Fall Hike to Red Pine Lake

It was a great day for a hike, the temperature in the upper 50's when I woke up and it looked like it would also be cool in the mountains (the KSL Vortex weather site said the wasatch high country was in the 40's)  So I decided to go back to Red Pine Lake since it is one of my very favorite places. 

The fall colors were on full display so it was a beautiful hike.  If you don't remember it's about 4 miles each way with about 2500 feet of elevations change - you go from 7200 feet at the trailhead to 9700 feet at the lake.  During most of the hike I think the temperature was in the upper 50's or low 60's.  Perfect hiking weather!

This is looking back down the trail about a 1/2 mile up the White Pine/Red Pine trail from the trailhead.

 The trail forks when you get to White Pine Creek (if you head up this canyon you go to White Pine Lake).  So you cross the stream and walk over to the next canyon to the west to go up to Red Pine Lake.

















As the trail starts up the canyon to Red Pine you have a great view of Little Cottonwood Canyon.  At the lower elevations some of the colors are fading but it still looks pretty nice!

And, at a little higher elevation you can see the Aspen are changing also.  That was not true just a couple weeks ago.

And finally as you get to the lake, much to my dismay, it was mostly empty.  I have been to this lake many times and I have never seen it not full. It has always been so beautiful. I was there in July and the lake was full.  I began to wonder if the water level was controlled by the forest service or the water conservation folks.  To see the contrast look at the July 26 post.

So, I ate my lunch here on the south side as usual, but it didn't have quite the same appeal as it has before.  When I was walking up the trail, the water in Red Pine Creek was flowing really well so I expected the lake to be full. So, before I left,  I walked all the way around the lake this time - I had not done that before.  Sure enough, on the southwest corner on a significant down slope below the lake there was a water flood-gate and it was wide open so they were obviously draining the lake. I expect that late in the year, if there is not enought water flowing down Little Cottonwood creek, they open up the gates at these upper lakes to provide the water they need in the valley.

The Wasatch Mountains are the primary water-shed for the wasatch front.  I did a quick estimate of the surface area and depth of the lake and estimated that about 500 million gallons of water had been drained from this one relatively small mountain lake - so during dry years, which this certainly was, this water is pretty important. 

The clouds had rolled in while I was at the lake and it started raining while I was there, but it was mostly just a light sprinkling that last about an hour or so.

This last picture was taken on the way back down.  So, all in all it was a great day.  I was just saddened that they had mostly drained "my lake".