The willow heights trail head is about 11 and a half miles up big cottonwood canyon, from the stoplight where you turn to head up the canyon. Its a little ways past the donut falls parking area and the trail head is on the left had side of the road. There is room for cars to pull off and park on the right hand side of the road. This was such a fun little hike I can't believe we haven't done it before. Since it was a Monday morning we didn't run into a lot of people.
This is the trail head. You see the sign if you are headed down the canyon.
You see this marker as you begin the hike.
The 600 feet of elevation gain is all on the first part of the trail. Once you get there its a fairly flat hike around the lake in some beautiful aspen.
When you come to the fork in the path, go left. Unless you have kids that are old enough to hike without being carried and really want an adventure. In that case you can go right. We came back down on the path you see on the right, and going down it is steep but doable but I don't recommend going up that way.
There are a couple of creek crossings but not a lot of water this time of the year. In the spring it might be more of a challenge.
There were lots of wildflowers. These are only some of them.
This is Willow Lake.
We saw ducks, chipmunk, squirrels, hoof prints from deer and maybe moose at the lake, and a mother deer and her baby when we finished the hike.
There were a lot of aspen. I hope we can come back in the fall and see them when they have turned to gold.
Our ratio of adults to kids was 4:1. Plenty of people to carry a one and half year old, however she prefers not to be carried but to walk. We carried her anyway because it was too far for her and we didn't want to take all day. For kids just a little older it would be a good hike if they hike without whining. It is beautiful and the lake would make a nice place for a picnic. You could even camp there if you wanted to backpack in with your gear.
