For our first time exploring the mountains of northern Utah, we had to do a hike and bring our fly rods along in the rugged High Uintas. The snowy weather didn’t let us get too deep into the wilderness, but we still got a great taste of Utah’s high elevation mountains and lakes on the trail to Clyde Lake.
We started our morning off with a scenic drive up the Mirror Lake Highway, where at the lower elevations the colors of fall were just starting to appear. Had we come maybe a week or two later, the beginning part of the highway would have been lit up with the bright yellow colors of changing aspens. Instead of the fall we were expecting, we were greeted with a fresh blanket of snow on the mountains.
After a quick stop to check out Provo River Falls, we made our way up to the Crystal Lake Trailhead. At over 10,000 feet, this trailhead is a gateway to 16 high altitude lakes! We happened to be there on National Public Lands Day (a fee-free day), so there might have been more people than normally would be hiking on a gloomy, snowy day.
There were a few trails leading out from the main parking area, but we set off on the one at the far end of lot to the left of the trailhead map and pay area marked Lakes County Trail #066. Our goal for the day was to get to Clyde Lake, only about 2 miles in, and continue on the loop back, pending the weather.
The first lakes we passed on the trail were Crystal Lake and Ponds Lake, on either side of the trail, just a few hundred yards from the start. We chose not to stop at these lakes and kept heading up the trail.
The next lake we came to on the trail was Cliff Lake. It was larger than the first two lakes and had a great view of Mt. Watson. The shores and boardwalks along the lake were snowy and slippery, and not surprisingly, no one else was at the lake.
Cliff Lake has a beautiful view of Mt. Watson.
After seeing a fish rise while making our way to the other end of the lake, Cory decided to rig up his fly rod and toss in a line.
Of course, just a few minutes into fishing, it starts snowing.
With no fish biting, and the snow still coming down lightly, we decided to keep making our way up…
By the time we got to the next lake, Petite Lake, the view of Mt. Watson was almost completely obscured. Up next was Watson Lake. By now, the snow was coming down pretty good, so we just kept trudging along to make it to Clyde.
Even though the distance left to get to Clyde Lake was probably less than half a mile, it sure felt much longer with the altitude, slushy trail, and not to mention the wind picking up at that point. We completely missed a view of Wall Lake to the right while we were walking up to to Clyde.
Eventually, we made it to Clyde and The Notch, the mountain in the distance behind Clyde Lake.
At this point, we were cold, we were hungry, but the snow actually let up for a few minutes, so of course Cory had to throw in…
And lo and behold, after just a few casts, a Brookie went for Cory’s own hand-tied leech!
Now when you’re not hiking and keeping yourself warm, the 30 degree weather and snow is even less tolerable. So after scarfing down some lunch and realizing we were still the only crazy people out here, we decided not to stay much longer. We opted out of hiking the entire loop and just turned back the way we came so that we were on a familiar trail. We trucked down as fast as we could without slipping and made it back to our warm car.
Needless to say this wasn’t our ideal first trek into the High Uintas, but we will most definitely be back for more.
