Outdoor Project

Sheep Lake Trail is one of the two high-country trailheads near Brooklyn Lake Campground. This adventure records a short hike up to the first major lake on this trail, North Twin Lakes. This is an easy, fairly-level trail that is often used by horses. It follows the northern segment of the Snowy Range crest, and along the way it passes fields of wildflowers and many unnamed lakes and ponds. While not as spectacular as the hikes on Lost Lake Trail or the trails leaving from the Sugarloaf area, this is a fine and scenic hike that is very family friendly and beautiful.

The Snowy Range of the Medicine Bow Mountains are a marvelously accessible little piece of high country in southern Wyoming west of Laramie. Highway 130 winds right by the highest peaks, and the area is wonderful for lovers of alpine terrain who don’t want to do long or steep hikes. Some of the campgrounds in the area have been closed due to dead or dying trees creating an unsafe condition, so the camping options are limited. One of the best options in the area is the Brooklyn Lake Campground.

Christmas Meadows is a magical little spot located deep in the Uinta Mountains on the Mirror Lake Highway. Situated perfectly to maximize the view of Ostler Peak, the campground sits on a small plateau above the meandering Stillwater Fork of the Bear River. The river has several pebble beaches and shallow stretches for children to safely play nearby, and don't forget to bring your pups, because dogs are welcome throughout the Uintas.

East Pocket, near Flagstaff, is the site of a historic wooden fire tower that is still manned every summer. The vantage of this high plateau offers incredible views, especially at the rim where the ground falls away dramatically into the Red Rock-Secret Mountain Wilderness and Verde Valley. Looking out across the same rock layers that line the Grand Canyon you can see Sedona and some of its iconic rock formations, the town of Cottonwood, and onward to Mingus Mountain and the distant Bradshaws.

One of Baker Lake's most popular campgrounds, Horseshoe Cove is located on the reservoir's western shore just north of Kulshan Campground and Upper Baker Dam. Perhaps most notable for its large "cove" swimming area with a broad sandy/dirt beach, the campground also features 3 large group sites, restrooms, and boat ramp access onto Baker Lake.

Up until 2015, Lower Sandy Beach was a relatively obscure and undesignated day use area on the northwest shore of Baker Lake with no official signage. Still obscure, Hoodoo Recreation Services, the concessionaire operating all of the campgrounds within Baker Lake National Recreation Area, has now started charging a day use and overnight camping fee for the area. Plans to upgrade the campsites to a non-primitive status are still unknown, but what is known is how lovely this hidden spot is on a sunny summer weekend.

Although not located directly alongside Baker Lake, Boulder Creek Campground is certainly not an outdoor overnight spot to overlook. Here, 10 spacious and private campsites are distributed along the banks of Boulder Creek (runoff from Mount Baker's Boulder Glacier) and are, in the eye's of many, ideally removed from the chaos of some of the reservoir's more popular campgrounds.

Catherines Pass is one of the better known and more iconic hikes in Northern Utah. This is due to the spectacular array of wildflowers one can see here in the late spring and summer. Stunning views down canyon show off Lone Peak, Mount Superior, and Sugarloaf mountains. Every few weeks during the summer an entirely new palette of colors explode on the mountain, each flower springing up at different times throughout the season. This is a great place to see wildlife as well: you can watch moose saunter, marmots scurry, and hummingbirds buzz overhead. 

Located up Big Cottonwood Canyon in the Wasatch Mountains, Broads Fork Trail is a steep and challenging day-hike that leads you to a world-class wildflower meadow beneath a cirque of peaks. This is a wonderfully diverse trail that passes through heavy pine forests, dense aspen groves, and between large open meadows. This hike has many features that vary from vast, sweeping views to tightly packed wooded areas reminiscent of the Northwest.

La Sal Pass is a serene alpine retreat hidden in plain sight amid Eastern Utah's arid canyonlands. Visitors to any of the nearby national parks or monuments may admire the La Sals on the horizon and long for respite from the desert sun, but they might not imagine how easy it actually is to access this isolated mountain range.