Ever since the Sunset Peak hike I wanted to return to Brighton and do some more peaks in the area. I noticed on Google Earth that these three peaks are close together and all hikable. Justin and I left the Brighton ski resort parking lot at about 8:30am, it was much warmer than two weeks before when I hiked Sunset Peak.
The walk up the road to the top of Millicent lift was a typical forest service road. At the top of the lift I looked up and saw that what looked like a nice hill on Google Earth was a boulder pile that would require a long scramble to the top. I had been hoping for a trail. We made it to the top in fairly good time. We only stopped to look at some big device mounted on the mountain side that we figured must be something to do with avalanche control.
Millicent Peak had a great view, stay tuned for a nice panorama which I need to stitch. 360 degrees of incredible alpine scenery. We quickly enjoied the view, took photos and headed on to the next peak.
What looked on Google Earth like a nice flat meadow between the peaks was really a steep hillside. The terrain was great for walking and we quickly reached Wolverine Peak. We relaxed to eat lunch while we enjoyed the view. The temperature began to drop quickly. We finished lunch, added a few layers and took more photos, we were on the peak for almost and hour.
Just as we headed off to tackle the third peak a thunderstorm materialized right above us. We were on the somewhat exposed pass between Wolverine and Tuscarora peaks as the lighting and thunder started. We took shelter between the rocky ridge and trees to wait out the storm. Though it materialized quickly it felt like the storm was holding still right above us. There were blue skys all around except right above our heads. I didn't want to abandon the attempt on the third peakbut the storm just wasn't moving after a 30 min wait. We retreated back towards Wolverine down in the trees in the center of the three peaks. We found I nice spot to hold up and wait a bit longer. After about 20 min the storm finnaly cleared above Tuscarora Peak so we headed out.
The rest of the walk towards Tuscarora was short. I was still nervous about lighting so I quickly visited the top of the peak and moved down. Before heading down we chatted with a couple that had come up from Cathrine Pass to Tuscarora. They were avid hikers and had been al over Utah. I got a few hike ideas from them for the future.
It was another short walk down to Cathrine Pass were we doffed the extra layers we had added at Wolverine Peak and had a snack at the pass. We started seeing lots of other hikers on the trails. We started down on the well worn Brighton Lakes Trail. We saw more and more other hikers as we hiked down to the the trail head. At Lake Mary there was dozens of people emerging from the trail to the open area near the dam.
After a few photos we continued on down to the parking lot. The trail from Lake Mary to the parking lot is busy, wide and well worn.
Length: 5.4 miles
Trail head: 8625 ft
Millicent Peak: 10,452 ft
Wolverine Peak: 10,795 ft
Tuscarora Peak: 10,640 ft
Photos: Flickr
GPS Tracks: kml gpx
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