Gorgeous day today, so I headed out for my second trip to Sundial Peak up Big Cottonwood Canyon (my first trip was August of last year, but I foolishly didn't take my camera. It was an amazing trip, and I ended up swimming in Lake Lillian with a dad and his two boys). This time, I took the camera, because I knew how amazing the trip was and I wanted to make sure I could share it with everyone.Blanche and its two sister lakes, Florence and Lillian, sit in a high alpine basin that was dug out by a glacier during the last ice age. Long straight scratch marks and deep polished grooves, etched out by the glacier, are still clearly visible on the stone surrounding the lakes. Picturesque Sundial Peak (10,320 ft.), which the Wasatch Mountain Club uses as its emblem, rises abruptly from the south shore of Lake Blanche, and Dromedary Peak (11,170 ft.) is only a mile to the southwest. Blanche, its two sister lakes, Dromedary Peak, and the Sundial are all part of Utah's 11,300-acre Twin Peaks Wilderness Area.
From the trailhead in Big Cottonwood Canyon the path begins climbing immediately beside the Mill Fork River (gorgeous!), and continues to climb at a fairly steady grade of about a thousand feet per mile all the way to the lake. The trail crosses Mill B South Fork once, after 0.3 mile, and then stays on the east side of the canyon for the rest of the hike. About half way to the lake the trail leaves the river and veers to the east in order to avoid some cliffs at the head of the canyon. Also at about this time the trail leaves the quaking aspen (my favorite trees!) and enter into a conifer forest.
As I got higher up the trail you could see a lot of evidence of winter and spring avalanches, and at one point a rock slide completely covers the trail and you have to scramble over it to get back on the trail. Also on the way up, an amazing rainbow just popped up out of nowhere right over Dromedary Peak -- I was barely able to get the camera out and focused before it was gone, but I did get a great pic out of it (which I later blew up and framed for my Mom).
Once at the top I took a brief swim in Lake Lillian (even though you're not supposed to, since it's part of the watershed, but everyone does), and then circle the lakes to stand at the base of Sundial Peak. Wow. Very impressive, and almost straight up. I know some people have rock-climbed to the top, but that's beyond my skill level (or even, truthfully, my desire). I worked my way as high up the cirque as I could get, and was looking down on the lakes from a beautiful vantage. The overall hike was around 8 miles round trip (with my side trips), with an elevation loss/gain of 2,580 feet. An awesome day, and I want to take everyone I know here!!
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