Fish Lake / Trailside Loop

[gholt]

I have been going to Fish Lake for many years, and maily have ridden the dirt roads on the bike, but this year I tried one of the hiking trails. I tried the lakeside trail that goes all around the lake.

I took the counter clockwise route from Doctor Creedk. It is 26 miles The first section that goes up to the 2nd overlook, is fantastic. A good deal of climbing and rocks, etc. It looks loke not too many people use the trail. After you get to the down hill section past the 3rd outlook and halfway down the mountain, you reach a section that is about 2 miles that is too rocky to ride, there may be people out there that can, but it was too hard for me. (I should have listened to teh ranger.) I would recommend going the route through Crater Lake.

So, I got to hoof it for a while walking around the lake. After that, it was a pretty mellow ride around the rest of the lake back to DR Creek. ~ 4 hour ride.

So, if you're in fish lake bring your bike and explore some of the hiking trails. Here is the link to utah mountain biking.com

http://www.utahmountainbiking.com/trails/fishlake.htm

[accadacca]

Awesome! I was there a few weeks ago and rode the trails on the west side of the lake with my boy. I really wanted to ride the full loop, but I spent so much time fishing. I want to ride it all next time.

[Brewhaha]

I concur with gholt's analysis. The trail on the westside is a great family ride. Climbing up the east side is a long hike-a-bike. Riding across the top is pretty good with some fun downhills and some climbs. The overlooks are fantastic. The trick is getting down. We took the same cutoff to get down which becomes un-ridable about half way down. The walk along the lake is a brutal bike-carrying death march. Next time we will definitely take the Crater Lake loop.

[gholt]

That death march was great. I have the flat petals with the little spikes and from carrying and walking the bike, it gouged the back of both of my legs.