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Road Trip to Mirror Lake, UT - 4 July 2020

Jim Kenney

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Today I took a 4th of July road trip from the Salt Lake City (SLC) area to Mirror Lake, UT with my wife and son. Mirror Lake is normally about 80 or 90 miles east of SLC, but we took a really cool, if slightly longer route to get there; cool in more ways than one. Up around Mirror Lake, elevation 10,050' it was 66 degs at 2 PM. When we returned to the SLC area at 5 PM it was 95 degs!

From the Cottonwood Heights/Holladay area we took Rt 190 up Big Cottonwood Canyon, then just before arriving at Brighton Ski Area we took a left onto Guardsman Pass Rd (only open in summer) to climb over the Wasatch Front. This is the view of Brighton's Millicent Lift ski terrain from Guardsman Pass Rd. The area they call Scree Slope on the trail map is that big rock pile in the upper center.
2 july brighton.jpg

My son is standing at Guardsman Pass, elev 9717'. Some of Deer Valley's upper lift terminals are in the left background. This view is looking towards the east and Mirror Lake is about 60 more miles out in the distance.
4 july guardsman pass.jpg

This is few miles east of Guardsman Pass on a very steep and curvy road (Pine Canyon Dr, open in summer only) descending to Heber City. We dropped a huge vertical, maybe 4000', in a much shorter distance than we'd climbed up Rt 190 in Big Cottonwood Canyon to get to the pass.
4 july heber city.jpg

Same area, we caught a peek of Mt. Timpanogos to the south, elev 11,752'.
4 july timp peek.jpg

This is where we came from looking back west up towards Guardsman Pass (brown area under bigger cloud head) from the Heber City area. Somebody's flying Old Glory for the 4th of July.
4 july guardsman from east.jpg

We made an obligatory stop at the nearby Heber Valley Creamery for some fresh ice cream.:Cristmassnow:
4 july heber city ice cream.jpg

Nice view of Timp from the creamery.
4 july timp from heber.jpg

Skipping forward about 50 miles this is a scenic overlook on Rt 150 about five miles west of Mirror Lake. We broke out our camp chairs and had a picnic here. The temperature was 66 degs. We probably picked the busiest day of the year to take this scenic drive, but up here social distancing was easy and beautiful. This is a panoramic shot, if you click on it, it will enlarge.
4 july pano.jpg


Same spot, this view is to the west, we are probably at about 10,500' elevation.
4 july scenic view near mirror lake.jpg

If you think the above views are nice, we also had Bald Mtn (left), elev 11,942', right behind us to the east.
4 july bald mtn.jpg


This is one of the many smaller lakes on the approach to Mirror Lake.
4 july more lakes.jpg

It was an unbelievably gorgeous place and day for a drive.
4 july awesome day for a scenic drive.jpg


Another picturesque lake along Rt 150.
4 july other lake.jpg

This is the elusive Mirror Lake. We went down by its shoreline, but it was anticlimactic. It was so crowded there that we left without getting out of the car. This trip was about the journey, not the destination, anyway. Hayden Peak (elev 12,479') is in the left background.
4 july mirror lake.jpg

On the return trip we took a slightly different way home and instead of climbing back up Guardsman Pass we went past the Jordanelle Reservoir. I think that's Deer Valley's Bald Mtn to the right.
4 july jordanelle res.jpg

I went swimming briefly in the reservoir at this spot where temps were about 85 degs, water maybe a brisk 72. Nice!
4 july jordanelle res close.jpg

This is back in the Holladay, UT area. That is Old Mill Golf Course. Temps were 95 degs at 5 PM. We had a nice drive and successfully escaped the heat. Total distance traveled about 220 miles.
1593915452396.png


Later in the evening we watched a chaotic, but fun display of miscellaneous fireworks popping off throughout the Salt Lake Valley:
4 july fireworks.jpg


HAPPY 4TH OF JULY TO ALL PUGSKIERS!
 
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Rudi Riet

AKA songfta AKA randomduck - a USSS coach, as well
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Those shots from Mirror Lake Highway bring mack so many memories. I spent time up there every summer from the time I was born until I moved east in 1993. I've hiked all over the Uinta range, also mountain biked. Road biked up Bald Mountain Pass as a teenager - big climb, fun descent.

Thanks for the pics, Jim. Gives me a little piece of home.
 

Rudi Riet

AKA songfta AKA randomduck - a USSS coach, as well
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Also: that west-looking shot from near the summit of Bald Mountain Pass is where they shot the scene from Grizzly Adams where he's rescuing Ben, the bear cub. It's one of my earliest memories as a child, watching the crew film that shot.
 

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