Blanca Lake

First backpacking trip of the year was a huge success!! It's been a warm spring, but there is still a little snow in the mountain and apparently quite a bit at Blanca Lake. We picked this hike because there was still a little snow, but the trail was traversable, so we could make it there at least. It was also a short enough hike that if need be we could have turned it into a day hike. Turns out it was the perfect little overnighter.

The hike says it was 3.5 miles into the lake, but it felt like way more than that! Maybe it was the big packs we were carrying or the snow we had to traverse starting about halfway there, or maybe it was just because it was a 3,300 ft elevation gain! Either way, by the time we got to the lake, I was pretty happy I didn't have to turn around and go back the same day. I was also pretty excited that on the way out to the trail we stopped at the new Chik-Fil-A in Bellevue and had gotten an extra sandwich for lunch...it was amazing to bust it out at the end of the hike!

This was my first time snow camping, and it was a perfect experience. It was actually about 60+ degrees and sunny when we got to the lake despite the lake being partially frozen and there being snow everywhere. We found ourselves an open snowy area to set up camp and proceeded to stomp out a platform for our tent. I'm not entirely sure if we were camping on land or over frozen water or most likely over driftwood at the bank. There was enough snow to keep us up either way.

As it got later more and more day hikers started heading home and we ended up having the lake almost to ourselves. There were about 3 or 4 other campsites set up for the night, but they were far enough away from ours that it felt like we were alone. Since it was a perfectly clear night, we ended up sleeping in the tent without the rain fly on, so it was just a mesh enclosure and we even left the door open, so it was like we were sleeping in the open air. It did get a bit chilly, but I stayed warm enough bundled in my sleeping back. It must have been below freezing because there was a new layer of ice over the lake that was thawed the day before. As soon as the sun started coming up though it warmed right up!

I ended up being so warm as we were packing up that it was shorts and a tank top for the walk back out! It was a great trip and I'm really glad we went when there was still some snow on the ground, it was absolutely beautiful!