An Intro to the Uintas

[WasatchWill]

My sister, Melinda, was in town from Phoenix for a conference and had wanted to hike Mount Timpanogos. However, I dissuaded her on account of the sketchy snow conditions that remained up on Timp and because she had some recent problems with her feet, only recently being cleared by her podiatrist for more aggressive activity. She had never been hiking up in the Uintas, so I figured the Clyde Lake Loop would be a perfect way to introduce them to her.

Thursday - July 20, 2017

We rounded up my dog Sophie and drove on up the Mirror Lake Highway to the Crystal Lake Trailhead and as expected, found it to be mostly full, but we were fortunate enough to find one of a few spaces available. It was about 5:30 in the evening when we got started. At five miles without any remarkable elevation gain to overcome, it was a hike I knew we could finish well before it got dark, including time to pause for pictures and views. We opted to hike it clockwise and set up for Cliff Lake.


Cliff Lake


Indian Paintbrush near Petite Lake


Looking out across Wall Lake to Notch Mountain, Reids Peak, and Bald Mountain

Up at a lake with no name near Clyde Lake, we found our first surviving blocks of snow. It was a treat for Melinda, now a resident of Phoenix.


Unnamed lake near Clyde lake


Standing on the snow

We also discovered a small little cave at the lake's edge that I had not noticed before on prior hikes around this loop.


Under the small cave

We did not linger long there inside the cave because there were questionable clouds about with the potential to erupt into some serious weather and taking shelter in that little cave would not be the wisest place to be.

So out and up we went before dropping back down over to Clyde Lake.


Clyde Lake

From Clyde Lake we veered off to Booker Lake but stopped short of seeing the rest of the Three Divide Lakes so as to keep on time with the rest of the hike.


Booker Lake

Back down at Clyde Lake, we continued on around it and on toward Twin Lakes. The flowers really took off all around these lakes in the meadows in between.


Clyde Lake


Indian Paintbrush


Columbines


Columbines


Columbine


Columbine


Indian Paintbrush and The Notch


Bluebells


Meadow of flowers


Melinda on the trail to Twin Lakes


Indian Paintbrush


Still mind-blown by all the flowers


Paintbrush and Elephant Heads


Elephant Heads


Upper Twin Lake


Indian Paintbrush

From Twin Lakes made our way down and around to Hope Lake.


Reflection on large tarn near Hope Lake


Meadows around Hope Lake


Bridge and boardwalk by Hope Lake


Another meadow of flowers near Hope Lake


Meadow of flowers near Hope Lake


Melinda taking in the view from above the cliff between Hope Lake and Wall Lake

And from Hope Lake, it was on down to Wall Lake.


On the trail toward Wall Lake


Wall Lake


Wall Lake


Wall Lake


Log macro at Wall Lake

Surprisingly, we didn't encounter very many people the whole way around the loop until we reached Wall Lake. One of the most popular lakes for people to hike, fish, and camp at in the Uintas, it was sprawling with people as usual.

From Wall Lake we finished out the final mile of the loop.


Reids Peak and Bald Mountain from trail below Wall Lake

Near the trailhead we pulled off to checkout Lilly Lakes. It was easy to see where the name comes from.


Lily Lakes


Lily pads and flower


Lily pad and flower


Lily pads and flower

There was also a nice reflection in one of the lakes.


Evening reflection


Dead tree


Same tree, same reflection

Once back at the car, we drove on out and pulled over beneath Trial Lake dam. Seeing the sky starting to change colors and I wanted to see what it looked like over Trial Lake.


Warming colors over Trial Lake


Reids Peak and Bald Mountain across Trial Lake

From Trial Lake we drove on back down the highway and pulled off at Provo River Falls where the sky really put on a show.


Upper Provo River Falls


Longer exposure of Upper Provo River Falls


Changing sky over Provo River Falls


Fire in the sky over Provo River Falls


Longer exposure of the falls


Sky show above the falls

And with that, my sister, Melinda, had a proper introduction to the Uintas, at least by my standards.

 

[Perry]

Such a great loop. I would expect that your sister is sufficiently hooked.


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[Ugly]

Nice.
There's a reason that loop is popular. A lot of goods close together. I was there a little over a week later and the flowers were still popping. We stayed near the so called cave lake.

I really like that second pic looking down the log at Wall lake.