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Dog Lake (Brighton)
Dog Lake (Brighton)
Lake Elevation 9,390'
Lake Location 40.5869° / -111.5845°
Trailhead Brighton Ski Area
Online Map View on wbskiing.com

There are two Dog Lakes in Big Cottonwood Canyon. This page refers to the lake that is located near the Brighton ski area. The other Dog Lake is located on the ridge between Big Cottonwood Canyon and Mill Creek Canyon at the top of Mill D North Fork.

There are five notable lakes between Brighton and Solitude. They are located in three drainages: Dog Lake, Lake Catherine (which contains Lake Mary, Lake Martha, and Lake Catherine), and Twin Lakes. (See an overview of these lakes.)

Notable runs in the Dog Lake drainage include Toilet Bowl, V Tree, Pioneer Main Chute, and the Dog Lake Chutes.

2002 Avalanche Recovery

Resort skiers frequently ignore the safety signage at the Crest backcountry gate and enter the Dog Lake area oblivious to the avalanche hazard. In 2002, two sidecountry-snowboarders were killed in an avalanche below Pioneer Main Chute (read about this accident in Mountain Responder). In 2006, a snowboarder was killed in an avalanche near the White Cliffs.

Getting to Dog Lake

Dog Lake from Brighton Parking Lot
Trailhead Brighton Ski Area
Trailhead Elevation 8,730'
Lake Elevation 9,390'
Total Vertical 660'
Skinning Distance 0.8 miles
Online Map View on wbskiing.com

The Dog Lake drainage can be accessed from Brighton's Crest chairlift or by skinning up from the Brighton parking lot.

From the top of Brighton's Crest chairlift, follow the directions to the Wren Hollow backcountry gate (there isn't really a gate, but you will be leaving the ski area).

To reach the Dog Lake area without Brighton's assistance, park at the far end of the Brighton parking lot near the Brighton Lodge and skin up the narrow ski run named Lost Maid for about 20 minutes. Just before the run takes a hard left turn (at Mary Back), turn right and head up the steep (and often moguled) Lower Wren Hollow run. The Wren Hollow backcountry gate is at the top of Lower Wren Hollow. (If you turn right too soon, you'll end up in the Mary Chutes area.)

This repeats the description from the Wren Hollow Backcountry Gate page. I'm okay with the redundancy (it's better than having the user have to go to multiple pages). But if I edit one, I should probably edit both.

Dog Lake is a few hundred feet past the Wren Hollow backcountry "gate."