Blanca Lake - Toothpasty Waters

I mean you have to see it. Its toothpasty waters....However....

Six of my closest friends and I took off for an overnight on Saturday morning around 9am. There were plenty of parking spaces....the lot was about half full. We were quickly on the trail and headed straight up. (Sure felt that way with a way too heavy pack filled with floaties for the lake etc). I took off ahead of my friends and found the trail pretty boring. Tons of switchbacks...37 apparently. A tree lined trail for 3.5 of the longest miles of my life. The trail was pretty boring for the most part....Keeping my head down to maneuver the roots and without much else to look at it seemed like the best idea. There was a short muddy section which I quickly passed....followed by more up hill. FINALLY made it to the top and was rewarded with a beautiful meadow and views of (Glacier Peak? I was told) just before that . The meadow was easily my favorite part of the hike...(aside from the lake duh). There were several open areas that would be lovely for camping provided you brought enough water. The next stop was a tiny mucky little lake where if you did camp in the meadow you could get water there. (not my first choice ha)...continuing on was the end of the plateau and treacherous muddy, rooty, downhill. A couple speed demons breezed past me and a couple of gals had a near miss with a dangerous fall in front of me. In about a half mile I got my first glimpse of the lake. It really is TURQUOISE! Like foggy toothpaste water my friend called it. I really wanted to see that lake...and so did SO many other people. I called the main beach the Waikiki of Washington hikes. While I ate my lunch and waited for my friends I watched TONS of day hikes and MANY backpackers come down the trail. The main beach was pure insanity. I was super irritated and decided to cross over the log jam at the top of the waterfall and attempt to hold down a spot. More and more people came and finally my friends came so I went around the bend on some recon to find a camp spot to accommodate 7 of us and a dog. We found the Kaui of spots...a few other spots were available over there...so we quickly grabbed one. There are NOT a lot of places to camp and the place that we chose kind of felt like camping at the end of a cul-de -sac. On the way down a million more people were heading up. SO many people asked us if they were close...they were maybe not even half way up and looked like they didn't really have any water. This hike took about 2 hours 15 minutes on the way up with minimal stops and a heavy pack. About 1.5 with bad knees on the way down. It was definitely beautiful....but so is everything in WA. If I had known then what I know now I might have skipped this for a less populated trail. Happy Hiking.