Sunset Peak - The Hard Way

So with a free Labor Day and a very supportive wife, I decided to head out bright and early to hike up to Catherine Pass, with the option of going on to Sunset Peak.  The trail starts at the Brighton Ski Resort in Big Cottonwood Canyon.  The temperature in the parking lot when I arrived at 7:45am was 44 degrees.

The first mile seems pretty steep.  It didn't seem as steep as it did last year when I had Titan strapped to my chest, but it was still pretty tough.

There are some nice spots to stop and rest take pictures of the views.  It really is a pretty area--one of my favorite places to hike.

About 3/4 miles in I decided to take the short side trip to Dog Lake.  About halfway down the short trail a guy coming back the other way told me there was a moose ahead and there were some people there taking pictures of it.  I continued up over the hill to see the lake and saw the people taking pictures.  They were very, very quiet, as if they were hunting rabbit.  I looked at the other side of the lake, looking for the promised moose.  I scanned everywhere in the little valley, then finally looked about 50 feet of the trail behind a small tree.  Yeah, it was close.  My pictures were all blurry (of course).

I went back to the main trail and headed up to Lake Mary.  In reality, it's a reservoir, but "Reservoir Mary" doesn't have the same ring to it.  Annie and I came up here last year on Labor Day and I'm pretty sure that island out there was under water. But I was still surprised how much water was up there, considering how little snow we got this year.

I continued to the next lake, Lake Martha.  It's hard to get close to Martha, but easy to take pictures of it through the trees.

I continued on up past Lake Catherine to Catherine Pass.  Annie and I turned around just short of the pass last year, so it was great to make it up there.  This was all I had committed myself to doing, so it was nice knowing I could head back at any time without feeling bad.  But, still feeling good, I decided to keep going up to Sunset Peak.

I always wondered where people were standing to get pictures of Lakes Mary, Martha, and Catherine all in the same picture.  You have to be on the peak to get them all lined up.

I made a stab at a panoramic picture.  Hopefully Blogger can show it.

 

Heading back down I decided to take the long way.  I took the scenic route next to Lake Catherine, then decided to try the trail between Lake Mary and Twin Lakes.  The trail was a little hard to follow in places and I just had to make my own trail here and there.  By the time I got to the real trail I was a bit below Twin Lakes and really didn't feel like climbing up anymore, so I made my way back to the car.

In all, I hiked 8 miles in 5 hours.  The trail was very steep in a lot of places, and very flat in a lot of others.  It was a great way to spend a Labor Day morning.