Kent has been trying to read all the hikes that Jesse McMullin describes in his articles from "
Into the Tushars." This week he thought we should try hiking into
Rock Lake which is located on the southwest side of Birch Creek Mountain - an area of the Tushar's we hadn't been to before. After a rocky and bumpy two-mile drive (FS #575) (more of an ATV trail) off the main road (FS #137) we started our hike at 10,000 ft on the spine between the Beaver River and the North Fork of the South Creek drainage's. We then hiked down a lightly used trail (#245) to Mumford Reservoir and the naturally formed Rock Lake. What a fun hike - just a little over 3.5 miles round-trip. The hardest part is driving the road to the trailhead!
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About a third of the way down, we came upon this neat rock outcropping . . .
time to stop and explore |
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| Didn't see any spiders . . . just some cool webs |
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From on top of the rock outcrop we had some great views . . .
Looking south towards Buckskin Valley |
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In the distance, scattered among the evergreens, should be brightly colored green aspens.
In early June, a cold front with freezing temperatures swept across the mountains . . .
so most of the aspen leaves lie on the forest floor |
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We're on our way to check out Mumford Reservoir . . .
Somehow we missed the turnoff to Rock Lake . . . we'll catch it on the way back! |
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| Orange Sneezeweed . . . achoo! |
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Mumford Reservoir supplies water for grazing cattle . . . lucky cows!
The trail came down through the clearing on the right side of the ridge. |
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Chipper had a blast rolling in the mud and dried cow pies . . . he really did!
Think he was trying to cover up his spots?! |
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| A perfect day for a hike and no one around . . . but us! Still social-distancing! |
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| Mumford grave markers . . . ? Keepers of the Lake . . . ? |
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Using the GPS, we were able to locate the cutoff trail to Rock Lake on the way back . . .
You can almost see the lake through the trees |
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Appropriately named Rock Lake . . . notice these aspens actually have leaves!
Might be a fun place to view the Fall colors |
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| Kent and his buddy, Chipper |
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Chipper cannot resist water!
Yes, by the time we reached the 4Runner he was a total mess! |
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| I told Kent we needed to get a selfie . . . since there were no mosquitoes! |
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Kent spotted this while he was waiting for me . . .
Original signage . . . somebody did a really good job! |
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Most of the hike was a nice trail . . . occasionally we had dead-fall to climb over
Surprisingly, the overall descent/ascent was only about 400 feet. |
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| In one area we came across these pretty Firecracker Penstemon |
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| Silvery Lupine growing near the Trailhead |
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We had nice views of Mt. Baldy (12,122) and Mt. Belknap (12,137) . . .
as we slowly drove back down the rough road |
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| There's so much water in these mountains! |
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| Springs cascading towards Anderson Meadow from high in the mountains |
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| Here's where those streams end up . . . beautiful Anderson Meadow Reservoir |
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Kent caught a nice Rainbow trout . . . which narrowly escaped Chippers mouth!
A good way to end a fun day! |
