Fehr Lake Hike

Our family loves alpine hikes. Fehr Lake was not a disappointment as the trailhead is located at almost 10,000 feet. It has all the things that make high-country hikes amazing. There are towering pines and millions of wildflowers. There are granite cliffs and, of course, a peaceful lake.

The trailhead is a well-marked turnout past mile marker 30 on the Mirror Lake Highway. There is plenty of parking, but it’s pretty quiet, at least on weekdays.  We saw only one other group of hikers along the trail.

The hike is around .5 miles down to the lake (1 mile round trip), and it is mostly downhill. Be prepared to climb back up the hill on the way back. It’s not strenuous, but it’s not flat either.

The lake is beautiful and still. We didn't see any fishermen or signs of fishing. Of course, our boys undertook their favorite activity of throwing rocks. There are a lot of places to stand near the lake and look, (or throw rocks if you’re under 12). We decided to walk around the lake, and we found a path that had obviously been used before. It’s not a maintained trail, but you could see how to get around the lake.

Heading down the trail

We couldn't get enough of the wildflowers!

Notice the jacket on August 1st.

Wildlife is also abundant on this hike. We saw a lot of birds including a pine grosbeak. On other sections of the highway, we saw a cedar waxwing and a red-naped sapsucker. There were four cow elk and three calves just down the road, too.

Mommy Elk

Baby Elk...A mom would cross followed by a baby.

This hike goes out to two other lakes (Shepard & Hoover), but we didn’t go that far. According to the sign, it is only 1 mile to Shepard Lake, but everything we read said that it was more like 1.5, which makes it a 3 mile round trip hike. Hoover is around a quarter mile farther than that. We didn’t want to push our 4 year-old that much. We were content with the hike around Fehr Lake.

If you find yourself attempting this hike, make sure you check out the Mirror Lake Hike and the Provo River Falls.

Don't be fooled by the sign. Fehr Lake is .5 miles,
but Shepard is really 1.5, the Hoover another bit after that.

The trail is beautiful!