Big Cottonwood Canyon: Alpine Lakes, Granite Cirques, and Donut Falls

The 7-mile round-trip trail from the Mill B South Fork trailhead at 7,600 feet is the most dramatic day hike accessible from Salt Lake City: 2,700 feet of elevation gain through aspen groves, old-growth fir and spruce, and open granite slabs to the Lake Blanche cirque at 10,200 feet — a granite bowl carved by Pleistocene glaciers containing three alpine lakes (Lake Blanche, Lake Florence, and Lake Lillian) surrounded by 2,000-foot quartzite and granite walls. The wildflower meadows in July are among the finest in the Wasatch, with Indian paintbrush, columbine, and glacier lilies covering the upper slopes; the cirque walls to the southeast rise to the Sundial Peak ridge at 11,400 feet.

A short 1.7-mile round-trip trail from the Mill D North Fork trailhead (8,000 feet) leads to a waterfall that flows through a natural donut-shaped hole in a granite boulder — a geological formation created when the streambed eroded through a boulder lodged above the falls. The trail is one of the most family-accessible in Big Cottonwood Canyon, with minimal elevation gain and consistent shade from the dense riparian forest along Mill D Creek. In peak runoff (May–June), the falls thunder through the granite hole with enough force to create a spray zone 30 feet in radius.

From the Brighton ski area parking lot at 8,700 feet, the Lake Mary trail climbs 1.6 miles through fir and alpine meadow to Lake Mary at 10,000 feet, then continues to Lake Martha (10,400 ft) and Lake Catherine (10,800 ft) in the upper cirque — an 8-mile round-trip circuit through three consecutive glacier-carved lakes with views north to the Great Salt Lake on clear days. Brighton's summer hiking access includes the resort's mountain biking trails and a summer lift for non-hikers; the alpine meadows around Lake Catherine are typically at peak wildflower in late July.