I usually hike twice a week. One hike is usually more challenging – a longer hike with more vertical gain. The other is sort of a recovery hike. This will be much less challenging so I can be doing what I love without the high impact on my aging body.
The trails to Dog Lake and Desolation Lake are ideal for the recovery hike. This hike was a loop I absolutely love. It starts at the Mill D North Fork Trailhead in Big Cottonwood Canyon.
On this hike I started about 20 minutes before sunrise, as I usually do. After going about 1.8 miles the trail split. To the right was the trail to Desolation Lake and to the left was the Dog Lake Trail. I went right.
After a little over another half a mile the trail opened to a wet area on the right, expanding into a large field. The creek was almost dry and the pond was nothing but mud, but as I have before, I came across two moose there.
In another .2 miles the trail from Dog Lake joined the main trail and I headed toward Dog Lake. If I had gone up to Desolation it would have been just under another 1.5 miles. The trail back to Dog Lake rose through beautiful aspens and opened to a tremendous view to the south before dropping down to the lake. This segment was just under a mile.
I walked slowly around Dog Lake, taking in the stillness of the morning.
There wasn’t even the slightest breeze, so the lake was like a mirror, reflecting trees and sky off the still, smooth water.
Even though it was the end of July, wildflowers were still blooming nicely. They were approaching the end of their peak blooming cycle, but still offered a lot of great color. From Dog Lake back to Mill D was just over 2.6 miles and was downhill almost all the way.
By the way, this can a fabulous hike in the fall and winter (conditions permitting). The aspens present amazing fall colors ranging from still green to yellow to gold. Click for my post about hiking Dog Lake with fall colors.
My hike took me almost 6.7 miles and a hair over 1,600 cumulative feet of vertical gained.
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