The Wolverine Cirque and Brighton Lakes Loop is one of my favorite hikes in the Wasatch Mountains. The trail starts from the parking lot of Brighton Ski resort, which is up at the top of Utah’s Big Cottonwood Canyon. This isn’t a long hike, coming in at a little under 7 miles, but it has some fairly steep and challenging terrain and tremendous views.
I have hiked this loop both clockwise and counterclockwise and love each way. My hikes have all been during the summer and I like to go early to avoid the intense sun. It can be windy and summer thunderstorms can move in fast so I am always aware of the current forecast and conditions.
Hiking from Brighton to Lakes Mary, Martha and Catherine is the route I took for this most recent hike, which was in mid-June of 2025. There was still plenty of snow in areas so I had spikes with me and used them several times.
The image below is me just below the summit of Tuscarora with Sunset Peak in the background.
I bagged three 10,000+ foot peaks on this hike. Tuscarora is a pretty steep climb from Catherine Pass and reaches 10,640 feet. From there I headed up Wolverine, which is the tallest peak on the loop at 10,795 feet. Then I hiked the Wolverine Cirque to Patsy Marley, which reaches 10,525 feet. The video tells the story of hiking the cirque.
From Patsy Marley it was downhill, with more snow, to Twin Lakes and then back to Brighton. My hiking app recorded 6.66 miles and around 2,500 feet of elevation gain, but there was more actual up and down than it recorded. In other words, it was a fun and fairly challenging hike for this Old Hiking Dude!
Want to get to the trailhead? Click for a map.
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