Brighton Lakes Trail, Wasatch National Forest- August 2021

After a big trip into Henry's Fork in the Uintas, I found myself still wanting to get out for an overnight trip. The Wasatch has a few places that I have not stayed the night at so I figured I would just visit one of my favorite places. I packed up the Jeep and headed up the canyon to the Brighton lot. I put on the boots and the pack and heaaded up. The Wasatch in most places is much steeper than the Uintas because of its geology and terrain, and it is always a good reminder when you hit one of these trails with a full pack on. After junctioning with the Lake Mary Trail, the temps were a bit cooler. It was a bit busy in this section but nothing too bad. I made it up to Lake Mary in pretty good time and took a pano and moved on. The trail up to Lake Martha was pretty empty and had some great temps. The top of the Swithcback, which gives you a birds eye view of Clayton Peak and Peak 10,420 was awesome to take in the view. One final push throught the trees in a well sheltered trail up to Lake Catherine.

I arrived to a somewhat busy Lake Catherine. But they were all day hikers which I expected. I looked around and found a spot on the south east side. There was really only one place to put up my Lunar Solo which was flat so that solved that problem pretty fast. After getting camp set I decided to go fishing and do some time lapse filming.

I headed down lake side and there were three other people around the lake who were fly fishing as well. On my first cast I had a 12" Brookie on and that was a great start to a good couple of hours of fishing that pulled in about 10. During this time I was filming a time lapse of what I thought would be a cool storm cloud which actually turned out to be the start of the Parleys Canyon Fire. Right Place Right Time? After about 2 hours the fishing slowed down and I was ready to head back to camp for some dinner. After a good meal and desert, I headed back down for some sunset fishing and that was red hout landing me the biggest Brookie I have ever landed at Lake Catherine! What a fish that was! Light started to get thin so I headed back to camp for the night layers and to get my camera ready.

It took a lot longer to get dark than I thought it would this time of the year. Once it did I made my way out lake side and I set up a star trail and headed back to camp and settled in under the stars. It was so nice and a crystal clean night. I unfortunately did not see any Persids Meteors this time. I was hoping but I think I was just out of line of sight. It was really warm all night. It was quiet and stars shown bright for sure. After a couple of hours it was time to grab the camera and turn in.

I must have slept really well, just after midnight I turned in, and when I turned on my phone it said it was 7:15 AM. I got up, started some water for coffee, and began to break down my camp. I ate breakfast, packed some more, than parked it on a log after everything was packed ad just drank my coffee watching two deer feed down at the lake. After the coffee was done, it was time to hit the road. I had a great hike out, though a bit of the fire smoke from the west coast fires was back so it did make it a little hazy. Just over an hour I was back at the Jeep and headed home. A great overnight trip in my home range that was so much fun! The Wasatch is a gem! It was a great weekend! Enjoy the pics and videos. Check out my YouTube Edit from this trip. Subcribe and Like! More Adventures To Come!