Blue Lake Dam

It was too nice of a day to stay home, but I had too much work to do to feel motivated to get on a very significant hike. I thought about going to Beaver Lake, but on the way I decided to drive up to the Blue Lake Overlook. I walked down the steep road to the edge of the lake and on the way back up I noticed a trail at the switchback. Following it, I ended up at the dam overlook. I saw that there was some water flowing over the dam and the sun was just starting to hit it. The last time I was at the base of the dam was probably about 13 years ago, so I decided to visit it again.

It was not difficult to find the start of the trail and the first 10 feet, but it was not obvious where the second 10 feet was. Just after the start of the trail, I was compelled by brush to go down to the streamside. The hiking was easy enough here, that I stayed along it as I went up the valley. Eventually I reached a place that was a little difficult to get past, so I cut back up the bank and found the trail I remembered from before at the edge of it. On the return trip, I found that this trail went all the back to the beginning with the exception of about 5 feet of brush.

When I got to the end of the trail, it was fairly easy going along the boulders in the bottom of the canyon until I got within sight of the dam. At that point, the canyon narrowed down a bit and the water was deep enough to make passage challenging. I probably could have made it to the base of the dam, but there a greater risk of slipping and getting very wet than I preferred to take, so I opted to take some pictures and head back.