Blue Lake — Monday, Oct. 13, 2025

Blue Lake trail received six inches or so of snow over the weekend.

Highway 20 from Seattle is bare pavement with a few icy spots that my 4wd SUV was able to handle without any problems and I think that a sedan would have been fine as well. The parking lot for Blue Lake is quite wet and I think it will refreeze overnight and could be icy. When I got to the trailhead around 330pm the parking lot was full and a few dozen cars were parked on the shoulder of Hwy 20.

The trail is snow-covered the entire way. I wore microspikes and had no issues with slipping. People who were wearing hiking shoes seemed to be doing okay too. It was the people wearing shoes with no traction (like Converse) that seemed to be struggling. A few groups without good footwear turned around. I’d guess that the trail will melt a little during the day and refreeze overnight so I’d guess it will become slipperier over the next few days. It was about 29 degrees at the trailhead as I was leaving a bit after sunset.

The larches are still visible, just snowy :)

Also, I have done this hike 3 times and always clock 5.5 miles. I think if you actually go all the way to the lake and walk around to the various viewpoints it’s a little longer than what WTA/alltrails says.