Fall Carbon County ATV ride

ok... so I'm not going to lie Fall hikes are probably the best ever! I love summer and hiking then but nothing is better than fall colors and cool enough temperatures I don't feel like I'm going to sweat to death.

One Sunday afternoon we ventured up Little Cottonwood Canyon to do my first hike up there ever! We met up with our friends Katie and Thatcher (hikers extraordinaires) to do Red Pine Lake :)

The start of this hike is less than a mile below Snowbird and is a fairly large parking area off to the side. Most signs say White Pine as this trail leads to White Pine Lake, Mary Gulch, Upper and Lower Red Pine lakes, and if you're feeling REALLY ambitious.. the Phieffer Horn. The hike itself is close to 7.5 miles if you go all the way to the Upper Lakes. The beginning is a dream but after about a mile it really starts to climb and we were sweating even with the cooler weather.

Lower Red Pine Lake was SOOOOO much larger than we expected, I'm talking really big for a high alpine lake! We just hung out long enough to take our pictures as the breeze across the water was pretty chilly without sunshine. (also the colors are a bit off due to the lighting but even without the sun that green is gorgeous!)

And back in that grove of trees is where the journey to the upper lakes continue! There's kind of a "lead your own adventure" with a couple of foot paths but no real trail leading to the lake. You can venture over boulder fields or go the long way round... or heck do a little of both which we did!
The boulder to the right was AWESOME and just inside that grove there.

The picture below is actually the view from one of the higher boulder fields. Down below is the lower lake and I mean.. just look at the incredible view.

I'll be honest with you, there's 2 upper lakes both of which are a little small and lack luster but the journey is worth it to get the view of the canyon from so high and a view of the lower lake.... So I recommend at least going a little past it.
Now we hadn't planned on doing too much more so we didn't do the summer but from the upper lakes I'm told it's not too much but a few rock scramble to the phieffer horn... so maybe next time :) Super great hike with super great friends, and capped off with burgers. It was a marvelous Sunday!