Lake Mary, Pass Lake, and Albion Basin: Two short hikes and a stroll through wildflowers

In the last month or so, I haven't had much chance to go far away to hike, and July is not necessarily my favorite time to hike my favorite places in the Southern Utah desert, but I have been able to get away for an hour or two to the nearby canyons.

Near the end of June, I went with a neighbor and some of her friends up Big Cottonwood Canyon to Lake Mary. It's a supposedly short hike, and I'd done it before years ago, but the beginning of the trail had changed, and there was a lot of snow and flodded meadows, so things looked different. We overshot the trail a little bit and ended up approaching the lake from the east, but it was beautiful. The shutters of my camera weren't open all the way, hence the blocked view.

The weekend before the 4th of July holiday Kevin and I went up to the Uintas with my dad to go on a trail past Scout and Pass lakes. I love this hike. It was perfect for a July afternoon--short enough and high enough to produce pleasant temperatures. In just 3.5 miles, this loop trail takes hikers through forests, past several lakes and streams, above the timberline (where there were still plenty of ice fields), through high wildflower meadows, and through lower grassy meadows. It's a great way for me to enjoy most of the things I love about the Uintas in an afternoon, and it doesn't have switchbacks, of which I've become less fond during my mountain backbacking trips.

This weekend Kevin and I went to Albion Basin to see the wildflowers in bloom. This is where I learned to ski, and it still takes me back to my childhood to go up there and see the lift to Sugar Loaf, my favorite ski run, and the way to Cecret Lake. There are so many beautiful wildflowers this time of year.