The last great fall hike of the season in the High Uintas… This has to be my favorite hike yet in the mountains of Utah! According to a trail guide I had read when researching it, the route passes 17 lakes! But to be quite honest, I lost track… Seemed there was another around every corner!
This was an 8.3 mile loop starting from the Crystal Lake trailhead. It begins on the Notch Moutain trail and passes by a couple of small Lily Lakes before reaching Wall Lake. We had been up to this lake a couple of weeks earlier, but were a bit shorter on time and had not gone any further.
The trail then loops around as it gains elevation steadily, passing several more lakes, as it makes its way to The Notch… A high pass between two high peaks with views that go on for days on each side. From here we travelled off trail, bushwhacking in the direction that a couple of fellow hikers had told us would meet up with another trail. The views were incredible! With lake upon lake as we looked off in the distance. Passing lake after small alpine tarn and then more lakes.
It felt as if we were the last people on earth and pretty much had the whole wilderness to ourselves! We only saw 2 backpackers off in the distance as we casually made our way from one lake to the next… All the time wishing we had our backpacking gear so we too could just set up camp and stay a night or two.
But for me, I was keeping an eye on the time… We were a long way from the car and had no idea whether we would locate this other trail or not… And the afternoon was passing quickly and only had a few good hours of daylight left. Then as we made our way around one particularly larger lake, we ran into a solo hiker and inquired if there was an actual trail nearby. She confirmed that by continuing around the lake we would run right into it… Whew, what a releif! When I have someone elses well being at stake, I take it quite seriously! Not that I wouldn’t want to stay up there, just would be nice to have a sleeping bag at least!… Especially in the fall when the lakes are beginning to freeze over at night!
After hooking up with the trail, we made our way back down to lower elevations, still passing one lake after another. Maybe someday I will learn the names of all these lakes!… Probably should get a map too! Ooops… yes, we were hiking all this without a map… Only my vague recollection of some trail description I had read online. I will be better prepared next time!
A couple of miles before making it back to the car, we did find a beautiful lake called Cliff Lake that we spent a bit of time resting at, and taking in the views while watching a fisherman on the shoreline across the lake. What a magnificient scene it was. The low light was accentuating the cliffs while reflecting their image on the glassy water with one of the alpine pyramid shaped peaks high above!
We made it back to the car with about an hour of sunlight left for the drive home… All in all, it was another one of those adventures that will not be soon forgotten! And… It gives me something to look forward to for next season! I will be back to explore this area again…
