I decided to go get a rental car this morning to make getting to some trailheads easier, and to make going to the airport in the morning easier. The bus I need doesn’t run early enough and I seem to have acquired quite a bit of stuff while here.
Once I had the car, I drove up Big Cottonwood Canyon and parked at the Mill B Trailhead. I had to hike in a little ways to the Lake Blanche Trail, and then it was 2.8 miles and 2,720′ of elevation gain to the lake. The trail was packed down the whole way so I just used my MICROspikes and never needed to put on my snowshoes. It was gorgeous and sunny and I ran into several other hikers doing the same trail. The lake was completely iced and snowed over and there were tons of tracks on it, but I didn’t feel comfortable walking across it by myself, even though others were then on it. I enjoyed a lunch in the sun and turned for the hike back.
I still had time when I got back to the car so I drove a little farther up the canyon to the Mill D Trailhead and hiked out to Donut Falls. The falls were also iced and snowed over but I wasn’t sure if I was at them yet, so I followed the packed down trail up until I realized I was probably on the falls, and turned around to go back down.
Back at the couchsurfer’s house, we went out and got pho for dinner. Tonight is the last night of my Utah adventure. I fly home in the morning.
GORGEOUS pics! Looks like you had an amazing trip out west!