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Quick Details:
Length: About 3 miles out and back.
Trail Type: Out and back
Difficulty: DR4. This one is a long climb!
Elevation Gain: About 680 ft.
Restroom: No. Closest one I can think of is at the Ruth Lake trailhead. Or I bet there is one at the Sulphur Campground across the street.
Dogs? Yes. I’m not 100% sure what the leash rules are up there. When in doubt I would use one.
Other Info: Fee area. $6.00 for a 3 days pass.
To Get Here:
From Kamas, head up the Mirror Lake Highway. Go passed Mirror Lake, even past Ruth Lake. It is across from the Sulphur Campground. At Mile Marker 39.
Jordanelle (Passenger Seat Photography (PSP)).
This sign always makes me laugh (PSP). From what I understand it’s just a gag, there is no actual nudist ranch.
It sure is pretty up here (PSP).
I love the pretty tree lined roads (PSP)
And the tree covered mountains (PSP). I sure do love it up here. I am kind of surprised this is our first trip this year.
Mount Watson (PSP). I used to mistake this for Bald Mountain, until I got closer and realized the distinction.
Bald Mountain Pass (PSP). 10750 ft. The highest pass in the state. As far as mountain passes go, this one isn’t too bad. However, it’s super windy on both sides.
More forest lined road (PSP).
The Trail:
Trail sign, Not a whole lot of information here.
Woods rose.
Fireweed.
Paintbrush.
Mixed forest.
For the first quarter mile or so you can still hear the cars on the highway, but eventually that fades.
I always just call all these types of flowers wild daisy. And some of them might be, or they might be fleabane,
Skyrockets.
More paintbrush.
Hayden Peak and Kettling Peak. Those can be better viewed on the Ruth Lake trail. Random fun fact I recently learned. Kettling Peak is named after Richard Kettling the guy that designed the original version of Saltaire.
Thistle.
This is the biggest darn paintbrush I have ever seen! Too bad I didn’t think to add a ‘for scale’ item.
This is a more recent flower that I have discovered myself and finally identified as a camas.
I think an arnica of some sort, but I struggle with many petaled yellow flowers. There are just so many of them!
Whiskey Creek with some lovely little cascades.
There is a faint and steep looking side trail out towards the creek, I don’t know what it leads to but it looks a little sketchy so we skipped it.
Starting to get into the thick forest.
Completely mixed forest.
We get a short break from the climb though here.
Some pretty flowers.
Some more paintbrush.
More pretty forest.
Whiskey Creek again.
By the way, if you are a wimp about steep slopes like I am, this is probably the worst of it.
Some nice cascades.
This trail split wasn’t as obvious as to which is the more defined trail. We assumed, correctly, the main trail was to the right, and the trail to the left was just a viewpoint. We decided to scope out the viewpoint.
Some more lovely cascades along Whiskey Creek.
There is even a nice bench to take a break on.
Looking downstream.
More of the creek.
Monkshood.
The forest is getting quite thick!
Back to climbing. Oi.
Look at all that monkshood! I don’t think I have ever seen so much of it before! And purple monkey flowers too. Nice.
Yellow monkey flower. I first learned of these on a trip to Yellowstone. They just love the geothermal springs. So I was kind of surprised to find them here in Utah. They do seem to like wet areas from what I can tell. Apparently temperature doesn’t matter.
Random enclosure.
Purple monkey flowers.
Monkshood and purple monkey flowers in the background.
The random corral again.
I am not having any luck identifying these. Possible a milkvetch of some sort?
I finally got an answer, sickletop lousewart.
More amazing forest.
Cool split rock.
I’ve mentioned this before, but one of the “rules” of shooting forests is to avoid the ground. Well, often I like to break that rule and I enjoy the results.
Nice forest.
Fallen tree.
Little babbling brook.
More monkshood.
Wildflowers galore.
Another little babbling brook, Or perhaps the same one? I lost track of how many times the trail switched back.
More lovely scenery.
There are a couple random spots that have been filled in with rocks. Not quite sure what that is about.
As far as switchbacks go, these are alright. I tend to get myself worked up over the unknown. And I was starting to worry this trail was going to put me on a steep open hill. It did not, and I am glad I did not get too worked up to made it to the end.
We have got to be near the top.
Hayden a Kletting Peaks through the trees.
A nice flatter segment.
If this peak has a name, I can’t find it. But it is what looms over Bourbon Lake.
More sickletop lousewart.
There are a few down trees on the trail. Most you can step over, a couple like this you have to step under.
Aside from the lake itself, this was my favorite part of the trail. The forest is super thick through here and eerily quiet.
Bent tree. We learned what can cause this on the Limber Pine trail. It is thought that heavy snow bends the tree over, and likely that the leader branch broke off, so a secondary branch took over, so it gets the neat zig zag shape.
More pretty forest.
It really is pretty through here.
Daisies.
An iddy biddy clearing.
More pretty forest.
Some more funky trees.
Neat twisted tree.
Pretty forest.
Back to the climb.
But it is still in a lovely forest.
Eventually it flattens out again, and this means you are getting very close.
More forest.
First glimpse of the lake through the trees.
Bourbon Lake. I don’t know for sure, but I think the color of this lake attributed to it’s name.
With the amazing peak.
Unfortunately, the next picture I attempted to take my camera decided to crap the bed. Well, it’s been a good few years. However that kind of put a damper on finally reaching the end goal of the trail. After messing around with my camera to see if I could resolve the issue, I finally gave up and spent some time enjoying this amazing view.
All further pictures are from my phone. It does alright, I just prefer to have more control than my phone allows. Now I have the fun decision of either replacing the camera body I had (cheapest option) versus going back to Nikon. This is the 2nd major failure on this Canon and I am not really a happy camper with them right now. Oi.
The neat peak again.
Nice and clear, even if bourbon colored.
Clear enough you can see the fish! I think they were cutthroat trout.
The peak again.
Eventually we decided to head on back.
We noticed a smaller body of water and a trail out to it so we decided to go check that out.
The creek coming out of Bourbon Lake.
It’s just a wee pond, but it is still pretty.
That peak again.
Heading back down.
Lovely woods.
Fun twisted trees.
More forest.
Looking up.
One of the side streams.
Monkshood.
Yellow monkey flower.
Back down to Whiskey Creek.
Paintbrush.
Back down to the aspens.
Whiskey Creek again.
Even though my camera died, I really, really enjoyed this trail. It’s probably my new favorite trail! Then again, its the first new to me trail we have done in quite a while so it might be that. But this was a really lovely trail. The wildflowers were great and the lake is quite picturesque with the peak looming above it. It is also not a very crowded trail either. Going with 11 out of 10 squirrels!
As for difficulty, it was a pretty constant climb but we’ve done worse. DR4.
Dogs are allowed, but I don’t know what the leash rules are. When in doubt I tend to leash.
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