July 28, 2010 Red Pine Lake and the Pfeifferhorn Wasatch Mountains

On the ridge above Redpine lake

Location: The trail for Redpine lake is located about 5.5 miles up Little Cottonwood Canyon. Like every hike in the Wasatch this one is extremely popular and hikers should get to the trailhead early in the morning. The trailhead is called Whitepine and it accesses three different lake basins Redpine, Maybird Gulch and Whitepine. The trail junctions for each basin are clearly marked.

The hike: Today I am going to hike the three miles one way to Redpine lake. From the lake, I will scramble up Pfeiffer Horn. The trail to Redpine is easy to follow and well-signed however, the trail is steep and rocky. Hiking to Pfeifferhorn, off-trail navigation and common sense are required, likwise, thunderstorms are numerous in July and August. For this blog I will not describe the route from Redpine to Pfeifferhorn.

Upper Redpine lakes

Looking towards Twin Peaks to the south

Whitepine avalanche chute across the canyon