Blue Lake, North Cascades

"Spend all you have for loveliness, Buy it and never count the cost;
For one white singing hour of peace Count many a year of strife well lost,
And for a breath of ecstasy Give all you have been, or could be. " Sara Teasdale


The above photo was copied and pasted from the internet at BinaryDarkroom.com. It shows the larches during late fall, on the trail to Blue Lake. Our hike was too early in the year to see the larch show but this photo shows them in full color. Maybe next year we will go later in the year.

My friends Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Do.

Patricia and Nina

Patricia and Beth

Our hiking guide, Patricia

Clear water at Blue Lake!

Crossing the bridge over the summer dry creek.

There it is!

So much wild heather and other beautiful mountain flora. We speculated that the reddish shrubby stuff was blue or huckleberries. Either way, it's already turning fiery red!

Nearly five miles round trip and elevation gain of 1100 feet. Took us only three hours and fifteen minutes and that includes goof off time!

Shedding our coats now that we're out in the sunshine!

Granite boulders! Wish I could bring one or two home for a landscape project!

The luxury of a wide, roomy trail!

Peaks in the area are Cutthroat, Liberty Bell, and Early Winter Spires. Seems like around each bend Patricia would say, "I climbed that one... I climbed that one..." I felt like I was in the company of some serious Outdoor Barbie.

Seems we all wore our lumbar packs which gave us great opportunity to laugh at the size of our suddenly voluptuous posteriors!

Tinkle break and view points.

On the last day of summer Nina, Patricia and I hiked up to Blue Lake. It's a 2 and half hour drive, nearly to Winthrop, but well worth it! The company was perfect, anyways, so the drive doesn't feel long at all.

Putting Summer Away

Good Night Summer

Making the turn for home. Tomorrow is the last day of summer.

Such calm water in Blue Canyon.

We spotted a blue heron very well hidden in the lake brush. Not sure if it is the same heron that hangs out under our dock, but, quite likely. He did not like us getting very close, so, I used the zoom and got some great pics. Thankfully, the boat driver knew what he was doing so I could get these shots!

Above photo is old land slide with heron in the center.

Spring land slide.

Blue Canyon is the south east end of the lake, closer to Alger.

Part of the old railroad tracks which are now a trail edging the lake.

The setting sun gives the most brilliant shades of green when all those cedars and firs are reflected on the water.

Wind cracked fir tree.

My favorite place to water ski is Blue Canyon.

We thought we'd take the boat out for the last sunset cruise of the summer. The air is chilled and the water too cold to ski now, and if you look closely, the maple leaves are just starting to turn. That's Reveille Island on the left.