Random Rambler

The Big Cottonwood Canyon Brew Fest is a fun event at Solitude near the top of Big Cottonwood Canyon. The event features several local breweries serving their brew in a beautiful open air mountain top venue. We have done it once before and had fun, so we decided we would do it again. I love any event that allows me to enjoy a beer in the mountains.

Quick Details:

Length: The Moonbeam Base to Solitude Village Trail is about a half mile. Plus whatever wandering you do. We ended up doing about 3 miles total today.
Trail Type: Meander
Difficulty: DR2. The connector trail is paved, and then it was a large flat lawn.
Elevation Gain: About 130 feet.
Restroom: Yes, flush toilets in the Last Chance Lodge.
Dogs? No. Big Cottonwood Canyon is watershed.
Other Info: The event itself was free. But it was $20 for a mug and 4 tickets ($10 worth of tickets). 3 Tickets got you a 12 ounce can. So, it was a ticket per 4 ounces.

To Get Here:

Drive about 12.2 miles up Big Cottonwood Canyon to the lower, Moonbeam Lodge Base at Solitude. You can try going an additional 3/10ths of a mile to the upper Solitude Village Base, but the parking lot there is a lot smaller so.. you would have to get lucky haha.

Anyway, from the Moonbeam Lodge Base there is a short trail up to Solitude Village. They also have a shuttle, as well as a ski lift to get you there as well.

Pretty mountains today (Passenger Seat Photography (PSP)).

Into Big Cottonwood Canyon (PSP).

Pretty canyon (PSP).

Long line of cars heading up (PSP).

Large rock on the road (PSP). That would sure suck if it hit you on it’s way down.

Mill B South (PSP).

So pretty and green (PSP).

Nearing the top (PSP).

The Solitude Moonbeam Lodge (PSP). We decided not to even bother trying the upper lot. We’ve got legs.

The Trail:

The Moonbeam Lodge again.

I love the clocktower.

The Moonbeam Base to Solitude Village Path. It is paved and pretty easy going. Alternately, they have the Link ski lift going, as well as a shuttle this year. But, as I said, we’ve got legs. Its only about half a mile anyway.

The zig zaggy trail. Plus the Link Lift on the right.

Random conveyer belt of some sort? I have no clue. You know, I should take up skiing so I can learn what some of these things are. I feel like there is at least one thing at each resort that I can't figure out.

Looking back at the Moonbeam Lodge.

The Link Lift. They just toss the bikes onto the back of the chairs. I guess that is better than saying just hold on to it o.0

Into the woods!

This little path is barely 3 ish years old and they are already tearing it up!

I wonder what the heck they are doing to it.

More forest.

Continuing up.

Geranium.

Buttercup.

Some other yellow flower.

Geranium.

Penstemon. Man all of the flowers are coming up in this one section.

Almost to the top.

Peaks above.

Well, it looks like if we had waited for the shuttle we would have arrived at about the same time. But meh, this was the prettier way.

The festival on the Last Chance Lawn.

They did things a little weird this year. They still required you to get tickets, but didn’t put the ticket booth right at the beginning.. so we had to ask one of the vendors how to get a beer, which made us feel a little dumb. haha. Anyway, after getting our mugs and some drink tickets, we got a beer, then wandered around to see what breweries were here.

Solitude Village.

The Last Chance Lodge. It was open this time and serving a limited menu.

They also had a couple small vendor booths outside of it.

The festival. I appreciated that they added a covered seating area this year. But I would have liked to see more.

The festival.

Again.

Moab Brewing and Bewilder Brewing. Moab was our favorite today.

The tent again.

The festival again.

Uinta, Bohemian, a ticket booth, Roosters, Squatters, and Saltfire Brewing across the way.

Bike coming down the Main Street ski run.

Plus Epic, and Moab Brewing and a ticket booth.

Peaks and the Apex Express ski lift.

Plus: Heber Valley, Elevated Craft Cider, Offset Bier, Chappell, Ticket Station, Salt Flats, and Etta Place Cidery.

I think that was all of them. I might have missed one or 2 of the breweries. I was not really trying to catch them all today. Just having fun enjoying a couple beers in the mountains.

