The informational sign past the bottom the Lake Mary trailhead.  Next to this display is a smaller information sign telling about the reworked trail.
Click on the image for a larger version.

Images (.JPG format):

• IMG05177 - Dale, Scott, Renee and Achim, at the top of the main Brighton ski run.
• IMG05178 - Part of the group milling around at the top of the dry and silent waterfall.  #5180 shows Renee and Achim at the falls, while #5179 shows Dale and Tim in a brief conversion.
• IMG05226 - A short respite along the shore of Lake Mary.  This picture was taken from what would normally be an island in middle of the lake.
• IMG05227 - Looking toward Catherine Pass and Sunset Peak from the middle of Lake Mary.  In the foreground is more-or-less what comprises Lake Phoebe, the upper half of Lake Mary.  Very similar is #5228.
  
• IMG05229 - From the same point as #5227, looking at the water-side of the Lake Mary dam.
• IMG05230 - From alongside the isthmus between the two lakes, a look across the waters of Lake Phoebe.
• IMG05231 - Looking up the isthmus, Lake Phoebe.  Similar is #5234.  It's hard to tell if this channel is man made or not, and also if the water's still too high to consider that these are two separate lakes.
  
• IMG05233 - The stump of a tree, probably cut down in 1914, during one of its brief periods above the water.
• IMG05236 - Lake Phoebe, from along the trail.
• IMG05243 - Lakes Phoebe and Mary, from a familiar viewpoint - also see #5244.  Compare these pictures with some of those from Last Year's hike to Catherine Pass, such as #3881 - in particular, compare #3884 with #5244.
• IMG05248 - The still (and slightly marshy) waters of Lake Martha, just above Lake Mary.  Also see #5245, #5251, and #5253.
• IMG05256 - Lakes Martha and Mary, from the trail just below Lake Catherine.
• IMG05258 - From Catherine Pass, Lake Catherine.
  
• IMG05262 - The obligatory group picture.  Because the image was underexposed, I converted it to monochrome and added a sepia-ish tint.  (I should have forced a longer exposure as I did for the picture at the Wellington Tunnel...)  L->R:  Chris, Gordon, Renee, Achim, Dale (in front,) Scott, Tim, and Clint.
  

• Lake Mary Pano 1 - From what used to be an island in Lake Mary, this is a nearly 360 degree panorama of Lake Mary and vicinity.  (6.01 Meg)
• Lake Mary Pano 1, third-size - Because the above image is so large, this is a 1/3 size version of the same picture.  (992 kB)
• Lake Mary Pano 1 - Cropped - A cropped (and half-sized) version of the original version.  (1.34 Meg)
• Lake Mary Pano 2 - The upper half of Lake Mary (a.k.a. Lake Phoebe) from along the trail.  Because the original images were blurred, this is a rather small-sized rendition. (539 kB)
  

• A detailed map with the GPS track of the hike (plus surrounding landmarks, 676 kB)
• The elevation profile of the hike - This shows the ups and downs of the trail.  Because I was wandering around in the lake, the ascent shows more horizontal travel than the descent.
  

With the escalating negative increase in the lateness of the period during which suitable levels of solar illumination exists, there is the inevitable regression of the duration of the perambulatory activities through alpine regions for the dual purpose of beneficial physical exertion and mental amelioration.  In addition to that, the hikes are getting shorter because of the earlier sunsets.

After a brief discussion, we decided that Catherine Pass (via Lake Mary) was a reasonable hike for the amount of daylight that was left.  Initially, we'd considered going the "alternate" route which takes one past Lake Dog, but in consideration of some of Achim's concerns as to the route and potential knee problems, we went the more traditional (and somewhat less challenging) Lake Mary route.  As it turns out this route was probably a bit more interesting, anyway...

Piling into the cars, we proceeded up the canyon - only to be slowed by a member of a herd of cement trucks (I'd counted at least four that had gone past the parking lot before we left) - but the considerate driver was finally able, at a suitable spot, to slow down and pull to the side and let those stuck behind him go past.  As it turned out, he was going slow enough that even Dale's car was faster!

One thing that we noticed upon arriving at Brighton was that there seemed to be a lot of water flowing down from Twin Lakes.  After arriving, unloading, and hiking to the Lake Mary/Lake Dog trail junction, we were also struck that the stream below the Lake Mary dam was almost completely dry and that the wier wasn't functioning - mostly because there wasn't enough water to flow over its top.  When we got to Lake Mary, it was immediately apparent why this was so:  Although the water was still above the level of the sluice gate, that gate was closed to impound what little water was remaining in the reservoir.  I can say that in all of times that I've been to Lake Mary over the years, that I have never seen its water level as low as it was on this occasion.

