Blanca Lake, A Turquoise Jewel

Blanca Lake's stunning beauty

The Cascade Mountains offer hundreds of beautiful lakes to hike in to.  A whole group of  hikers specialize in alpine lakes where they spend hours catching and releasing high altitude trout.  The most popular lakes are ones that are easy drives from Seattle including, Snow Lake, Lake Annette, and Lake 22.  These lakes are lovely, accessible, and sometimes even crowded.  A lake out of Skykomish that's a little harder to reach, called Blanca, is absolutely sublime.  Given the setting, the size (179 acres) and the beautiful color of the water, Blanca Lake has much more to offer.  In comparison, those other popular lakes are quaint and pretty.

Mt. Kyes above Blanca Lake

Blanca Lake was formed in the basin of Mt. Kyes.  Its lovely hue comes from glacial melt of the near-by Columbia Glacier.  Tumbling out of the lake is Troublesome Creek that forms the Troublesome (or Blanca Lake) Waterfalls.  Be careful if you bushwhack your way to have a peak at the falls--the footing is treacherous, and the stunted spruce that jealously guard the view can spring you over the edge if you are not careful.  Hiking with kids, I might not even let them go beyond the mouth of the creek.

Troublesome Falls

The trail to the lake is in good shape, but it goes up and down, so the 3 plus miles to the lake play much longer. The hike starts at 1900 ft then climbs to a ridge at 4600'.  It opens up a bit, and skirts Virgin Lake. Soon after hiking past Virgin Lake, you'll begin a descent to Blanca that can be steep in places. Trekking poles are a great idea for anyone over 30.

Virgin Lake

Blanca Lake's elevation is just under 4000 ft.  Obviously, this means the possibility of snow covering the trail in the early summer.  Give yourself a little extra time on the way out--remember, you have to make up the 600 feet you lost when you hiked down from Virgin Lake.  At a solid 7 1/2 miles round trip, Blanca Lake is a full day hike.  Campsites are available around the lake.  On the Tuesday we arrived, no one was camping over night.  Two mountaineers were through hiking to the other end of the lake.  They were planning some peak bagging above Monte Cristo.

To reach the trailhead, drive east on Hwy 2.  One mile past the town of Skykomish, turn left on Beckler Road (FR 65).  You'll be headed down Forest Service roads which aren't bad initially . . .

Here are the rest of the details from the WTA website:

 After turning onto Beckler, "the pavement ends at 6.9 miles. Continue north for another 5.8 miles, coming to a 5-way intersection (Jack Pass). Take the second left, the route signed as closed 3.2 miles ahead. Follow it downhill 2.4 miles. Just after crossing the North Fork Skykomish River is a junction and restricted access sign. Turn right onto FR 63 and drive 2.0 potholed miles, turning left into the trailhead parking area (elev. 1900 ft)."