Silver Glance Lake - American Fork Canyon

Devin Ashby

Don't Bust The Crust!
Joined
Mar 4, 2016
Messages
68
I grew up in Utah Valley and have lived there all my life, minus 3 year we lived in Herriman, and 2 years for that LDS mission thing. How I have never made it up to Silver Glance lake, let alone Silver Lake kind of blows my mind. Im 29 years old and I felt totally deprived of what is in my backyard after finally seeing Silver Glance.

Anyway, a few weeks ago I finally made it up to Silver Glance. I had mostly planned the trip so that I could get out and do some gear testing for a company that I have been working with on a different project. But any reason to get out over night is good enough for me. I left with my buddy Dane, an old friend from high school that I hadn't seen much over the last 6-7 years because I got married, had a kid and he's still a bachelor. But it was really nice to spend the weekend with him.

All I can say is that Silver Glance is an incredible place and still can't believe that I hadn't been up there yet. There were a few groups of people up there, including two gentleman that were obviously very annoyed that we had chose to hike up and spend the night up there too. They were tucked behind some boulders and I stumbled upon their tent as I was making my way around the lake to the east. I gave a friendly hello and apology for walking into their camp, and was greeted with an awkward level of silence and totally ignored by not even acknowledging that I was standing 5 feet from them. I quickly made my way away as to not spook the beasts, and got back to safety.

We cooked up a nice meal, walked out to see the alpen glow on Timp and retired to our hammocks for the night. In the morning we had planned to make a summit attempt of White Baldy as well, but ultimately decided that we didn't want to scale the steep terrain to get to the saddle that overlooks Silver Glance. Dane was dealing with a previous injury from a few days earlier when he summited Box Elder Peak on July 4th. So we chose to call it a day and hiked back down to the car. I had accomplished the filming that I needed to do for the gear I was testing/reviewing and so we just went home.

Overall it's one of the better overnight trips i've done in a long time. So close to home, and one of the most beautiful settings i've camped in.
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Great area. I'm usually up there in the early spring (Red Baldy is one of my favorite spring summits). It looks so different in the summer when it's not all under snow. Beautiful for sure. Thanks for sharing. Funny that the guys were all grumpy about you guys sharing the area with them. I'd be grumpy too (b/c I like my solitude) but I'd keep it to myself and still be friendly with my fellow outdoors-men:).
 
Not sure how anybody can go up into some of the popular places in AF Canyon and expect to be the only ones there in peak of summer recreation season. Granted, it's not nearly as popular as the lower two Silver Lakes and other areas in the canyon, but still, I wouldn't be annoyed by someone coming up. Silver Glance is known for it beauty and views and isn't much of a secret. I'd be pleasantly surprised there weren't more groups that showed up for the night.
 
Not sure how anybody can go up into some of the popular places in AF Canyon and expect to be the only ones there in peak of summer recreation season. Granted, it's not nearly as popular as the lower two Silver Lakes and other areas in the canyon, but still, I wouldn't be annoyed by someone coming up. Silver Glance is known for it beauty and views and isn't much of a secret. I'd be pleasantly surprised there weren't more groups that showed up for the night.
I think it's the extra several hundred feet to gain that keeps it a little more secluded from large groups.
 
I've spent a few nights up there. It's a lovely area. The first time I had it to myself, and the second time there was one other group up there. Still a pretty good level of people considering how much traffic AF canyon sees on the whole.
 
I've spent a few nights up there. It's a lovely area. The first time I had it to myself, and the second time there was one other group up there. Still a pretty good level of people considering how much traffic AF canyon sees on the whole.
I agree. Even the difference between Silver and Silver Glance is worth the extra elevation gain to get away from a few extra people.
 
Great report! This is somewhere that is on my radar in the next few years. But I keep putting it off to hike in the Uinta's in areas that I can get away from so many people. I also like my solitude but would be respectful and friendly if I see someone. Thanks for the pictures. I'll definitely have to get there one day.
 
Silver Lake is a great AF canyon hike. Perfect family hike. Thanks for the report and the pictures
 
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