Mirror Lake Highway – Fall Drive

 

Today we decided to drive the Mirror Lake Highway and get in some beautiful fall colors.

Approaching Kamas. (DBP)

And onto the highway. (DBP)

DBP

One of these is a drive by photo, the other is not. I forget which. haha. We chose a good day to do this scenic drive, it was National Public Lands Day so there were no recreation fee’s Woohoo!

Green and gold. (DBP)

More canyon shots. (DBP)

We return to Provo River Falls. Quite a bit lower on water this year. We camped near here last September and the falls were still full.

The water is so clear.

This is the lowest of the 3 falls.

From above.

And here is the middle falls.

Different perspective.

Up the gorge. One advantage of the water being this low is we got to explore more of the river.

And back to the upper falls.

I love the staircase rocks that form the falls here.

We ventured a ways up above the upper falls and well, there is another waterfall.

Here it is from above.

And the view further up.

The higher up I hiked the more I was reminded of my hike up Sweet Creek Gorge in Oregon. Totally different forest feel, but same idea of walking up a beautiful stream cascading down a gorge.

The idea of this trip was to get some fall colors in. This random hike was in conifers, but I did find some fall color here!

Cascades.

Such a gorgeous hike up here.

Another smaller waterfall.

And here we come upon a bend in the river.

With clear, clear water.

Amazing view downstream.

Another view down.

About this point we decided to head back down to the car.

We continued driving up the highway, and reached the Bald Mountain Overlook. This officially marks the furthest I have been up here until today.

Bald Mountain, looks a bit different from this angle. Also is above the tree line. I believe this is the highest point of the journey.

And starting to go back down the other side. (DBP)

Bald Mountain from the other side. Seeing all the trees coming up to the tree line gives a good sense as to why it was named so.

Stream coming out of Mirror Lake.

Informative sculpture.

Mirror Lake, not being very mirror like today.

Quick panoramic.

Pretty little trail around Mirror Lake.

After hiking partially around Mirror Lake we decided to see what else this highway had to offer us.

This is Butterfly Lake. You cant really tell in these pictures, but yes it really is shaped like a butterfly.  I tried to get a higher angle to showcase this but it didn’t happen for me today.

Next stop was the Highline Trailhead.

And now some adventuring in the woods! We followed the trail for a while until I realized it was going down. I was hoping to go up.

Nearing the trailhead we started at, I ventured slightly off trail and found a nice view.

Another panoramic.

Some more scenery before we continue back down the road.

Getting back down into the deciduous trees. (DBP)

I like the fiery shrubbery near the stream. (DBP)

It would seem we have left the Uinta’s from here all the way to Evanstan it’s kind of boring. I am glad we did the whole loop, but now I see there is no need to. (DBP)

Getting some color in where I can. (DBP)

These are from a rest stop just this side of the Utah Border on I80. I think this is the same place we got stopped when we got turned around on our 2010 fall drive.

Echo Reservoir is practically empty.

And the mouth of Parleys.

Just for the heck of it a shot of the mountains, and some city near where I live. I love when the mountains turn this color.

Today was really just going to be a scenic drive meant to really see what else was up in the Uinta’s It was a really nice drive. Well, up until leaving the Uinta’s. There was a couple other places I would like to stop one day, but I would say, once you hit the Bear River Lodge, go ahead and turn around if you want to stay in the pretties. Otherwise, continue the loop to Evanstan and back down Parleys. 10 out of 10 squirrels.