Day 5 Lake Blanche Hike

 Today’s weather was good so despite hiking yesterday we decided to take advantage of the good weather and try another hike in the area.  We chose the Mill B South Trail, often referred as the Lake Blanche trail, which is approximately 4.5 miles in Big Cottonwood Canyon. The trail head is a big parking lot, right before the S-Curve.

Lake Blanche is one of the most scenic places in the whole Wasatch Range. The Trail gains elevation at a steady pace the whole time. This means you don't ever lose any elevation, believe me we were huffing and puffing many times but it was well worth the effort.  Absolutely gorgeous!

To get to the Lake Blanche trail, hike on the paved portion of the Mill B South Trail for a short bit until you see the small sign to the right for the Lake Blanche Trail, this is also where the Lake Blanche stream, mixes with the Cottonwood Stream. The stream goes along the trail some of the time and has beautiful cascading waterfalls.  I’m sure my pictures won’t do it justice.

Lake Blanche Stream

As we made our way up the trail Steve heard some rustling in the bushes, OMG we saw our first moose in the wilderness.  He was about 30 ft. from us.  Nervously I handed Steve the bottle of bear spray that was hooked to my waist and I grabbed my camera, meaning protect me why I try to zoom in on this guy. It was difficult to get a clear picture of him through the brush and I was a little concerned that the camera shutter would spook him but he just went on his merry way and left us alone. We were elated!

Our first Moose sighting

As we continued we came to the next portion of the trail that was filled with tall Aspen trees and tons on Mountain Laurel. The contrast between the trees, the bushes and the sunlight coming through was amazing and so beautiful. 

 We then had to maneuver our way through a large boulder field making sure we didn’t lose the trail (and our footing).  Legs getting a little tired but determined to make it to the lake.  We reached the key hole and then Lake Blanche was in view.  It is so hard to describe the beauty of it all.  We sat on the smooth glacier rocks with the view of Lake Blanche and Sundial Peak in front of us, ate our lunch, and high fived each other on our climb today!  Oops! We need to go down the mountain before celebrating too much.

Our Destination, the Peaks in the distance

Distance to Lake Blanche- 3.7 miles; round trip 7.4 miles

Elevation Gain- 2720 vertical feet to 8920 feet

Trip Completed in 5 ½ hours including stop for lunch.

It was a great day! And we got back to our condo before it started raining.

Lake Blanche, Sundial Peak Elevation '8920