September 26, 2024 Willow Lake Hike, Big Cottonwood Canyon

Willow Lake Hike

hikers:  Mark & Lecia

distance: 2 and a half miles

elevation gain:  562 feet

We did this on a Thursday morning.  There were people on the trail and lots of cars at the trailhead but still room to park.  You park along the road for this hike.  It is not a long hike but there is over 5 hundred feet elevation gain so a lot of it is steep.

Here is the map of where we went.

We started at this marker on the north side of the road.  It is a ways above donut falls and you just have to watch for this on the north side of the road.  It is after mile most 13 and there are cars parked along the road.

Here is the trail.  A lot of it is shady.

You'll see this and know you are on the trail!

There are some stream crossings.  

Here is another one.

After a while you arrive at Willow Lake.

There were some beautiful fall aspens, and lots of beautiful aspens that were still green!

The colors on the ground were changing too.

If you look at the map you can see we did a loop.  

You don't have to do a loop but this is where we joined back on the trail.  By then we were almost back at the beginning.  This is a really nice hike in spring, summer, or fall.