Red Pine Lake
Behold, Red Pine Lake.
The hike to get here is not an easy one. You start in Little Cottonwood Canyon, at about 7000ft in elevation, at the White Pine Trailhead. Hiking in a mile, the trail splits between White Pine, and Red Pine Lake. From there, it's a little over 2 miles to get to Red Pine, which would be fine, except you gain about 2000ft in elevation between the trailhead and this lake. The last mile was the steepest, clambering over rocks and boulders, all covered in snow and mud from recent storms, and packed down slick as ice with all the foot traffic.
This is a popular hike, and it's consistently rated as the top hike in the Canyon because of the beautiful scenery along the way. People often backpack in and do an overnight up near the top, which would make sense in summer. On the last day of September, though, it was right about 40, and with the wind, it was bordering on freezing. Beautiful sight though, well worth the hike.
