Tuesday's Hike to Lake Blanche

Tuesday I hiked to the Lake Blanche area that is in a side canyon on the south side about halfway up Big Cottonwood Canyon. I had not hiked there before because when I looked at the map I knew it might be a tough hike because of the large elevation change over a comparatively short distance. But, since the great weather is holding I thought I might as well give it a try.

Big Cottonwood Creek still had lots of water and was very pretty. You walk along this stream for about a half-mile from the parking lot to get to to the trailhead. Then you head up the Mill B South Fork trail., along the Mill B South Fork Creek. Don't ask me where the name came from, but someone told me the different "Mill Creeks" were where the pioneers built sawmills.

There was lots of pretty scenery and changing colors. I took lots of pictures but I'll spare you and just post a few.

As I feared, the trail was rugged and steep. The map said it was 3.1 miles, the sign at the trailhead said it was 2.7 miles and almost a 3000 feet elevation change, but upon arriving at Lake Blanche my gps said the trail was 4 miles. (I don't think the forest service has measured this distance by hiking with a gps - I think they estimate with maps and they missed this one significantly.) My hiking guidebook said it should take 2 to 3 hours. Well, it pretty much took me the full three hours (started about noon and got to the lakes just before 3 pm) and the gps said the elevation change was 2700 feet. I had to rest often to keep my heart rate below 150 per minute - I guess I have not done enough hiking this year, at least not up 20+ per cent slopes.

But, as always, when you get there the reward is worth more than the effort. The picture above is from the lakes area looking back down the canyon I hiked up (the lakes are surrounded by rocks and cliffs - so there are numerous switchbacks on the east side of the canyon to get up and around them.)

This is Lake Blanche, the first lake you come to and it is at an elevation of 8975 feet. The mountain peak behind it is called Sundial Peak. The three lakes in this area are all close and they are just north (Lake Blanche), northwest (Lake Florence) and west (Lake Lillian) of Sundial Peak. My hiking guide says people climb this peak (from the back side) and it is just over 11000 feet. Each of the 3 lakes are lower that the previous one and there are small waterfalls and streams that flow from one lake to the other.

This is Lake Lillian on the west side of Sundial Peak.

And, if you turn around and take a picture from that same spot looking west you see Dromedary Peak which is also above 11000 feet.

And this was my favorite, Lake Florence. This was taken looking east from a small grove of trees where I had lunch. It was a beautiful spot. I took several pictures of this lake because I was so entranced with both the background and the reflections in the lake.

A little more southward view of Lake Florence. Look at that reflection! I'm telling you this is a great place to have lunch even if it takes 3 hours to get there! Not another soul at the lakes while I was there. I met people on their way down when I was hiking up. And, someone showed up at Lake Blanche just as I started down (at about 5 pm), but all while I was there no one else at any of these lakes - my perfect kind of solitude. So I spent about two hours there. Fortunately the hike down took only an hour, so I was driving out of the canyon by about 6 pm. All in all, I hiked about 9.5 miles (round trip) and spent another great day surveying the beauty of the Wasatch mountains.