Blanchard Hill - Alternate Incline Trail, Lily and Lizard Lake Loop — Saturday, Mar. 22, 2025

We parked at the upper trailhead where we found a clean, well stocked vault toilet. The dirt road is in decent shape with mostly avoidable potholes. Found a car key and left it by the map.
We started up the forest road and took the Alternate Incline trail. I’m pretty sure alternate incline means steep. Got a good workout and fogged up my glasses. Trail is in great shape. Just a little mud here.
We had lunch at Lizard Lake and headed towards Lily Lake. This is when we saw the first of about 10 other hikers. So close to Ouster Dome but so far from the crowds. We heard the connector between Lizard and Lily was quite muddy but we took the ridge trail and found it in great shape. There are some early skunk cabbage peeking through by Lily and the beaver dam construction is quite impressive. We returned via Max’s Shortcut. By this time the sun was trying to peek through. We paused a few times to listen to the birds.
Great hike. Thank you to all the trail workers who keep this place in great shape!
We drove home through the daffodil fields in Mount Vernon. Worth the detour!