Lake Blanche is one of the most popular hikes in the Salt Lake City area, not only because the walk is relatively short and the trailhead easy to get to, but because of the scenic beauty and the geologic attractions within the Lake Blanche Basin. Blanche and its two sister lakes, Florence and Lillian, sit in a high alpine basin that was dug out by a glacier during the last ice age. Long straight scratch marks and deep polished grooves, etched out by the glacier, are still clearly visible on the stone surrounding the lakes. Picturesque Sundial Peak (10,320 ft.), that the Wasatch Mountain Club uses as its emblem, rises abruptly from the south shore of Lake Blanche, and Dromedary Peak (11,170 ft.) is only a mile to the southwest. Blanche, its two sister lakes, Dromedary Peak, and the Sundial are all part of Utah's 11,300-acre Twin Peaks Wilderness Area . . .

. . . For the first five minutes of Lake Blanche hike you will be following a paved path along the south side of Big Cottonwood Creek. Then, after a quarter-mile, you will come to a small sign that marks the point where the trail to Lake Blanche departs on the right. The rocky trail to the lake turns abruptly away from the pavement and immediately begins climbing at a grade of about a thousand feet per mile. After 200 yards  . . .

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