It was a choice between Clayton's Peak or Mayberry Lake. Mayberry Lake is a little traveled spoke off the Red Pine Trail in Little Cottonwood Canyon and I have done the other spokes (White Pine and Red Pine). The Mayberry Trail is almost hidden -- instead of making a left to go to Red Pine, you cross a foot bridge over a stream and then do some more climbing.
The Mayberry Trail is very desolate. I saw bunches of people heading to and from Red Pine but once I got on the Mayberry Trail, it was a ghost town. The trail is also a little hard to follow at times. Instead of the generous 2 foot wide trails to the other lakes, this one can dwindle down to 6 inches. I wasn't terribly worried about getting lost as the trail did widen in spots to gently remind me that I was going the right way.
The hike to the lake is 3.55 miles and took me just a hair over 1 hour 33 minutes. I was hoofing it -- as I was solo I was power hiking and with the cool temperatures I could easily maintain a 20 minute per mile pace. I did slow up in the last mile because I wasn't comfortable on the Mayberry Trail. Again, not a soul was in sight and the trail just seemed to be unused.
After the split off, the Mayberry Trail is just about a mile long before hitting a pair of lakes. Actually they are more like ponds. It is very quiet and secluded here. Best of all there was a fallen pine tree you can sit on and gaze at the like. While the sky was overcast (I heard it was sleeting at Red Pine) I did manage to work on my tan during the 15 minutes I was there.
If you climb over a series of rocks you can see the second half of Mayberry Lake. I wound up losing a pair of sunglasses in the rocks. I had them attached onto my shirt and as I was clamoring over the boulders the glasses slipped off and disappeared into a wedge of darkness. Perhaps someone a hundred years from now will find a pair of cheap Nascar sunglasses and wonder who lost them.
The hike in total was about 2000 feet of elevation climb (starting at approximately 7000 and winding up in the mid 9's). I wound up gabbing with a bunch of people on the way down and the whole trip took just shy of 4 hours.
For those looking for a less traveled trail and to see something that very few others see, this trail is worth doing. While the lake was pretty small it was peaceful and an idyllic and picturesque setting.
Enjoy the pictures.
Arial view of Little Cottonwood Road
Typical stretch of trail
First glimpse of Mayberry Lake
Mayberry Lake
Sitting on a log at Mayberry Lake
Gotta climb those boulders to get to the other Mayberry Lake
The other side of Mayberry Lake
In between the lakes -- south view
In between the lakes -- north view
See ya Mayberry Lake
Going down.
A babbling stream
Rough times ahead
Nice hikers took a picture of me
Map of the three zones.
Beautiful Pictures! Great place to connect with nature.
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