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Fish Lake Shoreline Trail
Mytoge Mountain
Fish Lake is a natural lake in the high plateau of central Utah. Elevation
at the lake is 8700 feet. This lake is famous for large trout. But it's also the site of
the Mytoge Mountain bike trail. In the picture at right, that's Mytoge in the background.
Fish Lake from the north shore, taken from the Shoreline Trail. (Bruce Argyle,
August 27, 1998) |
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Along the north shore of the lake, there's an easy well-groomed trail that
hugs the shoreline. This is perfect for the kiddies. Strong intermediate riders will use
this trail to complete a 26-mile loop: west on the shoreline trail, around the west side
of the lake, south to the top of Mytoge Mountain, east across the upper plateau, down some
technical stuff to the east end of the lake, then back to the shoreline trail. At left, Mike Engberson runs the shoreline
trail on the way to the mountain. |
The Mytoge Mountain trail rises up volcanic rock through
quaking aspens and pines. Most of the trail is OK for a strong intermediate rider, with
short areas of advanced technical. Long stretches of easy trail (for example, 10 miles
along the north shore) allow reasonably seasoned riders to complete the entire 26-mile
loop.
Dominic Bria takes
a breather in the pines on the south side.
Picture by Bruce Argyle, August 27, 1998 |
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Fish Lake lies in a "grabben," a chunk of land that slipped
downward between two fault lines. It's the origin of the Fremont River. The
Sevier Plateau is covered with volcanic deposits, dating from the last 20
million years, on top of lakebed deposits from the Tertiary Period (age of
mammals beginning around 65 million years ago). The plateau was lifted up in the
mid-Tertiary. The Great Basin subsided, creating the dramatic elevation change
between the I-15 corridor (5000 feet) and the plateau country just a few miles
to the east (9000 feet).
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Getting there: Fish Lake is about 210 miles south of Salt Lake City.
Take I-15 to Cipio, then UT-50 to Salina. Backtrack west (turn right) on I-70 about 7
miles, then take UT-24 to UT-25 and continue to the lake. The shoreline trail can be
picked up anywhere along the north side. There's a parking area titled "Doctor Creek
Trailhead" at the west end of the lake, which is a good place to pick up the
shoreline trail.
Doc Argyle on Mytoge
Mountain overlooking Fish Lake.
Photo by Mike Engberson.
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Copyright 1998 Mad Scientist Software Inc
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