Blue Lake — Thursday, Oct. 11, 2018

Chose Blue Lake as my larch hike this year as I had never actually been there.  I arrived late morning to find the parking lot nearly full, even on a Thursday.  A few cars were parked along the highway when I left mid-afternoon, this place will probably be packed this weekend if the forecast for sun stays true.  There is plenty of fall color along the highway on the drive up and the larches are in full song right now with they're golden glow.  Figure at least another week before things start to fade as long as it doesn't rain.

The trail is in good condition, it was fairly cool in the shade even in late morning and it had been below freezing the night before so bring layers.  There's a few spots of mud along the way and spotted some patches of old snow from last week near the lake, a reminder that winter is on the way.  On the way up there was also some icy rock sections across the trail but nothing slowed me down.

The trail was busy but not crowded.  I lucked out at the top and had the overlook to myself for several minutes before others arrived.  I switched to the other side after that and was alone the rest of my time at the lake though I could see other parties on the opposite shore.  This trail is worth the drive and not terribly hard, I now understand why its so popular.  Beautiful lake, craggy peaks, golden larches, sweeping views and everything the North Cascades has to offer can be found here.