andyjaggy
Member
- Joined
- Dec 2, 2013
- Messages
- 944
Towards the end of September I wanted to get one more over nighter in before fall set in. My co-worker and I had talked about going backpacking together all year long and we finally decided it was that weekend or it wasn't going to happen. We wanted to head up to the Uintas since he had never been up there, but circumstances necessitated something a bit closer to home. So we decided on doing something up American Fork canyon instead.
I have hiked to Silver Lake probably 10 time over the last few years, it's kind of my go to hike when I don't know what else to do. However I had never made it up to the higher lake before. We got off work at about 4:00 and headed up the canyon, it's about an hour drive up to where the trail starts at Silver Flat reservoir. At this point in the year the reservoir was a muddy pond, though there were still people fishing it.
We headed up the popular and well maintained trail about 5:00 and made pretty good time. For anyone who hasn't done this hike it's really quite lovely. A little bit of everything, a few small stream crossings, a waterfall, nice aspen groves, and wonderful views of White Baldy all the way up to the lake. It's about 2.5 - 3.0 miles to the lower lake, with moderate elevation gain. When we got to the lower lake we discovered hordes of mosquitoes.... no actually scout troops, and even though it was getting late we decided we didn't want to camp by a bunch of scouts, so we headed up to the upper lake. It's a shame too because that lake was absolutely buzzing with fish, one was breaking the surface every 2-3 seconds or so.
There is no trail to the upper lake so we consulted the GPS and just headed straight up the slope. It was pretty grueling, my GPS said it was over a mile with something like 1200 feet of elevation gain. We eventually made it to the lake about an hour before dark, found a nice spot to setup camp and just sat around and enjoyed the evening.
In the morning we hiked up the north slope hoping to get a good sunrise, it was pretty, and Silver Glance lake is really a pretty lake, or pond since it is quite small, but without any clouds the sunrise was not anything to get excited about. I will definitely want to visit again with better conditions, perhaps earlier in the year when it's a bit greener. On our way out that morning we actually stumbled upon a faint trail leading away from the lake, we were able to follow the trail all the way to the lower lake, so there is a trail, if you can find it. I have a GPS track that I will post up later if I can remember.
Some nice morning light on the pines. Always nice.
White Baldy just before reaching Silver Lake.
The view when we first got to the lake. Red Baldy in the background.
Silver Glance lake with Timp in the background. Too bad we didn't have any clouds.
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I have hiked to Silver Lake probably 10 time over the last few years, it's kind of my go to hike when I don't know what else to do. However I had never made it up to the higher lake before. We got off work at about 4:00 and headed up the canyon, it's about an hour drive up to where the trail starts at Silver Flat reservoir. At this point in the year the reservoir was a muddy pond, though there were still people fishing it.
We headed up the popular and well maintained trail about 5:00 and made pretty good time. For anyone who hasn't done this hike it's really quite lovely. A little bit of everything, a few small stream crossings, a waterfall, nice aspen groves, and wonderful views of White Baldy all the way up to the lake. It's about 2.5 - 3.0 miles to the lower lake, with moderate elevation gain. When we got to the lower lake we discovered hordes of mosquitoes.... no actually scout troops, and even though it was getting late we decided we didn't want to camp by a bunch of scouts, so we headed up to the upper lake. It's a shame too because that lake was absolutely buzzing with fish, one was breaking the surface every 2-3 seconds or so.
There is no trail to the upper lake so we consulted the GPS and just headed straight up the slope. It was pretty grueling, my GPS said it was over a mile with something like 1200 feet of elevation gain. We eventually made it to the lake about an hour before dark, found a nice spot to setup camp and just sat around and enjoyed the evening.
In the morning we hiked up the north slope hoping to get a good sunrise, it was pretty, and Silver Glance lake is really a pretty lake, or pond since it is quite small, but without any clouds the sunrise was not anything to get excited about. I will definitely want to visit again with better conditions, perhaps earlier in the year when it's a bit greener. On our way out that morning we actually stumbled upon a faint trail leading away from the lake, we were able to follow the trail all the way to the lower lake, so there is a trail, if you can find it. I have a GPS track that I will post up later if I can remember.
Some nice morning light on the pines. Always nice.
White Baldy just before reaching Silver Lake.
The view when we first got to the lake. Red Baldy in the background.
Silver Glance lake with Timp in the background. Too bad we didn't have any clouds.
Featured image for home page:
