Mirror Lake Scenic Byway
Personal Notes:
Crystal Lake to The Notch Hike
This page presents our personal notes on our hike from the Crystal Lake trailhead to The Notch, along the Mirror Lake Scenic Byway in the Uinta Mountains in northern Utah and southwestern Wyoming.
| Saturday, July 23, 2004 |
Saturday, July 23, 2004
We got up at 5:00 a.m. and did our usual thing and were ready to go at 6:00 a.m. We headed south on I-15 and then took the road to American Fork Canyon that passes Mount Timpanogos. We had to use our Golden Eagle card to get in. It was a nice cool morning. I chose this route because, on the map, it looked shorter than driving all the way down to Provo and taking Provo Canyon. I knew it would be a bit slower because of the switchbacks and narrow road, but I’d forgotten that the speed limit along this route is 25 mph. So ... we finally hooked up with Provo Canyon at about 7:30 a.m., the time that I thought we’d be hitting the trail.
So ... instead of taking the portion of The Notch Trail that heads at the Bald Mountain trailhead, we took the one from Crystal Lake. This was the shorter of the two routes to reach The Notch. From this side it is only 2.75 miles one way, with only about a 500 foot elevation change. The other route is 6.5 miles one way, with about a 1,300 foot elevation change.
Crystal Lake Trailhead
There is a large trailhead with restrooms and information kiosks. Several trails leave from this point. We hit the trail, finally, at 9:00 a.m. The route we took was mostly rocky, with packed dirt. It had rained heavily the night before, so there was some mud and standing water in some places. There were also a few mosquitoes, but we spayed ourselves before we headed out, so they didn’t bother us too much.
The GPS Coordinates for this trailhead are: N 40 40.904; W 110 57.768 with an elevation of 10, 042 feet.
There are lots of ponds and lakes along this path, and the trail crosses several small streams and meadows. It’s a very pleasant hike, but one in which you have to watch your footing or stumble on a protruding rock or root.
Wall Lake
The first mile, to Wall Lake, is fairly flat. After that the trail starts to climb, but it is never very strenuous. In the steepest portions there are well defined switchbacks that take the strain out of the climb. And the climb is well worth it.
The Notch
The views from The Notch, both north and south, are pretty spectacular. On the north side of The Notch we could see several more small lakes and lots of trees and crumbling rock. The vista makes for a pleasant lunch stop and turn-around point if you want just a short hike.
The GPS Coordinates for the vista, just down from the highest point (10,631 feet) in The Notch, are: N 40 42.514; W 110 57.510. The elevation at the vista, where we stopped, was: 10,564 feet.
On the way in we passed or met just a few people, but on the way back we encountered a great number of hikers. Some were more attuned to the wilderness experience than others. We encountered one father who was setting a bad example for his pre-teen son by cutting the switchbacks. When I said something to him about that, he just shrugged. Some folks are just dense.
The geology in the area is amazing, the meadows were full of small, colorful flowers, the streams were running, there were lily pads in some of the ponds, a few white to gray clouds billowing up in an otherwise deep blue sky ... it was a really nice hike. On the way in, just off of the highway, we saw a moose and a deer. Along the trail we saw ground squirrels, chipmunks, and gray squirrels, plus we heard hummingbirds.
After the hike we drove up to the Bald Mountain Trailhead (about five miles from trailhead to trailhead along the highway) to size up that situation for a future hike along the longer portion of the Notch Mountain Trail.
