train home, couldn't buy much. 
6 miles, 2000' EG seems like an easy option. Good view across the Hwy2 fruit valley and the south. Can see the peaks of the Enchantments under thick clouds. We took to the "viewpoint" sign at one junction. Then continued onward. Not really worth it. We did take the first junction to the left. I like it better than the one to the right. Just before the final accent, there're these logging trucks, and a few down trees. Nothing difficult. Yes, there's a road here. I think I shall come here again in May. Saw many dead balsamroot and lupine leaves. Snow would grace the peaks in late spring. Probably will be very busy then. We saw ~15 people today, including 4 toddlers.Drove home, with 2 stops for gas and restroom. Olga didn't use any restroom on the way back. Amazing. I was dropped off ~6:30pm. Early enough to unpack and clean everything.
