Brighton Hike

Yesterday I worked downtown from 6:30 to around 10:00 a.m. and then I headed home.  When I drove into the driveway, the Lovely Sharon was working in the yard so I decided to go for a hike  on my own at Brighton Ski Resort.  Brighton Ski resort is located at the top of Big Cottonwood Canyon in Salt Lake City.  You Salt Lakers are familiar with the area.  I decided to take the one and a half mile walk from the Silver Lake area up the mountain to Twin Lakes. 

I was surprised when I arrived at the Silver Lake area to find it packed with people.  Young people, old people, toddlers , families - the area was just full of people escaping the heat of the city. A lot of people were fishing in Silver Lake.

After I got off of the boardwalk trail around Silver Lake, I reached the Twin Lakes trail and was glad to get on it and head up to Twin Lakes overlooking the Brighton Basin.  The hike has about an 800 foot incline.  I passed a few folks coming down but I did not see anyone else going up.  I had my cell phone, a trail map, a bottle of water and my camera. 

I was a little winded when I reached the top and I sat on a rock sipping water from my water bottle, admiring the beauty of the lake and the peaks on this beautiful blue sky Utah summer day. I could see Mt. Millicent and the ridge separating Big Cottonwood Canyon from Little Cottonwood Canyon.  For those of you not from Utah, Little Cottonwood Canyon is the canyon where Alta Ski Resort and Snowbird Ski Resort are located.

Here are a couple of photos from the Twin Lakes area.

Alta Ski Resort is over the ridge behind Twin Lakes.

Mount Millicent

Only a few traces of snow left

There were a few wild flowers out but not many.

I took a round-about route back down the mountain and saw a few small streams carrying water from the almost melted snow.

At the bottom of my hike I had a grilled cheese and ham sandwich at the Brighton Store.  It was a nice afternoon.