Difficult, but this hike offers great views of Canyon Falls before reaching Canyon Lake. We arrived late (just before noon), and the parking lot was already filled. This lot serves both the Canyon Creek Trail and the Blodgett Canyon Overlook trailheads.
The trail starts off easy for the first 3 miles, although it is a rather rocky and you’ll want to watch your step and ankles. Tracing Canyon Creek in the woods, then reaching the rock walls of the cirque that holds Canyon Lake. This is where the real climb begins. The elevation gain over this mile is over 900 feet. Once at the top, it flattens out a bit and we skirted the rock face with views of the falls. Almost a half mile later, we lost 140 feet, and gained back 80 feet. The altitude of Canyon Lake 7323 feet.
The start of a long, awesome hike
Canyon Creek cascades over huge slabs of gneiss and granite
The steep section is, well, STEEP
Vida literally bounced and ran up the mountain
Carpets of glacier lilies
Unreal scenery
Looking south into the cirque that holds Canyon lake
Canyon Creek flowing out of Canyon Lake and through the remaining snow drifts
Last snow drift crossing before the lake
And Canyon Lake after 5.5 miles of good hiking
The Vida Portion of the Program
Found it…another cairn
Ahhh
Sun out, guns out