As the world plunged into chaos we loaded the Saab Wagon up with gear and set out on a 2-week roadtrip across the country. Packed with everything we needed to be self-sufficient for those 2 weeks we reached the Enchantments in Washington State’s Cascade Mountains. We had managed to win a lottery for the high coveted core zone passes to the enchantments and weren’t about to waste them. Out of some 19k applicants a mere 350 of these passes are given out in a given year.
We chose the trusty 2008 Saab 9-5 Sportcombi for the challenge. Big enough for all our gear and fast enough to make even a drive through the Midwest feel exciting. We stopped in Chicago for their version of Pizza and pressed on. We stopped somewhere for a quick 2 hour nap on the side of the road and then pressed right through until we hit Salt Lake City Utah where we finally rested for the night. With the light traffic and laissez-faire attitude of the various police departments we had managed to turn a 30 hour trip into just under 27 hours including stops and the nap.
The next day we arrived into Washington State, met our travel partners Kevin and Julia at the AirBnB we rented and began packing for the trip to come.
What came next is better described through pictures. 5 days and ~35 miles through some of the most beautiful landscapes in the world. We camped alpine lakes and 8,000′ outcrops over glaciers with Mount Rainier in the background all while surrounded by the indigenous mountain goats and very few other human beings.
Photo 📸 credit to Dan & Ryan
