Lake Solitude

 Lake Solitude is a nice serene lake nestled among the high cliffs near the top of Big Cottonwood Canyon. The trail features a lovely mixed forest, wildflowers, nice views, and of course the lake at the end. It is also a great trail to take in the fall colors. This is another one of our favorite trails and we do it usually at least once a year or so.

Quick Details:

Length: It is about 1.25 miles from the back TH of Silver lake. Plus about 3/10ths of a mile for the shortest route around Silver Lake to the back trailhead, which makes it about 3.2 miles out and back.
Trail Type: Out and back, longer loop options.
Difficulty: It is a bit of a climb, but not too bad. DR3.
Elevation Gain: About 500 ft.
Restroom: yes, there are flush toilets at Silver Lake.
Dogs? No. Big Cottonwood Canyon is watershed.
Other Info: If the main lot is full, and the overflow lot across the street is full, you will need to park at the big Brighton lot which will add about 2/10ths of a mile each way.

To Get Here:

Drive to the top of Big Cottonwood Canyon. Continue around the 1 way Brighton loop road. very quickly you will see the turn off for the Solitude Nordic Center to the right. It is a small parking lot, but there is overflow parking across the street. If both lots are full there is additional parking at Brighton which, as mentioned, will add about 2/10th of a mile each way. The trail is to the right of the Visitor Center.

The mountains are starting to look quite colorful (Passenger Seat Photography (PSP)).

The mouth of the canyon is looking nice and colorful (PSP).

More canyon color (PSP)

Thankfully the construction with the one way traffic lights has again been suspended for the weekend (PSP). Phew!

More color (PSP).

Hitting the aspens (PSP).

The traffic coming down from Guardsman Pass is nuts (PSP). I kind of regret not doing that today though.

Well, the Nordic Center lot and the over flow lows were full so we had to park at Brighton. I love those trees! Anyway, as mentioned, this adds about 2/10ths of a mile each way.

More aspens.

Mount Millicent.

Scott Hill with the Mickey Mouse shaped tailings.

The Trail:

Before long we reached the Silver Lake trailhead, and again confirmed it is open to the back trailheads.

First view of the meadow around Silver Lake.

Right now, the south end of the trail is being reconstructed and is closed. The north end was just completed a few weeks ago, which is nice, because it is the shorter route to the back trailhead.

The new boardwalk to the south was shifted just to the right and you can see the scar of the old boardwalk. Also, the trail is still just as crowded as ever.

Beaver dam.

Mount Millicent.

Big patch of color.

The new bridge and fishing dock over the lakes outlet.

Upstream towards the lake.

Downstream. Beaver lodge to the right.

The lake again.

Duck on the dock.

Some nice color.

Mount Millicent above the lake.

About 3/10ths of a mile later we made it to the back trailhead. We did Twin Lakes just 2 weeks ago, so today we are doing Lake Solitude.

Into the woods! It is much, much less crowded back here and before long the sound of the crowds fades to quiet woods.

Beautiful aspens.

I am still curious what they plan on putting in this spot that they dug out earlier this year.

I didn’t get a shot of the 4 way intersection before this cause there were people, but forward takes you to Lake Solitude. Left leads to Twin Lakes, and right is a closed (I suspect winter only) trail. I have noticed in the past at some point they remove the signs for the season, but they are still up for now.

Beautiful woods.

The trail can be pretty rocky in some areas.

More aspens.

View across the canyon.

More aspens.

The sad remnants of a daisy-like flower.

I love these little stone staircases.

I believe this is the upper/alternate trail over to Twin Lakes. You can make a big loop of all 7 of the Brighton Lakes (Silver, Solitude, Twin, Mary, Martha, Catherine, and Dog) if you have a bit more stamina than we do.

Wow we found a paintbrush still hanging on.

There are a couple random split off’s. You generally just want to keep left after the main split, or just generally uphill.

Big ol conifer tree.

More pretty forest.

View across the canyon.

With Scott Hill.

Again.

