I have been using Salt Lake City and Park City as a stopover point enroute to southern Utah for our annual fall vacation for so many years but finally this year my husband and I made it a destination. While we have skied Park City, Canyons, Deer Valley, Alta and Snowbird, we haven’t spent more than 1 night in the area when we travel south in the spring or fall. This year we decided to spend four nights in Park City at our favorited B&B, Torchlight Inn and it gave us the time to explore the amazing hike and bike trails in the area.

I didn’t realize how hard it would be to pick out which hikes/bikes to do as I started reading guide books and researching options online. The winners ended up being the Mid-mountain Trail (bike), Lake Blanche (hike) and Brighton Lakes/Catherine Pass (hike). Full disclosure, I did not actually bike in Park City… I felt pretty intimidated as I’m a beginner and Park City is an IMBA recognized Gold Level Ride Centre (the world’s first!). I will bike here next year though once I take a skills clinic.

On our first morning in Park City, I drove my husband up to the Empire Pass trailhead where he started the Mid-mountain Trail. You can actually begin at the Deer Valley Ski Resort parking lot, or at other spots but unless you want a gruelling climb at the start of your ride, it was recommended by more than one local to start at Empire Pass.The entire trail is 28 miles/45km of continuous single track, and when you’re finished you can return via the Olympic paved trail to create a lo op or take one of the City’s free bus shuttles back to the TH to retrieve your vehicle. I spent my day shopping (lame I know but I wanted to get it all done in one day so I could focus the rest of our trip on the outdoors).

When I got back to the B&B at the end of the day, my husband had a big grin on his face. He admitted that the single track was very challenging because of all the ascents, descents, mud, rocks and snow, but he had a great time. You are not riding at sea level here–the highest point of this trail is 8300ft. He rode across the old Park City Mountain Resort and came down at Canyons (Park City and Canyons are all one connected ski resort now), and then rode the Olympic paved trail back up to the B&B. He ended up riding a total of 35.6km of single track and an additional 6 km back to the B&B.

On day 2, we drove up over Guardsman Pass into Big Cottonwood Canyon. I highly recommend this drive as it is one of the most scenic and in the fall the yellow, gold and red leaves are spectacular. From Park City, you drive up Empire Pass past the Montage, over Guardsman pass and drop into Big Cottonwood between Brighton and Solitude Ski Resorts at the top end of the canyon. You can also reach this trailhead by driving up Big Cottonwood from Salt Lake City.

Lake Blanche starts from the Mill B trailhead (you know you’re here when you hit the S in the road). I’ve seen different places rate this hike differently, but because of the elevation and the fact that you are climbing 2,600ft in only 2.6km (1.6miles) to reach the lake at 8920 ft, it felt quite strenuous to me. I would recommend that you spend some time at elevation before you do this hike otherwise you will be feeling it on the way up like I did.

That being said, the benefits totally outweigh the negatives (i.e. the climb) on this hike. The views are beautiful on the way up (especially with all the fall colours) and the lake is spectacular. What makes this small lake so spectacular isn’t the water itself, but Sundial Peak and the rocks that flank the lake. I could have sat here for hours soaking in the sun and taking in the beauty around me.

On Day 3, we again headed over Guardsman Pass to Brighton Ski Resort to hike into the “Brighton” Lakes–Lake Mary, Lake Martha and Lake Catherine. This was definitely my favorite hike in this area, and one of my favourite hikes we did on our entire holiday (that included Zion National Park, Bryce Canyon and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument). What made this hike so amazing was the numbers of beautiful mountain lakes you will see and the incredible 360° views from the top of Sunset Pass, in a very short distance. There are no miles of forested switchbacks with no views before you get to the good stuff. The views begin right from the trailhead.

The hike into Lake Mary can be quite populated though so if hiking in solitude is your thing, you likely won’t enjoy the first part of this hike. Don’t give up though! As you continue on past Lake Mary to Lake Martha, the crowds will thin out, and you will cross even less people further onto Lake Catherine and up Catherine Pass. And from Catherine Pass, you can continue along the ridge up Sunset Pass to Sunset Peak and along the ridge to Alta’s Wildcat Chair.

The starting elevation on this hike is 8,755ft, so I’m glad that I was able to acclimatize on the Lake Blanche hike before attempting a hike at this elevation. The trail started from the ski hill parking lot near the Majestic Chair and meandered its way across a couple ski runs before heading into the forest.

 

There was quite a bit of snow and ice on the trail due to recent snowfalls and I was thankful to have my running spikes for traction. The first lake we came across was Lake Mary, and my favourite of the three. The lake is surrounded by granite rocks and boulders and is pretty easy to reach if you are hiking with children–it’s only 1.8km (1.1miles) from the trailhead. From Lake Mary, the trail continues up a gentle grade to Lake Martha.

 

From here you climb again up to Lake Catherine. We chose to do the climb up to Catherine Pass (which you can also reach from Little Cottonwood Canyon via Alta and Albion Pass). From the top of Catherine Pass, you have a great view looking below on Lake Catherine. The views do get better though if you continue up the trail towards Sunset Peak.

We didn’t climb to the top of the peak, but instead, walked the ridge line across to the top of the Wildcat Chair at Alta. There is a narrow trail that follows the ridge line that we took, but on the way back, we followed the top of the ridge which was easier and afforded much better views.

 

What I love so much about this hike is that you can keep going. There are off-shoot trails everywhere and tons of scrambles and ridge lines to explore. It was also pretty cool to realize how close and connected all the ski resorts are in this area. When we embarked on our hike from the Brighton parking lot, never did I imagine that I would be standing on the same spot that I skiied on a few years ago at Alta.

We definitely want to come back and do this hike again. I’d love to get to the top of Sunset Peak (when there isn’t so much snow and ice) and even do the ridge walk from Catherine Pass all the way across to Guardsman Pass. We’d also love to drive up Little Cottonwood and park at Alta to explore the many trails spread throughout the resort. If there are other hikes that we should be considering in the area, let me know by leaving me a comment.