Wall Lake

Wall Lake is a beautiful high alpine lake located along The Mirror Lake Highway in the Uintas. It is a fairly short trek at almost exactly a mile, and it is fairly flat as well. You will hike through a very thick forest that occasionally opens up and offers incredible views. You have the option to explore Ponds and Lily Lakes or even continue further along the trail beyond Wall Lake if you desire. Like Cliff Lake it is an easy short trail system that might be a good option for newbies or out of towners to really explore the Uintas.

Quick Details:

Length: 2 miles round trip, more if you decide to explore around the lake, and/or Lily Lakes. (we ended up doing about 2.8)
Difficulty: DR3. It is mostly flat, with slow elevation climb.
Elevation Gain: About 200 feet. We kind of went up and down a few times exploring Lily Lakes so might be a little less.
Restroom: There are 2 sets of pit toilets at the trailhead.
Dogs? Yes. I am still unsure what the leash rules are. So people had leashes some didn’t.
Other Info: Fee area. Currently $6.00 for a 3 day pass.

To Get Here:

From Kamas, drive 27 miles up the Mirror Lake Highway to the Trial Lake/Washington Lake Campgrounds on the left. Pass Trial Lake, and follow signs for Crystal Lake TH. It will be the 2nd right. Then pass Washington Lake campground on the left. The last 500 feet is well maintained dirt road. If the parking lot is full there is an overflow lot. This will add about 7/10ths of a mile.

Fall Colors starting up near Park City (PSP).

I have decided to replace my old DBP (Drive By Photography) and now will call it PSP (Passenger Seat Photography). I think that more accurately describes these pictures because as much as I like taking pictures, I would never try to do it while driving a vehicle.

This was weirding me out before I figured out what it was. It looks like a wall of fog, like we see at the coast, but it is the smoke from the Pole Creek and Bald Mountain fires in Utah County (PSP).

It kind of appears to be blowing towards our destination today, I hope it’s not too bad (PSP).

Jordanelle Reservoir (PSP).

Oh no! It looks like there is a fire up here (PSP). I was sure they were aware, but just to be sure I asked the ranger when we picked up our 3 day pass (they did know).

Stuffed great horned owl at the ranger station.

Some great color up here (PSP).

Closer look at that fire we saw earlier (PSP).

we stopped at the Provo River Overlook where we got a good view of some of the autumn colors up here. I am glad we came up because we usually miss it when we try up this way.

The Provo River is looking a little low on water near the end of the season.

Some more color (PSP). Looks like we are hitting the smoke.

Some splashes of color next to the road (PSP).

I used to think this was Bald Mountain you could see on the way up (PSP). However, now I am leaning towards it being Mount Watson.

Now that we have turned off the main highway towards the Crystal Lake Trailhead, I am certain that is Mount Watson (PSP).

The Crystal Lake Trailhead (PSP). It is a very large parking lot, but last time we were here it was almost full.

Longest intro ever, haha. I get a little carried away with the autumn colors.

The Trail:

There are 3 main trails located at this trailhead. Be sure you take the Wall Lake Trail which is to the right of the main trailhead sign. The trail to the left will take you to Cliff Lake which we did a few weeks ago. And then the trail to the left of that will take you to Crystal Lake.

Right off the bat, the forest is incredible.

Mount Watson above Ponds Lake. Ponds Lake sites on the left (west) side of the trail and Lilly Lakes sits on the right (east) side of the trail. At first I thought both were Lilly Lakes as only Lilly Lakes is marked on the handout we picked up, but Google maps shows they both have the separate names.

Lilly Lakes.

The trail has a couple rocky sections, but overall it wasn’t too bad.

Reid's Peak and Bald Mountain above Lilly Lakes.

Another look at Ponds Lake. Like I said, we explored more on the way down.

We seem to be above the deciduous tree line, but there are still some shrubs changing colors.

The trail veers to the east above Lilly Lakes and this is the fist of two climbs. It’s an easy climb though.

Loving the forest up here.

The trail leveled out again pretty quickly.

The forest is really thick, but occasionally you get some glimpses of Reid’s Peak and Bald Mountain. It is kind of neat to see them from the other side. I am more familiar with them on the other side of them from trails like The Lofty Lake Loop.

More pretty forest.

Dead section. I wonder if there was a fire through here at one time as I noticed a similar section on the nearby Cliff Lake trail.

A little view of the never ending forest.

Big dead tree.

