Lake Catherine

Lake Catherine is at the end of a beautiful trail in Big Cottonwood Canyon near Salt Lake City. This popular trail travels on the Brighton Ski Resort for about 3/4 mile until it cuts west. There is a good trail to follow as you hike on the mountain meadows and in between patches of pine trees and aspen trees. This part is where you will gain about 700 ft in elevation until you come to Lake Mary. Continue on to Lake Martha and then gain the last bit of elevation to Lake Catherine. The trail begins at the Brighton Ski Resort. Just park anywhere in the giant parking area and hike up a hundred yards until you see the signs pointing you to Lake Catherine. Once you hike roughly 3/4 mile you will go inside a pine forest and will probably hear a waterfall in the distance. Hike another hundred yards or so and you will come to a junction sign that points you to Dog Lake or to Lake Catherine. Take the right trail to Lake Catherine. You will cross over a small bridge. If you want to see the top of the waterfall follow the creek down a little ways and you will see it. It's very steep here so please be careful of the slippery edges. The trail will hug close to the creek and you will eventually see the dam to Lake Mary in the distance. Hike up the south side of the dam until you come to the top of it where Lake Mary will be in view. Lake Mary is the largest of the three lakes on this hike. The lake is surrounded by granite rocks and pine trees! Mt. Millicent is directly west of Lake Mary. If you look to your south west you will see Mt. Wolverine. The trail to Lake Catherine continues on the east side of Lake Mary and then skirts the southern side until you see a small creek. This creek comes from Lake Martha and you will pass by there too. Lake Martha is very close to Lake Mary so you may as well see both lakes while you're here! The trail stays on the east side of Lake Martha. Lake Martha is the smallest of the three lakes and is below Mt. Tuscarora. Mt. Wolverine is just behind Mt. Tuscarora. The trail makes a switchback to the top of the ridgeline where you will now be able to see Brighton again. Stop and enjoy the views for a bit! You can see all the way to the north to Scott Hill where the communications towers are. From this point it's about another 1/2 mile or so until you reach Lake Catherine. I found some very beautiful views of Lake Martha on the higher parts of this trail too. The trail will go through another small pine forest until you come up to a mountain meadow and be in the basin. You will hike a few hundred yards in the meadows until the trail circles around some granite rocks to Lake Catherine. This basin is probably the highlight of this hike! There is green grass, tall trees, granite mountains, and of course Lake Catherine. Pioneer Peak is directly to the east of the lake and Sunset peak is to the south of the lake. I found some bear scat on the trail here so keep in mind this is bear country. This trail is pretty popular so you will have other hikers but always be prepared for an animal encounter. I didn't see any bears but I did see some deer and lots of squirrels. Hike around the lake or enjoy a picnic here! I very much enjoyed my hike to Lake Catherine. I would love to come back and hike when the leaves are changing colors. This is a great hike to escape the hot weather and breathe in the fresh mountain air!