We’re jealous of the people of Salt Lake City, who have less-than-30-minutes-from-downtown access to a tough, but rewarding hike to a beautiful alpine lake, complete with adorable little Brookies.
We had Lake Blanche on our list during our last trip to Utah, but were unable to do the hike then thanks to a freak late summer snowstorm. So this time around we made sure to dedicate a day to finally make it to the scenic lake. We even took along our fishing gear after discovering the lake has little Brookies in it!
When we pulled up to the trail head early Sunday morning the small parking lot was already full and cars were lining Big Cottonwood Canyon Road in both directions from the start of the trail. We were lucky enough to snag a spot not too far from the trail head, but our experience is probably representative of what happens most summer weekends – this is a popular trail near Salt Lake City, despite the length and elevation gain.
The first part of the trail is a paved section along Big Cottonwood Creek, before the real trail heads up into the Twin Peaks Wilderness. Both Big Cottonwood and South Fork Mill B Creeks were raging with ice cold water from the fresh snow melt.
After crossing over South Fork Mill B Creek, the next mile or so of the trail was a steady climb straight up the canyon through some freshly green Gambel Oak shrubs, which slowly transitioned into a mixed forest with Subalpine Firs. Wildflowers dotted either side of the trail and were the most interesting part of this section. Every once in a while the snow capped mountains in the distance would come in to view to tease us and kept us moving.
At about 1.75 miles the trail flattens a little and the views start to open up a bit. It became apparent just how much snow laced the higher elevations of the Wasatch even in late June. Dromedary Peak begins to dominate views up the canyon and Aspens begin to dot the hillsides.
Another memorable section of this trail is the switchbacks up a steep hillside through a dense stand of Aspens. It reminded us of the Inner Basin Trail in Arizona – this upper part of the canyon is probably a spectacular show in the fall.
The very last section before the lake had very few trees and instead was dominated by glacially carved rock. There were many willow bushes without leaves and snow patches in the crevasses. It was still early spring at 8,700 ft.
Once on top of giant slabs of rocks, we turned around and looked down the canyon we had just climbed and to the other side of the Big Cottonwood Canyon. Never gets old to see how far you’ve come!
Finally, the famous Sundial Peak came into view as we crested the last hill before Lake Blanche.
Finally, we arrived to the stunning Lake Blanche. We were a little surprised to see several retaining walls around the lake creating a dam to hold water. We looked it up after the hike and apparently they were built in the 1930’s to create a much larger lake, but the western dam broke in 1983 which lowered the lake level to what it is today.
Despite the man made retaining walls, Sundial Peak is the star of the show, rising abruptly above the lake. The remnants of winter added to an already beautiful picture.
The purpose of this hike was not to fish, but we always do a little research before hiking to a lake for any signs of fish life – and just so happens Lake Blanche has some small Brookies.
Upon arrival we immediately noticed a few fish swimming within sight and a few rises further out on the lake. After rigging up with an ant and dropper pattern, one of the little Brookies sipped the dry right off the surface.
The rest of the morning and early afternoon consisted of fishing, snacking, napping and generally enjoying the cool air and alpine scenery.
Queen of napping by lakes
We caught about 10 fish throughout the day, on a variety of methods. A few on dries but mostly underwater on small leeches or midge patterns dropped off the leech. The biggest was maybe 6″, but they were fun to catch.
By mid afternoon it was time for us to make the hike back to catch our flight to Phoenix. Overall, the Lake Blanche hike is tough, but rewarding. Not sure there is anywhere else in the country where you can drive 30 minutes from the downtown of a metropolitan area of more than a million people and hike to an alpine lake like this.
Yes, this hike is going to be busy (it’s kind of like the Flatiron of the Phoenix metro area – pretty hard, but like why are all these people here?), but deservedly so. If you do make this hike please remember to leave no trace so others can have great experiences too.
