I took a day hike to Blanca Lake on Sunday July 8th. As mentioned in previous reports, it was necessary to take FS road 65 from Skykomish to get near the trailhead, and then it was necessary to park about a mile from the trailhead at the first washout and proceed on foot past the 3 washouts.
The actual trail was in good condition, although near Virgin Lake there was quite a lot of snow. I might not have found the route to Blanca Lake if it weren't for the handful of helpful ribbons tied to the trees marking the trail. At one point there is a tree limb with a ribbon in the middle of a snowfield pointing right, which indicates the trail turns right at that spot.
Virgin Lake was entirely ice-covered and Blanca Lake had a little bit of ice still on it and looked really quite nice.
I encountered four other groups the entire time, so I was at least glad to see some others weren't minding the additional mile each way to the trailhead.
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