Blanca Lake is located in the Henry M. Jackson Wilderness Area in the

Cascade Mountains The Cascade Range or Cascades is a major mountain range of western North America, extending from southern British Columbia through Washington and Oregon to Northern California. It includes both non-volcanic mountains, such as the North Cascades, ...

of the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

. Blanca Lake sits in a basin surrounded by the peaks of Monte Cristo, Kyes, and Columbia. The lake is fed by the Columbia Glacier to the northwest and is drained by Troublesome Creek, a tributary of the North Fork Skykomish River. The glacier's cold, silt-filled melt water is what makes the

lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...

a spectacular turquoise green color making this a prime example of a

rock flour Rock flour, or glacial flour, consists of fine-grained, silt-sized particles of rock, generated by mechanical grinding of bedrock by glacial erosion or by artificial grinding to a similar size. Because the material is very small, it becomes suspe ...

lake.

Blanca Lake is accessible only by foot, along the Blanca Lake Trail. The trail begins at . The trail climbs quickly from switchback to switchback, gaining elevation over , finally arriving at the top of a ridge. From the ridge-top, the trail continues through sub-alpine meadows until you reach

Virgin Lake Virgin Lake is a small lake with moderately clear water, located at the edge of the Henry M. Jackson Wilderness Area along the Blanca Lake Trail in Washington, United States. The lake is 4,577 ft. (1,395 m) above sea level. Fauna The lake c ...

at . From Virgin Lake, the trail gets rocky, and steeply descends over to Blanca Lake. Due to its elevation, and the heavy snowpack of the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though ...

, Blanca Lake is typically only easily accessible from June until the snows of October or November. Its beauty makes it a very popular destination for hikers, despite the difficult climb up the mountain trail. To get to the trailhead, take US Forest Road 65/Beckler Road near Skykomish, WA to the intersection with US Forest Road 63. Northwest Forest Pass is still required to park and a US Forest Service Daily Fee of $5 per vehicle.

Notes

External links

US Forest Service
Lakes of Washington (state) Lakes of Snohomish County, Washington Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest {{SnohomishCountyWA-geo-stub