Silver Lake: Fall

Silver Lake is The Cottonwood Canyons Old Faithful. Its easy to get to, easy to do, and is spectacular, so of course there are crowds and crowds of people. My plan today was to go up Big Cottonwood Canyon and see where the color was good, and it was good here. But after dealing with the large crowd of people I wanted to do something a little quieter, so we continued up to Lake Solitude, which I decided to make a separate post.

Quick Details:

Length: About 3 quarters of a mile (plus about 4/10th of a mile if you park at overflow parking at Brighton).
Trail Type: loop.
Difficulty: DR2. It’s pretty flat, mostly board walked, or like paved.
Elevation Gain: NA
Restroom: Yes, flush toilets at Silver Lake.
Dogs? No. Big Cottonwood Canyon is watershed.
Other Info:

To Get Here:

Drive to the very top of Big Cottonwood Canyon. Near the beginning of the loop at the top you will see the Solitude Nordic Center on the right. 

If there is no parking, you can park up at Brighton. This will add about 4/10ths of a mile out and back.

The mouth of Big Cottonwood Canyon (Passenger Seat Photography (PSP)).

Lovely splashes of color all through the canyon (PSP).

We had to park up at Brighton. But there is some nice color up here too.

Hello little deer.

She looks nice with the fall leaves.

Looking across towards Scotts Hill and Guardsman Pass.

The Trail: Silver Lake

Woo. Lots of color popping up here!

If you just want to do Lake Solitude, go ahead and go to the right, or counter clockwise. It is the shortest route to the trailhead. We still weren’t quite sure what we were doing with our day today, so we went left. Not to mention that at the moment, it seemed less busy that way.

Looking across towards Scott Hill.

Some color below Mount Millicent.

Some great color across the way.

First glimpse of the lake.

Some nice reflection.

The lake proper.

Closer view of Scott Hill.

A couple more deer.

A lovely patch of color.

Lake reflections.

Panoramic.

Another good patch of color.

More reflection.

Another panoramic.

Well, we decided we had had enough of the screaming kids (seriously, I was raised to respect nature quietly, it truly shocks me how parents just let their kids run screaming wild). Anyway, we decided to head on up to Lake Solitude.

Back down to Silver Lake.

I love when aspens turn this more golden color.

Some lake reflection.

With Mount Millicent.

Mount Millicent again.

Some color around the lake.

Back down to the parking lot. Now we just have an additional 2/10ths of a mile to the overflow parking at Brighton.

Pretty reds.

We saw this weird machine and had no idea what it was. My best guess was a mobile snow maker? But no, it is some kind of asphalt machine.

Some color on the way back down (PSP).

Scott Hill (PSP).

Some color on the way down (PSP).

Well, we found some nice color today, mostly yellow aspens. But, the crowds were a bit much here. I am glad we veered up and did Lake Solitude again just to get away. However, Silver Lake was absolutely beautiful today, so I am glad we put up with the crowds. 8 out of 10 squirrels.

As for difficulty, it is pretty much a DR2. It is paved, board walked, or like paved and fairly flat. 

Dogs are not allowed in Big Cottonwood Canyon, so be sure to leave Fido home.