Trip Report for Blanca Lake
Where: Stevens Pass
When: Monday, August 25, 2014
Stats: 7.5 miles round trip – 3,300 foot elevation gain
A nice early start was planned in order to get us on the road early and then back off the trail before dark (more on this later). On our way out we stopped at my local PCC for Scottish Oat Scones and chai lattes, which were a perfect way to start the day. Traffic congestion was so minor as to be barely worth mentioning, and the only real confusion we experienced was during a road revision right outside of Monroe that confused me momentarily. The drive was just as pleasant as I expected it to be, leading us well out into the country and through a succession of small towns and villages. As with several of these trips this was Justin’s first time heading out to a new part of the state and I think he enjoyed himself. One part of the drive that really stood out to him was his fascination with seeing clouds forming, low to the ground, as the sun struck and heated the Skykomish River. It’s one of those things that I don’t think very much about, not coming from a really dry climate, but he’s right, it is really really cool.
Despite what some trip reports I read said there wasn’t any particular difficulty finding our way out to the trailhead. The Forest Service roads were well marked and reasonably maintained. There was some bad pot-holing just short of the trailhead, but nothing that couldn’t be avoided. We were stuck, for a while, behind a low-slung Audi station wagon going more slowly than I wanted, but we girded our hearts with patience and made it through.
At the trailhead were a few more cars than we expected for a Monday, including a couple parties hitting the trail at the same time we were. Fortunately there was no point at which we were sharing the way closely with another group, which is generally the way I like it. A little way in Justin made a good call by remembering to have us get a picture in front of the sign for the first of the two wilderness areas we’d be hiking through. Many hours later this sign was our signal that we were almost back to the car.
The path to Blanca Lake starts uphill right away and begins getting steep in less than a quarter mile where the switchbacks put in an appearance. The character of the land is fairly typical boreal forest, being comprised of several wet-climate species of conifers and a fair degree of undergrowth. It is, without a doubt, terrain filled with beauty, promise, mystery, and song.
The high grade and difficulty of the trail had us taking pretty frequent breathers on our way up. I suspect Justin could have taken fewer breaks, but my asthmatic lungs weren’t going to allow that. As we hiked we were constantly looking around, discussing the benefits of one spot or another in a survival situation. We spotted good possibilities for water and shelter, though we also knew we weren’t far from the top of the bottom of the trail. One particular highlight along this stretch was when we found a very large, fallen tree, that had grown around a big rock, and then had taken that rock with it when it fell. Very cool!
Eventually we began to transition out of boreal forest and saw burgeoning signs of sub-alpine growth trailing down the mountainside from above. There was this one spot where a view point had opened up down into the valley and the trees were filled with innumerable birds. It was a little magical to see all these tiny creatures, flitting from tree to tree, and to hear them calling out to one another constantly. A little higher up, and now fully ensconced in sub-alpine forest, we started to skirt lush meadows down off the side of the trail. Though I don’t know for certain I think they were full of blueberry bushes, which makes me think that they were also—potentially—full of bears.
Around this same time we came to a clearing that we took to calling the camp site™. It’s silly, because it was only at about the half-way point and had little to recommend it other than being an open clearing, somewhat higher than the land around it, grassy, and big enough to fit several small tents. I guess it had pretty decent views to a few mountains too. Really, though, there’s no reason we would want to stop there as opposed to continuing on up to the lake.
Not too much further up the trail we started to hike through some real meadows, instead of just seeing them off to the side, which was pretty nice. These open spaces, and the knowledge that we had been gaining serious altitude, gave us a spiritual second wind if not a physical one. Thinking back these would have made better camp sites than our so-called camp site™. Oh well. The meadows carried us forward to the summit of the hike, allowing us to look down on Virgin Lake. This lake is little more than a pond, and completely stagnant to boot, draining no watershed and draining into none. We got past there as quickly as possible in order to try to avoid mosquitos.
Getting past Virgin Lake signaled the end of our 3,300 ft. of climbing and the beginning of 700 ft. of descending. Any thoughts you might have of down being easier than up you should dispel quickly. The way forward was rooted and rock-filled and not at all smooth sailing.
As we hiked along we started to talk about what we would do when Blanca Lake came into sight. We agreed that would be the time to break out the camera and get a series of approach shots. Despite that planning the sudden eruption of the lake before our eyes caught us both utterly unawares. We simultaneously exclaimed “oh shit!” and “holy fuck!” (I’ll leave it to you to guess who said what.) Blanca Lake’s arrival truly is all that, and a sight I will forget neither soon nor easily. From this point onward we got view after changing view of our new friend, some peaking from behind trees and rocks, others spread wide before our eyes.
Eventually we made it down to the lake shore where I set up for some panoramas and Justin explored. We had intended to make our way across the outlet creek, but quickly found that there was no dry way to achieve this end. That being the case we set about enjoying ourselves as we could. To the right of where the trail debouches was an area of large, jagged rocks, piled along the shore. This proved to be a good spot to get close to the deeper waters of the lake, as had been discovered by a bevy of young ladies interested in getting the sun on their skin. I found a convenient spot to get my feet into the glacial waters while Justin climbed around on the slope above. After a while he came down and got his feet in again, though he was less tolerant of the cold than am I. Northern Ohio versus Arizona, I suppose. While we sat there we observed numerous signs of fish feeding upon the insect life that hovers just above the surface. We weren’t the only ones to see this, either. Right before our eyes we saw an osprey plunge into the glass-green surface and emerge with a fish clutched in its talons. Magical!
After a little while there we built a small fire further along the shore (because we could) and had some more food. When we could delay no longer we packed back up and began the trek back. The journey back was much the same as the one in, only backwards. The main differences were that we were far more tired this time, and that night fell as we were still on our way down. Fortunately we both had lights and were able to keep on moving in relative safety and “comfort.” Somehow we made it back to the trailhead hours later, and got ourselves back out of the mountains. Back in Edmonds we made a late-night stop at Dicks so that Justin could try their signature burgers, fries, and shakes for the first time.
This could be the end of the story, but for a couple of last notes. While I came away with nothing more than sore muscles, Justin had a more eventful time of it. There was the rage-filled encounter with the deer fly that bit him. Let us not forget his evident attractiveness to the female Culiseta longiareolata. At the lake shore a very large bumblebee decided that he was a pirate and it the parrot on his shoulder—a parrot that DID NOT WANT TO LET GO. Lastly there was the tumble he took down some rocks that left a serious crease in his driver’s license and a few bruises on his body. Yes, Justin had quite the time of it. Me? No falls, no bites, no injuries. Not bad for the older and less fit of the hiking partners.
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