Your Complete Guide to the Lake Blanche Trail

Explore one of the most beautiful alpine lakes of all time and take the Lake Blanche Trail! This is one of the quintessential hikes in the Salt Lake City region and for a good reason. The trail is surrounded by great mountainous views and the Lake at the top is absolutely mesmerizing. You’ll definitely be huffing and puffing your way to the top, but boy is it worth it.

I have been on hundreds of trail and this was one of my all time favorites. I loved this trail for a few reasons:

1) it was challenging

2) it had great scenery the entire time

3) Lake Blanche was magical.

Read below for the full guide to hiking Lake Blanche and see why it’s so amazing!

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Guide to the Lake Blanche Trail

Lake Blanche Trail Details

You’ll start this trail by the parking lot and you’ll walk along the river until there is a sign to Lake Blanche on the right. You’ll take the fork in the road and start climbing up the mountain. The river will continue to flow next to you as you make your way up and if you turn around there are wonderful views behind you the entire way.

The reason this trail is so hard is because of the steep elevation gain. The hike will take you 7.4 miles and 2,800 feet up the mountain. It’s one of those trails that you will genuinely need to take a break every few steps because your legs are burning. These breaks are a great time to take in the view. There were very few flat areas or downhill moments on the way up the trail, so you’ll definitely get a workout.

At the top of the mountain, you will see Lake Blanche glistening with the Sundial Peak directly behind it. It’s a magical scene that is a perfect spot to eat lunch or find a place to camp for the night (as long as you’re a good distance from the lake waters itself). You’ll see other people at the top, but there’s plenty of room to get your own spot to enjoy the view.

If you want to keep going, you can head to the right and find two other lakes: Lake Lillian and Lake Florence. In order to get to these trails, you’ll need to follow a primitive trail and continue following Lake Lillian to the right to get to Lake Florence. Unfortunately, we had a wedding to go to, so we didn’t have time for these two other lakes. If you do them, they add about 1.5 miles to your hike

Lake Blanche Location

Lake Blanche is situated in Big Cottonwood Canyon amongst the Wasatch Mountains. This area is about 10 minutes outside of Salt Lake and 35 minutes from Park City. There is a parking area at the bottom of the trail as well as other parking along the road. Remember to bring all your valuables with you, because there have been reported break ins at the parking area.

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How to Get to Lake Blanche

Driving There

If you’re heading from Salt Lake, then you’ll want to start on 15 South until you see signs for 215 East. You’ll hop onto 215 E and drive down it for about 5 miles. Once you see UT-190 E or Exit 6, you’ll take that exit towards Cottonwood heights. Follow the signs for 6200 S and turn right on to Big Cottonwood Road. Then, drive up the mountain for about 4 miles until you see the Parking lot on your right hand side. 

Parking Details

You can either park in the Lower Parking Lot, which is where the Lake Blanche Trail starts or the Upper Parking Lot. If you park at the Upper Parking Lot, you will need to walk along the road to get back to the trail. We parked right outside the Lower Parking Lot alongside the road and it was a great shady spot.

Navigating to the Trail

Once you start walking to the trail, you’ll want to walk past the bathrooms along the river. You’ll see a sign for Lake Blanche and you’ll continue up the path. Eventually you’ll see a dirt path on the right that goes up. Even though there is no sign, that is the Lake Blanche Trail that will take you up the mountain.

Things to Know Before You Go

This trail was amazing, but there are a few things you should know about it.

• First, you should bring plenty of water to carry with you, especially on a hot day. I almost ran through my entire two liters.
• You may not swim in the lake at the top. It is part of Salt Lake City’s watershed, so you may not swim in it or bring animals.
• Finally, you should bring all your valuables with you, because the parking lot is often burglarized. There were many signs warning of car break ins.
• Bring plenty of snacks and sunscreen so that you can have a wonderful hike!

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