Blanca Lake

 We drove up by Skykomish and took the Beckler Road to FS 65 and 63 and the newly reopened road to the Blance Lake Trailhead. This is a 7.5 mile round trip hike with an overall elevation gain of 3,300 ft.
 Although there were 9 cars in the parking area at 8 AM, we saw only 3 other hikers at the lake shore while we were at Blanca Lake on a sunny Saturday. Some hikers had already left lake. We saw many more friendly hikers on their way to the lake as we were returning down the trail.

 This trail begins in the Wild Sky Wilderness and is mostly in the forest. The trail climbs 2,650 ft in about 3 miles up to a ridge, before dropping 650 ft down to Blanc Lake over about 3/4 mile.














As we neared the ridge, we got a peak of the tops of Monte Cristo and Glacier Peak.

 zoom of Glacier Peak

 There were patches on snow and ice from going up to the ridge all the way down to Blanc Lake

 As we began descending down to Virgin Lake, we entered the Henry M Jackson Wilderness.












The trail goes around the east side of Virgin Lake, which was frozen today:

About 0.25 mile before reaching Blanca Lake, we took a short path to an overlook of Blanca Lake.

 Views from the overlook, great reflections of Columbia Peak and Monte Cristo in the lake.

 view as we descended down to the lake shore

 some frost and ice by the lake shore













We had a wonderful lunch break at the shore

 We found interesting ice formations along the edge of the lake

 Loved the symmetry of these logs and the mountain reflections in the lake.

found a benchmark near the outlet of the lake.

 Beautiful teal pond below the outlet of the lake

 The teal color of Blanca Lake seems to glow, here seen along the outlet.

 Today was a wonderful sunny November day, so glad I finally hiked up to Blanca Lake, gorgeous!!!
















After our break, it was 650 ft of elevation gain back up to the ridge and then the descent to the trailhead.

 There was a little bit of fall color along the trail,

 and a few fungi as well.