Some more flowers hanging on.

The ski lift, I always get myself worked up about this part, but lately I get to it, and realize it is short and really isn’t that bad and am able to get through it without issue. But I will go ahead and tag my Fear of Heights tag anyway.

See? Not so bad. Plus some nice color.

More color.

More color looking down the Solitude disc golf course.

Back into the woods.

Lots of color.

Mixed forest.

Looking up.

Before long we reach the first of three scree piles. Which are good places to look for pica’s.

A pica haystack. They do not hibernate so they gather supplies to get them through the long winters.

Here is our first little pica friend. Hello cutey pie!

So regal.

Busy gathering supplies before the cold weather comes.

I just love watching these guys run around.

Super cute!

Watching for predators.

They are so nimble hopping around the boulders.

More gathering.

More watching for predators.

Back to gathering.

Another one on the other side.

Watching.

Alright, time to move on.

More forest.

The middle scree field is a little smaller.

Haystacks.

A little pica near the top.

Uh oh.. that kind of looks like a nasty storm coming in. We were not expecting that. Maybe we will get lucky. Spoiler, we did not.

Small patch of trees.

Looking up.

Bigger patch of trees.

Looks like there has been some damage lately.

Before long we reach the third and largest scree field. This means you are almost there.

This is also a great place to look for picas, and marmots as well! However a loud crack of thunder urged us to keep moving.

More trees.

Another patch of trees.

We made it! Looking back, that trail was way easier than I remember it being for some reason.

Then, just moments later, the skies opened up. Well, I guess walking around it is out this time.

Panoramic.

The lake again.

The little island.

Well, it really started to come down so we decided we should probably head back.

One last shot of the lake.

A Steller’s Jay, one of my favorites. They are just absolutely beautiful birds.

Taking off.

Back into the woods.

The old trail below. I am very glad they rerouted it because the old trail kind of sucked here towards the end.

Back to the big scree field.

The rain is starting to turn into snow. Eep.

Patch of color.

One of the patches of woods.

Looking up.

More woods.

Then it turned into hail.

More aspens.

Eventually the rain/snow/hail got intense enough that I decided to put my camera away to not damage it, so now we will switch to phone pictures, which honestly aren’t too bad.

More forest.

More color.

Back to the frisbee golf course.

Back to the chairlift.

A little foggy across the canyon.

More color.

Some western cone flowers.

I don’t often get to walk in foggy woods. It’s a thin fog, but it’s there and I am enjoying it.

More color.

Leaf litter.

More color.

Tree stars! Actually I think they are thimbleberry leaves. They just remind me of the leaves from The Land Before Time.

Back down to the 4 way split. Forward will get us back to Silver Lake and the trailhead.

More forest.

Back down to Silver Lake and the back trailhead. The weather seems to have chased off most of the crowds.

Foggy lake.

Some more color.

The new lake level dock without people!

View from it. Love the light fog.

Duckies!

Back to the bridge and dock over the outlet.

Again, without people. Crazy!

The lake again.

The new boardwalk.

Looking back towards the lake.

The parking lots have cleared out.

Color and fog.

I am particularly fond of this patch of trees next to the Brighton sign.

Heading back down the canyon (PSP).

Lots of color (PSP).

Then we hit the leaf peeper traffic (PSP). It delayed us by about a half hour, so not too bad.

Fun through the rain soaked window shot (PSP).

Starting to see some blue skies to the west (PSP).

Little bit of sunset (PSP).

Another fun wet window shot (PSP).

Foggy canyon (PSP).

More sunset (PSP).

Some color at Mill D North (PSP).

Aside from getting completely soaked, it was a fun day! The lake is lovely, and I always enjoy getting some time to watch the pica’s. After we got past Silver Lake the trail was very quiet and we only ran into a few other people. Plus, if the weather is any sign of what’s to come this may be our last higher elevation hike of the year. No regrets. 8 out 10 squirrels today.

As for difficulty, it is a gentle climb, with some rocky parts. DR3.

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