The Last Chance Lodge again.

More breweries.

We decided our last beer of the day would be at Moab, and they had a bench in the shade that was open, so I took advantage of it and decided to figure out what our next move was.

Some dude came up to me and asked what he could get for one ticket. I was just like… uh, you can get a sample size pour. Moab here has some good options. And he moved on to order.

I was like, why the hell did he approach me? And then a little bit later I realized I was wearing my Fisher Beer hat. Whoops. Lesson learned, do not wear a brewery hat to a brew fest! And especially don't while hanging out next to the vendors haha. But I mean, no harm, no foul.

Like last time, there was some live music. But they switched sides from the last time. And are at the east side today.

The Last Chance Lodge again.

The little tent again.

Peaks.

Well, we wandered between the Last Chance Lodge and the one food truck they had that was serving tacos. For whatever reason, neither options were doing it for either of us. So we decided to wander over to Solitude Village. I knew there were a few options there.

The pond.

Big Cottonwood Creek.

Fancy clock tower.

Again. I love me a good clock tower.

It appears to be displaying the correct time (we have come across a couple public clocks recently they were not).

We ended up at the Honeycomb Grill. We opted for the outdoor balcony, so long as we had a shady spot.

Hind site being 20-20 I am not sure if that was our best decision of the day. I think I would probably have been happier sharing a burger from the Last Chance Lodge.

The clock tower again.

I did enjoy watching the hummingbirds enjoy the feeders they have.

Not to mention the adorable potguts.

The clock tower again. It chimes every 15 minutes. That made me happy.

Main entrance.

I kind of want to stay here for a night someday.

I really like me a good clock tower.

Closer. I didn't wander around it but it appears to have at least 3 faces. Very likely 4.

The other side. It has some condos and the Honeycomb Grill.

Potguts.

This little field is a potgut playground.

Last look at the clock tower.

Heading back down towards the Moonbeam Base.

Big Cottonwood Creek heading downstream.

The little pond again.

Upstream Big Cottonwood Creek.

Heading back to the connector trail.

Trail down to Moonbeam Base.

Pretty view down.

Lovely forest.

Little shack… I learned what this is in a minute.

Where the construction path crosses the trail.

Another one of the shacks. They are gas pumps! Probably for their snow cats and other equipment.

Speaking of which…

The path again.

First glimpse of the Moonbeam Lodge.

The snow cats again.

Forest.

Are these baby trees, or something else?

The Moonbeam Lodge again.

Back down to the parking lot. Phew!

The clocktower again.

We had some time so we decided to explore a bit.

Closer to the tower.

It is displaying the correct time too.

The side. It is the entrance to the Argenta Pub. It appears to be a ski season only pub.

Solitude Mountain Mining. There is an almost identical setup like this at Snowbird.

The back of the clocktower.

You know, I have never been back here before.

Portrait mode. It looks like this one only has 2 faces, front and back.

With the building.

Directly behind it.

Again.

The little gold pan station again.

Little closer.

Back to the clocktower.

The alcove in it. We wondered if you can get to that.

The front again.

Again.

So, we were about to leave but then thought maybe we could get to the 2nd story.

So back to the back.

We found some stairs, but they were roped off. Poop. We’ll have to try again on a less busy day.

Panoramic.

The Little Dollie and Tude Dudes ski runs on the other side.

The little gold pan thingy again.

Closer.

Back down to the parking lot.

The front of the Moonbeam Lodge.

Another Sno Cat. I guess I have been spelling that wrong for a while now. o.0

They filled this bus stop with a bunch of signs.

Leaving the parking lot (PSP).

Crossing Big Cottonwood Creek (PSP).

Heading down the canyon (PSP).

Again (PSP).

Pretty canyon (PSP).

I still wanted to do some kind of nature walk, so we decided to stop by Hidden Falls. It is super short, so it was a good option.

This years mug. It's cute!

Anyway, I had a fun day up in the mountains today. Honestly, any excuse to hang out in the mountains and have a beer or two makes for a good day. It was busy, but not super crowded today. 10 squirrels.