Emerald Lake is a small

proglacial lake In geology, a proglacial lake is a lake formed either by the damming action of a moraine during the retreat of a melting glacier, a glacial ice dam, or by meltwater trapped against an ice sheet due to isostatic depression of the crust around the ...

near the summit of

Mount Timpanogos Mount Timpanogos, often referred to as Timp, is the second-highest mountain in Utah's Wasatch Range. Timpanogos rises to an elevation of above sea level in the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest. With of topographic prominence, Timpanogos is ...

in the middle of the

Mount Timpanogos Wilderness Mount Timpanogos Wilderness is a wilderness area protecting Mount Timpanogos and the surrounding area. It is located in the front range of the Wasatch Range, Wasatch Mountain Range, between American Fork Canyon on the north and Provo Canyon on ...

in the

Wasatch Range The Wasatch Range ( ) or Wasatch Mountains is a mountain range in the western United States that runs about from the Utah-Idaho border south to central Utah. It is the western edge of the greater Rocky Mountains, and the eastern edge of the G ...

in northeastern

Utah County Utah County is the second-most populous county in the U.S. state of Utah. The county seat and largest city is Provo, which is the state's third-largest city, and the largest outside of Salt Lake County. As of the 2020 United States Census, the ...

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

, United States.

Description

The lake is northeast of the summit of Mount Timpanogos, at the base of the almost vertical northeast face of the mountain, with an elevation of . The now mostly vanished and completely buried

Timpanogos Glacier Timpanogos Glacier is a rock glacier located on Mount Timpanogos in the Wasatch Range within the Mount Timpanogos Wilderness (in the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest) in northeastern Utah County, Utah, United States, and is the last known g ...

left behind a terminal

moraine A moraine is any accumulation of unconsolidated debris (regolith and rock), sometimes referred to as glacial till, that occurs in both currently and formerly glaciated regions, and that has been previously carried along by a glacier or ice shee ...

which now impounds the lake. The runoff from the

rock glacier Rock glaciers are distinctive geomorphological landforms, consisting either of angular rock debris frozen in interstitial ice, former "true" glaciers overlain by a layer of talus, or something in-between. Rock glaciers are normally found at high ...

feeds the lake and colors it blue. The lake is accessible by

hiking Hiking is a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. Walking for pleasure developed in Europe during the eighteenth century.AMATO, JOSEPH A. "Mind over Foot: Romantic Walking and Rambling." In ''On Foot: A Histor ...

, the Mount Timpanogos Trail (also known as the Aspen Grove Trail) from

Aspen Grove Aspen Grove is a settlement in British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscape ...

being the fastest way to reach it. The lake is from the trailhead, or about two-thirds of the way up to the summit. During summer weekends the Timpanogos Emergency Response Team (TERT) stations volunteers at a camp near Emerald Lake to assist with emergency incidents that frequently occur on the mountain. According to some versions of ''The Legend of Timpanogos'', Emerald Lake is the immortalization of Red Eagle, after he fell to his death from the peak of Mount Timpanogos.

References

External links

Lakes of Utah Lakes of Utah County, Utah Tourist attractions in Utah County, Utah Wasatch Range Proglacial lakes {{Utah-geo-stub

Description

See also

References

External links