Washington’s most famous turquoise lake is off-limits this summer — here’s what to hike instead
Blanca Lake is the alpine lake half of Washington’s hikers have saved as their phone wallpaper — a glacier-fed pool so turquoise it looks edited. This summer, you can’t drive to it.
Beckler River Road, the only way to the trailhead, has been out since last winter’s floods, and the Forest Service hasn’t given a reopening date. If robin’s-egg-blue water was on your list this year, here’s your plan B.
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Why Blanca Lake is off the table right now
FSR 65, better known as Beckler Road, is graded only as far as Jack Pass — about 12 miles in. Past that point, downed trees and a washed-out bridge block the rest of the route, according to the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest’s latest road alert, and there’s no end date listed.
It’s one of roughly 100 road damage points logged across the forest this year. When it’s flowing normally, Blanca is an 8-mile round trip with about 3,400 feet of climbing to a lake fed by the Columbia Glacier — hard hike, huge payoff, currently unreachable.
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Try Colchuck Lake instead
Colchuck Lake, outside Leavenworth, is the closest thing Washington has to a substitute — and it might be the better hike anyway. Same glacier-blue water, similar-sized effort, and the road to the trailhead is actually open.
It’s 8 miles round trip with about 2,280 feet of elevation gain, ending at a lake so blue under the twin spires of Dragontail and Colchuck Peaks that most people stop talking for a second when they round the last corner. Bring a Northwest Forest Pass for the trailhead — day hiking doesn’t need a permit, but camping overnight does, since Colchuck sits inside the Enchantments permit zone.
Or keep it easy at Lake Ann
If 2,280 feet of climbing sounds like too much, Lake Ann near Rainy Pass is the short version of the same idea. It’s 3.4 miles round trip with 700 feet of gain, sitting in a glacial cirque right off the North Cascades Highway — which just reopened for the season after one of its latest openings on record.
Grab a Northwest Forest Pass here too, and skip the tent — Lake Ann is day-use only.
Blanca will be back eventually. Until then, which one’s going on your list first — the bigger climb or the easy win?
Trip tips: grab a rental car to get out to either trailhead, lock in a hotel in Leavenworth or Winthrop to make a weekend of it, or skip both and book a camper van instead.
Rules and fees change — always confirm current requirements before you go.