Before the construction of the Lake Mary dam in 1914, there were actually two lakes - Lake Mary, the larger and lower lake, and Lake Phoebe, a smaller lake that flowed into Lake Mary.  Not having found pictures of the two lakes, I don't know the precise extent of Lake Phoebe, but it was clear that if Lake Phoebe wasn't again extant, it wouldn't take much more lowering of the water level to make it so.  Between the two apparent water bodies was a suspiciously straight channel - one that looks man made - but I can't be sure.  Because of the low water level, I took that opportunity to walk to the island and the normally-underwater channel between the two lakes and take a number of pictures that would normally require SCUBA gear.

After stopping at Lake Mary/Phoebe, we continued onwards, first past Lake Martha (which seemed to be its normal, marshy, self) and then Lake Catherine.  While the majority of the group didn't quite get to the pass before sunset (which was at 8:05 on that day) we missed it by only a few minutes - something that we had to infer from our watches, as the western clouds pretty much prevented a show of alpenglow at the appointed time.  By the time the main group arrived at the pass, Tim, Dale, and his son had taken off for higher climes.  Before too long, a lone figure, Dale, appeared on Sunset peak, soon joined by Scott while  Tim satisfied himself with a lesser goal of making it to the vicinity of the lower, unnamed peak that was on the way to Sunset Peak.  When the middle group arrived at Catherine Pass, we found Chris already there, somewhat annoyed that some old man had upped the ante past what he wanted to do...

Not too long after the majority of the group had arrived at Catherine Pass (and some of that group had moved on toward more lofty goals) we heard from Achim and Renee, apologizing for not being able to make it all the way and that they would be stopping at a sign just ahead.  We looked at each other, briefly, somewhat puzzled, but quickly realized that they meant "this" sign - the one right in front of us on the pass.  Sure enough, Renee and Achim hove into view, just a few seconds later.

In the gloaming, Dale and the others had already headed down from above, soon joining us for the obligatory group picture.  Not too long after this, everyone dug out their flashlights (although some were content to mooch photons from others) and headed down.  The descent went without incident and we soon found ourselves in the dark Brighton parking lot.

After an uneventful trip drive down the canyon (dodging a few deer, as usual) most of the group wandered home, while Tim, Gordon and I sauntered over to TGI Friday's for a dime lime.

The Lake Mary dam was constructed in about 1914 (with final completion in 1915) at a cost of $69,000 and is owned by the City of Salt Lake:  Although originally scheduled for completion in 1914, considerably more excavation was required at the dam site to reach suitable bedrock, causing delays in its final completion.  Materials for the dam were first taken to Park City via rail, then transported by wagon to Brighton, and then by light wagon and pack animal up to the construction site.

Lake Mary is part of a protected watershed with a capacity of approximately 600 acre-feet (about 196 million gallons) - about 2/3 that of Twin Lakes.  Lake Mary is actually two lakes, but the smaller one (Lake Phoebe) is normally merged with Lake Mary and is only visible during very low water years - like this one...

Lake Mary, originally called "Granite Lake," gets its name from New York artist Hartwig Borneman naming it after his wife in 1872.  Lake Martha was named by Alfred Lambourne, after his mother, while Lake Catherine got its name from William Brighton (yes, that Brighton) who named it after his wife, but it wasn't until after 1890 that this name came into common use.

Comments about pictures taken by Clint:

• All images taken using a Sigma SD-10 camera and were taken using the 18-50mm zoom lens, except as noted in the EXIF data.
• Because all of the images were originally taken stored in raw binary format, they have been down-processed to .JPG for web posting:  If requested, different color/contrast/brightness may be applied and/or higher-quality uncompressed versions may be available for most of these images.
• If you want one (or more) of these images and wish some sort of adjustment (color, brightness, exposure, etc.) please let me know:  All of these image have been processed in some way.
• These images are numbered in chronological order.
• No-one ever said that all of these images (or any of them) were good.  Some of them may have definite focus/exposure "issues."
• EXIF data is present for most of the images, showing time, date, and precise exposure conditions.  Recent versions of Irfanview will show this in the "View->Image Information->EXIF" tab.
  
• Note that cropping/noise reduction required the use of another program which may have removed some/most of this EXIF data.
• Images suffixed with "h" (if any) are half-size.  This was done for images that were somewhat out of focus (due to misfocus or camera/subject movement associated with long shutter times) or those that required some extra noise reduction and had lost some detail anyway.
• If you took some pictures of the hike and send them to me, I'll post them - and give you the blame!
  

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