desolation lake hike

Despite waking up Sunday morning sore and achy from all the rock-hauling the day before, we were determined to get out and get moving since it was so beautiful.  Beautiful and cold, that is: at 9 a.m. it was 48 F at our house and 37 F in Park City, where we had thought to go MTBing.  We waited around a bit, hoping that it would warm up but by 10:30 it really hadn't, so we decided to go hiking instead.  Somewhere on a sunny, south-facing slope.  How about up to Desolation Lake in Big Cottonwood Canyon?  Sounded perfect, right after a late breakfast/early lunch at the Cottonwood Cafe (eggs, bacon and toast for me; a bacon cheeseburger for H).

Pretty green for the (high) desert

We got up to the trail head a little before noon and were unsurprised to find it packed.  Usually we try to get an early start when we go hiking so as to avoid all the latecomers.  This time we were the latecomers and since the Desolation Lake/Dog Lake trail is one of the few trails in the two Cottonwood Canyons that is good for MTBers, we did have to do some bike dodging.  For the most part the MTBers were polite and thanked us when we stepped off the trail to let them by, even if it was our right of way.  I'm happy to do that as it's easier for me to move off the trail than it is for them.

Not much snow left up there

The temperatures stayed in the low to mid-50s for the whole 7.5 mile hike, which took us 2 hr. 42 min. of walking and 39 min. of sitting and staring at the lake.  (The GPS is very handy for post-hike facts.)  It was sunny with a light breeze blowing up the canyon, extremely pleasant in the sun but chilly in the shade.  The trail was completely dry and nice to walk on - a 180-degree change from our last slog up to Dog Lake - the aspens were just getting their leaves, and the wildflowers are just starting to come out.  Desolation Lake itself (at 9.338 ft.) was just gorgeous, reflecting a beautiful blue-green.

Desolation Lake

I got a little chilled while we sat up at the lake, even though we were both wearing our light fleeces, and had to wear my fleece gloves for about half the descent.  I had warmed up by the time we got back to the truck, however, and we sat on the tailgate for a while, sipping beers and watching all the crazy MTBers careening down the trail we'd just walked.

We thought this mountain meadow might

be good for camping sometime

Even though the Desolation Lake trail is hiker-friendly, it isn't anything I (or even H) would ever want to MTB on and we were very impressed with the folks who did, including a group of five fit, pretty, totally bad-ass 20-something chicks wearing downhill helmets and shinguards and the friendly guys who were parked next to us.  The preferred route starts up at Solitude/Brighton, goes along the Crest Trail, then down the Desolation Lake trail.  Then it's a road ride back up to your car, unless you've planned ahead and left a second vehicle for a shuttle.  I would love to be a good MTBer but at this stage in my life, I've got too healthy a sense of self-preservation.  I'll stick with double-track and jeep roads on two wheels and tackle the gnarly trails on foot.  It's all good as long as it gets us outside.

Self portrait by the lake