Went for the first of my many trips to Catherine Pass on the Great Western Trail.
This hike is located between the ends of Big and Little Cottonwood Canyons, in the midst of the Brighton and Alta ski areas. It is a very pretty area, with many alpine lakes, green meadows, and gorgeous wildflowers. From Catherine Pass Trailhead (just outside of Alta Ski Resort) the trail immediately starts up a series of switchbacks. It continues to climb for about 820 feet, finally reaching the summit of Catherine Pass after a distance of 1.0 mile. Catherine Pass, with Catherine Lake immediately below it, is an impressive viewpoint, especially as it just sort of jumps out at you as you top the ridgeline. After passing through the meadows the trail takes a short climb to Catherine Pass, at an elevation of 10,240 feet. If you turn right and climb to the top of Sunset Peak, the views are completely overwhelming. Sunset Peak is the highest point on the ridge above Catherine Lake. The trail to the summit is 0.6 mile long (1.2 miles round trip), and involves an additional climb of 430 feet. The overall hike is only about 4 miles, with an elevation gain/loss of about 1,370 feet, so this is an easy hike with a big payoff for little effort (somewhere I always bring guests, as you will see). From Catherine Lake you can continue on for a breathtaking circular hike around Twin Lakes Reservoir and through Grizzly Gulch, but on this trip I was more interested in swimming and sunbathing than long hikes. I also had my first (of many) real encounters with wildlife on this trip: I was shadowed for a long time by a curious mule deer, and at one point crossed paths with a Mama moose and adolescent calf. Cool.
I did eventually go back for the full trip, but that's another post.
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