Enchanted Pools and Falls Hike
	Trip Date:  04/24/2015 Distance: 6.9 Miles Vertical Gain: 350' Group Size: 5 Hike Rating:  Easy   Moderate    Hard    Strenuous	GPX for this trip
	Start Coordinates:   N 38 50.961, W 120 13.543 (or N 38 50.554, W 120 14.116 during the winter)     End Coordinates:   Same as Start Coordinates   Car Shuttle Req'd:   No Parking Directions:   Take Highway 50 to Wrights Road (west of the small town of Strawberry.)  Drive 8 miles north on Wrights Road.  Turn right at the entrance for the lake and drive about 1 mile to the Desolation Wilderness Parking area. Hazards of Note:   Cross country navigation is required for most of this hike.  Fast water at the falls and slippery footing near the water. Crowd Factor:   Moderate to busy, especially on weekends.   General Notes: The first part of this hike follows the well-travelled Twin Falls trail out of the Desolation Wilderness parking area at the coordinates provided (a mile into the hike if the Wrights Lake gate is closed.  Just past the sign where it points to Twin Lakes or Smith Lake trails, look for the "Mother/Daughter" rock high on the left side of the trail.  You will start your cross country route from here, mostly travelling on a reasonably well defined use trail.  There are sections of open granite where you may have to follow rock cairns, but for the most part stay below the cliffs to your right and keep the South Fork of Silver Creek on your left.  Reach the Enchanted Pools first, and then continue on up to the Enchanted Falls.  At the main falls the best view is from the north side, with three or four falls spilling off the rock at the same time during wet seasons. Since this is a hike into Desolation Wilderness, you will need a day permit (free at the trailhead) and the group size limit is 12.
	Wrights Lake early in the morning on an early spring day.  Normally the view of the mountains behind are spectacular but today we were just in front of a snowstorm.
	Gorgeous meadow early on the trail almost to the Desolation Wilderness trailhead.
	Two of our group making our way along the first mile with the campground gate closed.
	Not even a mile into the cross country section there were some seasonal falls that were spectacular on this day.
	My son and his fiancee paused for a moment in front of the seasonal falls we came across along the cross country section of hike.
	Heading up lots of open granite, constantly keeping the cliffs on our right as we made our way along.
	Our group checking out the lowest Enchanted Pool.
	Nice cascade from the upper Enchanted Pool down into the lower one.
	Looking down at the upper Enchanted Pool, the source of the cascade down into the lowest pool.
	Enchanted Falls from the north side viewpoint.
	Closer view of the main Enchanted Falls area.
	Our group at our lunchspot in front of the Enchanted Falls.
	View of Grass Lake from the top of where the Susie Lake Falls drop a couple hundred feet down.
	Looking north toward Emerald Bay from the peak.