Fehr Lake Trail

The Fehr Lake Trail in The Uinta’s is a great trail that takes you to the shores of 3 beautiful high alpine lakes. Fehr, Shepard, and Hoover. Each progressing lake gets bigger and even more scenic. You have a good chance of seeing wildlife and right now, the wildflowers are absolutely spectacular.

It has been uncomfortably hot in the valley right now so I really wanted to get as high elevation as I possibly could and hope it was significantly cooler, so up along the Mirror Lake Highway we go.

Fehr Lake

Shepard Lake

Hoover Lake

Quick Details:

Length: About a half mile the Fehr Lake. 1.5 to Shepard Lake, and 2 miles to Hoover Lake for a 4 mile round trip adventure.
Difficulty: DR3. There are a couple steep rocky sections, but overall not too bad.
Elevation Gain: About 700 feet on the return trip.
Restroom: No. I imagine there is one at the Moose Horn Campground across the street. If not, there are definitely some at nearby Mirror Lake.
Dogs? Yes. I am not sure about the leash rules though.
Other Info: This trail starts at the top, and the return trip is uphill. This can be tougher on some people so be aware of what you are getting yourself into.
Fee Area: $6.00 for a 3 day pass as of 2018 (though it has not changed for as long as I can remember). Self serve, rangers are not usually stationed so be sure to have exact change or a check.

To Get Here:

From Kamas: Head up the Mirror Lake Highway. Cross over Bald Mountain Pass. Just a few miles down from the pass, after you do the big S curve, you will see a sign on the right for The Fehr Lakes Trailhead. If you hit Mirror Lake, you went to far.

Jordanelle looks awfully busy today (DBP).

Heading into Kamas (DBP).

The old Kamas Sign (DBP).

Heading into The Uinta’s (DBP).

It was raining on and off so we decided to stop at Prove River Falls and decide if we wanted to go over the pass or not. There are actually a couple waterfalls here, but we only stopped at the top one for a minute before deciding to continue on with our planned adventure. You can see more on the falls from our Mirror Lake Highway drive in 2012.

Bald Mountain (DBP).

Considering Bald Mountain Pass is the highest point on the highest paved road in Utah (therefore the highest pass at 10,759 feet) it’s actually not too bad (DBP). Just a little windy.

Coming down the other side (DBP).

The parking lot is dirt road, and pretty large. I reckon it could hold about 20 cars or so.

Some immature bluebells that are still kind of purple.

The Trail:

The trailhead sign.

The mileage could use an update. Fehr Lake is about .4 miles. Shepard Lake is closer to 1.5 and Hoover lake is about 2 miles according to my pedometer app, and from what I can see from other peoples experience as well.

There are a couple spots that have these boardwalks to help get you across marshy areas without getting your feet wet, This first one could use a little lift.

Some beautiful elephants head.

Different angle of Bald Mountain than I am used to.

Into the woods!

We were getting sprinkled on a little bit, but not too bad. We figured we get to the first lake a decide if we should keep going.

The wildflowers are spectacular!

I love the woods up here.

Nice little stream.

More wildflowers.

For the most part the trail to Fehr Lake is pretty mellow.

So beautiful up here.

Little patch of snow left on the peak across the way.

Starting to get little peaks of Fehr Lake.

More wildflowers.

A beautiful meadow.

Another boardwalk to make it across a wetland.

Monkshood.

And many more flowers.

I have always enjoyed these pretty flowers, and thought it was a lupine variant of some sort. i can’t believe It took me this long to learn they are elephant heads. I mean, look at them. Each flower is almost a perfect purple elephant head!

Almost to the lake.

At just 4/10 of a mile late we made it to Fehr Lake.

Quick panoramic.

Of course the rain picked up a little bit, but still not too bad. Plus, I see blue skies out there. We decided to watch the clouds and determined the storm is moving out so we decided to keep going.

Another panoramic.

Murdock Mountain in the background.

Fehr Lake is beautiful! But there was a large group camped up on the cliffs above it making a lot of noise so we decided to keep moving.

Better view of Murdock Mountain.

Wildflowers and Fehr Lake.

The trail continues down on the left or north side of the lake.

At the far end of the lake you get a nice view of Bald Mountain above the lake.

Crossing the outlet stream. All of the stream crossings and muddy sections have adequate footing so no wet feet on todays hike.

Looking downstream.

Nice clear water.

Back into the woods.

Another little boardwalk.

Another wildflower filled meadow.

Another boardwalk.

Another view of Bald Mountain.

This boardwalk section is the longest, and is particularly windy. It’s like, the roller coaster of pathways.

I just love these wildflower covered meadows.

Little closer.

Back into the amazing forest.

Pretty flowers.

Starting to head downhill.

The trail starts to thin and becomes more rocky.

Flowers on the forest floor.

Daisies.

More forest.

Every time I start to wonder if we somehow got off the main trail we run across another boardwalk section. Phew!

Nice little stream.

Caught the back end of a deer as it ran off.

More wildflowers.

Crossing the little stream.

Indian paint brush and other flowers.

Tiny pond off to the right.

Another boardwalk.

And another little pond to the left. I thought for a second this might be the next lake, but no. It most definitely is not. I would say this is about 2/3rd’s of a way.

It is a pretty little pond though.

Quick panoramic.

From the far end.

After the little pond the trail really starts heading downhill again.

Not sure what this one is but it is pretty.

Pretty woods.

More flowers.

I think this was our first glimpse of Shepard Lake.

The final leg down is seriously rocky, it almost looks like an old stream bed.

The Uinta Mountains are the only place we regularly go that I get the weird, you are alone in the woods feeling. I don’t really know how to describe it, but it’s just a little uneasy feeling that one mis-step and we would be hopelessly lost. I was a little uncomfortable with the streambed like trail amongst the thick woods, but it did get us to Shepard Lake.

