Red Pine Lake
Yesterday, Wednesday, I took a drive up Little Cottonwood Canyon again… but this time I was making a stop at the Red Pine Trailhead. I was looking on Google Maps, in the Terrain view, and noticed two lakes nestled up in the Wasatch Mountains. One was named Red Pine Lake, the other, well the other wasn’t named. So I’m just going to call it Upper Red Pine Lake. If you have a problem with that… well too bad. Anywho, I then did a little research on the Red Pine trail and saw some pictures of the lake, and immediately decided I wanted to hike up there to get some shots. So, I did.
Looking towards Alta Ski Resort
The trail starts off with a nice gradual incline in a beautiful setting with Aspens and Conifer trees. But then it starts to increase in elevation gain, making the midday hike a lot warmer than one would like. Thankfully though, there are plenty of trees to give you sufficient shade from the sun.
Aspens giving some much needed shade.
Once you get about half way, 1.75 miles into the hike (the hike in is 3.5 miles… if you’re not good at math, like me), the trail starts to become… a lot less noticeable. At least it was for me. Maybe I’m just not as observant as I used to be, or just wasn’t paying attention… but I couldn’t, for the life of me, follow the trail. I would find it, but then loose it shortly after. Finally, I just decided to go cross-country and follow the river up the mountain side. Now, don’t get me wrong… I’m all for Treading-Lightly, but sometimes… it’s either needed, or just worth it… which was my case this time.
Looking down towards Little Cottonwood
While hiking cross-country I looked to my left and noticed a deer starring me down, daring me to come any closer than I already was. Then… I noticed there was two of them! One laying down. So, I figured the one standing was protecting the one laying down. But, what do I know? Haha. It was a little eerie though, they never, not once, took their eyes off me. They never actually moved, either. After using their statue-like stillness to my advantage and getting a couple shots of them… I went on my way, letting them relax I’m sure.
Watchful Eyes.
As I continued on my journey, I saw this…
Massive waterfall coming down the mountain.
Finally after finding the main trail, for the tenth time, I followed it for a little while which led me to Red Pine Lake. Red Pine Lake is a beautiful blue lake that sits 9,800 feet up in the Wasatch Mountains. The crisp clean air, the beautiful blue lake, and the peaceful stillness was more than I could ask for. Especially after killing myself hiking up the trail.
Red Pine Lake
But, since I had already hiked 3.5 miles… what’s another mile, right? I decided that I was going to hike up farther above the lake to see what was up there. Along the way, there was this nice little creek that helped feed Red Pine Lake. I was also surprised at how much snow was still up there. My guess is that the snow up there, never melts fully. There’s probably snow up there year round. Which I find strange, coming from Arizona.
Little Stream
Then, not too much farther up, at 10,000 feet up, there’s this little lake, Upper Red Pine Lake. The massive boulders that edge the lake were amazing. I couldn’t pick just one location to shoot from. I would go to one location that I thought would be an amazing scene, but then I would look to my left and see something that could be just a little bit better. So I would get all set up there… but then get bored and walk around some more… only to find yet another location that could push the envelope just a bit more. So, I would clean up “camp” and move to the new location. I probably did this about 5 times before finally settling down on this location…
Upper Red Pine Lake at Sunset
And I’m glad I stayed with this shot. I like how it came out. I was the only person up there… and actually almost the only (visible) living thing in the area. The only other living creatures that I saw, were birds. One kept flying in front of me, going from one side of the lake to the other. My guess is she was bringing food to her nest. Definitely a busy little bird. After this shot I cleaned everything up and headed back down the trail, in the dark. The hike down was mostly uneventful, besides the pain that came with hurrying down the trail. About half way down, I was greeted by a deep grunt/moan as I passed by. I kept telling myself it was just a deer/elk letting me know he was there. I didn’t really want to think about if it was something a bit more… carnivorous. Haha. Like a bear. But, I made it safely to my car just before 10pm. It was a great hike, amazingly beautiful. But it is definitely a one time thing for me.
Thanks for reading and looking!
Jeremy | Sur-Real Photography