This part of the trail is along a steeper ridge, but it’s not bad at all.

Notch Mountain, Reid’s Peak, Bald Mountain.

Closer look at Reid’s Peak and Bald Mountain. Bald Mountain looks weird from this particular angle.

Another shot.

I was hoping that we would be able to see one of the lakes below, but unfortunately we could not.

The trail again. See, pretty easy going.

Eventually you will see the earthen dam for Wall Lake. This means you are seriously almost there.

One last climb.

First glimpse! There is a random trail split here, and it should be obvious to head right towards the lake. I have no idea where the the left trail goes, as it is not on the map.

We made it!

Quick panoramic. Mount Watson and Notch Mountain with the famous Notch in the middle.

There is an earthen dam which either created the lake, or at least made it larger. we decided to explore a little.

Nice clear water.

The wall of Wall Lake below Mount Watson. If you look closely, you can see some people climbing on it.

I think Wall Lake and Cliff Lake should switch names. The cliff here at Wall Lake is a LOT bigger than the one at Cliff Lake.

Little bridge over the outlet channel.

This late in the season there is no water coming out. Fun fact of the day, this is the source of the Provo River. This makes the 3rd river that have been been to the source and the mouth. This one, the Weber River (from the Lofty Lake Loop) and the D River in Oregon. Although that last one is kind of cheating as it is the shortest river.

Panoramic from the bridge.

Another look at the wall and Mount Watson.

Another panoramic from a little further around.

We decided we did not want to walk all the way around. We wanted a little easier of a hike today and this lake is huge! Not to mention, I’m not sure how easy it would be to get up and over the wall. Maybe some other time. Instead we decided to relax a little and enjoy the serenity. There are quite a few people up here but everybody was being generally quiet.

Notch Mountain and The Notch.

Mount Watson.

I thought I got pictures, but maybe I didn’t but you can see Reid’s Peak and Bald Mountain from here as well.

With some smoke in the air I got a really neat shadow and crepuscular ray effect when the sun went behind that cloud.

Well we had our fun but decided to head on back.

Closer look at the wall.

One last parting shot before we head down the trail.

The outlet stream. I bet this is a nice little waterfall when the lake is higher.

There is a little bit of water trickling down.

Where the Provo River makes its way down to Trial Lake, Provo River Falls, and eventually Utah Lake.

Back into the forest.

Reid’s Peak and Bald Mountain.

Notch Mountain, Reid’s Peak, Bald Mountain and Murdock Mountain, through the thick forest.

Looking up.

More forest.

Natural log splitter.

More colorful;shrubs.

Getting a glimpse of Lilly Lakes.

Lilly Lakes. There are a ton of little side trails that come down to this and Ponds Lake on the other side of the trail. We did, quite a few of them.

Quick panoramic.

The lily pads are looking kind of haggard this late in the season.

Little ducky.

The far end has a lot more lilies.

Panoramic from the side.

We didn’t walk around the whole thing but explored a little bit.

I like the reflections on this one.

I like the bright red shrubs.

On the other side of the main trail is Ponds Lake.

Panoramic.

The shores were a little murky so we didn’t explore this one as much.

We took another trail down to Lilly Lakes. We can see one of the peaks behind it from this angle, I think it is Bald Mountain.

Nice and mirror like here.

Wow.

Back to Ponds Lake with Mount Watson.

Chipmunk!

Better view of Ponds Lake.

Back to Lilly Lakes with Notch Mountain above.

Back on the main trail.

Part of me thinks there should be pirate treasure buried here.

Ponds Lake and Mount Watson again. Oh and look, a splash of some fall color.

Parkour chipmunk!

Back to the parking lot. Wew!

Heading down the canyon (PSP).

Some great color (PSP).

The fire again (PSP). We did see a bucket helicopter so they are actively fighting it.

We ended the day with a nice sunset (PSP).

Well that was a lovely hike. I think I enjoyed this one more than I did Cliff Lake, although both are nice. But Wall Lake is a lot bigger and the little side lakes were fun to explore as well. I was honestly surprised we didn’t pass very many people today, as I heard it was a popular trail. However, that did make it more enjoyable. It was a fairly easy trek and we had plenty of shade. Going with 9 out of 10 Squirrels.

As for difficulty, it is a very gradual climb for most of the way and generally wide clear path with 2 short climbs and some rocky segments. Going with a DR3.

Dogs are allowed, but I am not sure about the leash rules. Please clean up after your furry friend.