Plus, the thick woods are quite pretty.

Yep, definitely getting closer to the lake.

Almost exactly 1.5 miles later, we reached Shepard Lake. I love these old style signs they have up here in the Uinta’s.

Wow! It is a little bit bigger than I was expecting. It is absolutely beautiful! And absolutely serene.

Shepard Lake panoramic. Little bit of Murdock Mountain above it.

It sounds like there might be a waterfall on the other side of the lake, but the trail goes to the left towards Hoover Lake. On the way back I noticed a couple we passed went towards where we could hear the waterfall, and then we caught up to them at the trailhead so I asked them. They said yes, small waterfall with a couple of cascades and it is pretty. Might have to come back to check that out one day.

The trail skirts the shores of Lake Shepard until the edge of it.

Murdock Mountain above.

We found a little mini bay.

Last view before continuing on to the next lake.

Into the woods again.

After climbing up a small ridge you immediately can see Hoover Lake. Woo, not too far.

More pretty woods.

Almost there.

Hoover Lake! This one has one of the cool old signs too. We either didn’t see Fehr Lakes sign, or it doesn’t have one.

Wow! This lake it huge!

Panoramic of Hoover Lake.

View of the peak across the lake. Not sure if it is named.

Nice clear water.

Pretty shooting star.

Landis found a good log for us to sit down and take a break for a minute. It had a lovely view of the forest.

We found a lovely little campsite. Check with the local forest service to see if you are allowed to have campfires before planning a campout.

Another panoramic from a little further down.

More pretty shooting stars.

I think I see some lily pads up the other way. But we didn’t try to get closer.

When I got home and looked at the map a little closer, it looks like if we had continued to the left a little further we could have added Maba Lake to our adventure. Either way, we were ready to head on back. We have a little ways to go, and this time, up hill. Oi.

Have I mentioned a million times how much I love the woods up here yet?

Heading back up.

The sun has decided to make an appearance! Of course, not on the way down, no, had to be on the way back up haha. But, I am happy to get some sunshine on the trail.

Back to Shepard Lake.

Lakeside trail. Super pretty!

Another panoramic.

This is really a pretty lake.

One of several marshy spots. We crossed all of them without getting muddy so they aren’t too bad.

The Shepard Lake sign again.

Nice and clear as well.

Another panoramic.

More wildflowers.

Back uphill we go! The trail is a little thinner in this section, but not hard to follow.

Pretty forest.

The trail is very rocky through here.

Penstemon.

Wildflowers and forest.

Pretty trees.

Bluebells.

Indian paintbrush.

Back to the un-named pond.

Lovely reflections.

The other little pond.

More flowers.

Stunning so purple they’re almost black penstemon.

More pretty forest.

Looking up.

A pretty hairy woodpecker.

Another boardwalk.

More flowers.

Little boardwalk.

Loads of bluebells.

A couple random built steps.

’

The trail is starting to get a little wider and not as much up.

More wildflowers and forest.

Beautiful meadow.

Back to the loooong boardwalk.

Lots of wildflowers.

Elephant heads.

A little closer. They really do look like elephant heads. Not just the trunk but 2 big floppy ears even! I have always liked these flowers, but now I like them even more.

Bald Mountain.

More wildflowers.

Finally back to Fehr Lake. Phew! Almost done.

The Outlet.

The outlet offers a great view that include Fehr Lake, Bald Mountain (right) and Murdock Mountain. and an un-named cliff between them.

Crossing the outlet.

More pretty forest.

Bald Mountain above.

Another panoramic with Murdock Mountain to the left and Bald Mountain to the right.

Murdock Mountain.

Nice clear water though.

Last parting look.

More wildflowers.

Nice little meadow.

More flowers.

Peak in the distance. I think this is Hayden Peak, but I’m not 100% sure.

More peaks above the meadow.

Forest.

More flowers.

Still leaning towards this being Hayden Peak. I think it just looks a little different from this angle.

Bald Mountain near the trailhead.

More elephant heads.

Back to the trailhead.

Terrible (DBP) of Mirror Lake.

We were thinking of continuing along the highway towards Evanston, but changed out minds after passing the mileage sign. We were both pretty hungry and wanted to eat sooner and figured Kamas would be a better option.

Bald Mountain Pass (DBP). 10,759 feet in elevation wow.

Lily Lake (DBP).

Heading down canyon (DBP).

Deer (DBP). I don’t know if the car in front of us just hasn’t seen a lot of wildlife, or if they have hit a deer before, but every time they saw a deer they came to a complete stop. I mean, yes, show some caution and slow down but this is overkill holy crap. But I mean, I guess it means I get to to take pictures of the road side deer. o.O.

Looks like another storm is heading in (DBP).

After stopping for some food we got the lovely experience of driving down Parleys Canyon in the rain. Oi (DBP).

Downtown Salt Lake City with some rain (DBP). The forecast called for sunny, with a chance of mountain showers, uh, we got a little bit more than that today.

Well, that was an incredible trail! I was hoping for some cooler weather, and we certainly got that. the trail was absolutely beautiful the wildflowers were amazing, and each lake was more beautiful than the last. We only ran into one other couple beyond Fehr Lake, so we got a lot of solitude in the amazing woods. I did worry about losing the trail a couple times, but we did okay. I think maybe next time we do a longer unfamiliar trail in the Uinta’s I might find a map but otherwise it was incredible up here! Going with 10 out of 10 squirrels.

As for difficulty, I found this one to be a little easier than The Lofty Lake Loop but there was certainly a long section of up, and it was on the way back. Going with a DR4.

Dogs are allowed! However I don’t know what the leash restrictions are up here. Use your own discretion.