Blue Lake Trail, Washington, United States
5.0 (42 reviews) Sunday: 8:00 AM - 4:30 PM Spent Ranking #7 in North Cascades National Park Hiking Trails
AMAZING!
We just happened to stop by this trail after a disappointing morning hike and we were wowed! The parking lot is decent sized but when we arrived at 12:30PM, there weren’t any spots. We grabbed some lunch and when we came back at 2PM, somebody was leaving so we got a spot. The trail is about 4.5 miles RT and ends at a beautiful blue lake surrounded by mountains. There is a bit of climbing involved but it’s completely worth it! You can hike right down to the lake and there was a mountain goat on one of the lower ridges overlooking the lake. Once you’re at the lake, there’s a side trail called Tarn Loop that looked like it would take you possibly closer to the area where the goat was but we didn’t hike it. We would definitely hike it again!
Address
Highway 20, North Cascades National Park, WA 98862
Website
https://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/blue-lake
Working hours
Monday : 8:00 AM - 4:30 PM
Tuesday : 8:00 AM - 4:30 PM
Wednesday : 8:00 AM - 4:30 PM
Thursday : 8:00 AM - 4:30 PM
Friday : 8:00 AM - 4:30 PM
Saturday : 8:00 AM - 4:30 PM
Sunday : 8:00 AM - 4:30 PM
Current local date and time now
Sunday, May 12, 2024, 10:01
User Ratings
5.0 based on (42 reviews)
Reviews
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5PandaHouston 5:00 PM Aug 19, 2021
LOVED this Trail - Only saw 24 people!
We were originally going to stay in Winthrop to visit North Cascades NP but because the wildfires closed down part of Highway 20, we switched to staying in Bellingham. Because of this, it took us 2.5 hours to get to the Blue Lake Trailhead. We visited on Tuesday 8/10. Got to the parking lot at 9:10 am. It was really quiet. Not many cars in the lot. This is a 4.6 mile roundtrip hike with 921 feet elevation gain. The hike is mainly through the forest. We were hoping not to see a bear. Luckily we did not. All throughout the hike, we did not see a single person. Even when we got to the Lake at 10:30 am, we did not see anyone. You can take paths to the right and left of the split and walk along the lake. Make sure you do both. If you take the path to the right, you can see the Liberty Bell Group Spires. The water was so calm we took amazing photos. We spent 1 hour at the lake and had lunch. Only on the way down did we run into more people. We got back to the parking lot at 12:30. There is a pit toilet in the parking lot.
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5Cheryl D 5:00 PM Oct 2, 2021
Great Hike to Blue Lake
This trail has a lot to offer in the Fall. We hiked this on a morning in early October and the tamarack trees were a beautiful yellow and reflected in the beautiful Blue Lake. The trail has an elevation change of 1100 feet and there are roots, rocks and a small water crossing to get to the lake. I would highly recommend this hike!
