Blanca Lake, 7.26.14
There is a reason the mountains here are called The Cascades. Water is everywhere. Creeks, rivers, waterfalls and of course thousands of lakes of all shapes and sizes. I've seen many, many gorgeous lakes but today our hike to Blanca lake was as spectacular as any I have ever laid my eyes upon.
Neighbor Greg and I hit the trail this morning at 7:50AM and hiked a little over three miles and 2,700' of vertical gain to get to a ridge top pass. As we approached we began to get our first views of where we were headed. Our first destination was to Blanca Lake buried deep in a hole between Columbia Peak and Kyes Peak. Our first view was of Kyes Peak rising above the valley. When we got to the pass, mighty Glacier Peak towered to the northeast.
Greg on the trail with Kyes Peak
Beautiful Glacier Peak
Once we hit the pass it was agonizing to have to drop steeply down 600' in the next half mile on a very rough trail full of roots, mud and rocks. our eyes were constantly looking at every step but after a half mile we came around a corner and there it was - Blanca Lake!
The water is an amazing milky green color due to glacial silt that floats in the water. It is truly a sight to behold. We hiked down to the lake shore to where the lake poured out from the outlet stream. It was running really heavy and there wasn't an easy way to cross the outlet without taking off the boots and getting soaked so we just took pictures and soaked up the views.
Stunning!
Greg's a happy camper - I mean hiker
We didn't linger all day at the lake because there was still work to do. We had read about a knoll above the pass that afforded even more views so we trudged back up the rooty trail to the pass where we looked for any sign of a trail to the top of the knoll. We found one but it turned out to lead to a campsite. The ground was covered with thick heather bushes and without a trail we angled through the heather and marshy meadows in the direction of the knoll which actually has a name - Toil Peak. Why would it be called that? Well once we got a little closer we came upon the "trail". It looked like it gets used maybe twice a year and was so overgrown it was very hard to follow at times. It also headed straight up the side of Toil Peak at such a steep angle we considered using the small trees and shrubs as veggie belays to keep from tumbling back down the mountain. After much toil (Aha! That must be why it is named Toil Peak) we reached the summit and had amazing views open up in every direction. Glacier Peak towered in the distance. The peaks near Snoqualmie Pass were visible to the south.
Glacier Peak. The green pointy peak on the lower right is White Mountain which Team Pack It Or Go Without It climbed on a six day backpack trip back in 2009. Epic adventure but I stray.
L-R: Cathedral Rock, Mount Daniel, Mount Hinman
Gothic Peak and Del Campo Peak. Bridgit and I climbed Del Campo back in '93 (1993 not 1893!) and Greg climbed Gothic (I think that actually was in 1893). The best view of all from the top of Toil Peak was looking over at where we had just hiked up from.
Blanca Lake looked incredible from way up above it framed by Columbia and Kyes
So it was another great hike and I can't wait for the next one!