Mirror Lake Lodge Traditional Cache
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Difficulty:
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Size: 
(regular)
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This cache is located at the site of the Mirror Lake Lodge. Not many people are aware of or remember that there was once a thriving and popular resort here. Access is by a well maintained trail roughly half way around Mirror Lake from the day use area about a half mile then some short bush whacking up the hill from the lake trail to the site. The cache is an ammo can hidden in a rock cairn. It is an easy find but take the time to look around.
This is the site of the Mirror Lake Lodge. Many people don’t realize or remember that there was once a thriving and popular resort here. I don’t know exactly when the lodge was built. If I had to venture a guess I would guess sometime in the 1940s but it could have been as early as the 1930s. I am sure it hit its heyday just after the paving of the Mirror Lake Highway in the early 1950s. It remained a popular resort through the 1960s but by the 1970s the grand old Lady was showing her age and major repairs and renovations were just not practical or profitable for a 2 month season. It was open only intermittently through the early 1970s then finally, unoccupied, it was destroyed by fire in July of 1975. I was told it was a very spectacular fire. Personally, I was in Four Lakes Basin at the time and saw the smoke from there. The Forest Service happily cancelled the lease, bulldozed or burned the remaining out buildings and closed and destroyed the road down to the site. The Lodge was of log construction similar to but a little smaller than the Fish Lake Lodge. It contained a full restaurant, bar, and campers store. The main part of the lodge was a combination dining room for the restaurant, dance floor and lounge area depending on how the tables, chairs and sofas were arranged. The cairn that hides this cache is made of stones that were once part of the great fireplace that took up about two thirds of the north wall of the dining room, dance floor, lounge area. There were also rooms for a laundry, offices and living quarters for staff. In addition to the lodge itself there were 14 rustic cabins that contained only a bed, table and chairs, counter, wash basin, bucket and a wood burning stove, 4 modern cabins with indoor plumbing and cooking facilities and 5 motel units with indoor plumbing and maid service. The Mirror Lake Lodge Association which consisted of a group of businessmen from Evanston Wyoming also operated a service station and fast food establishment on the west side of the highway near the Mirror Lake junction. About a half mile south of the junction and just east of the highway were a cabin, a barn and a corral where horses could be rented by the hour or the day and where guided pack trips into the High Uintas Primitive Area could be purchased. About 40 feet from this cache on a bearing of 215 or at N 40 degrees 42.370-W 110 degrees 53.490 two stumps are all that remain of the two giant pines that bracketed the front entrance of the lodge. About 100 feet on a bearing of 100 or at N 40 degrees 42.370-W 110 degrees 53.460 you can still see some stone steps that were part of the path that went from the lodge to the boat house and dock where 12 foot aluminum row boats could be rented by the hour. Down on the lake shore one timber remains of the dock. About 150 feet from the cache on a bearing of 220 or at N 40 degrees 42.355-W 110 degrees 53.505 you can see what remains of the road that started from the campground road just east of the highway and brought patrons to the lodge area. About 150 feet away on a bearing of 185 or at about N 40 degrees 42.340-W 110 degrees 53.490 there were 5 motel units connected together just next to the road. About 240 feet away on a bearing of 160 or about N 40 degrees 42.335-W 110 degrees 53.475 there were 4 rustic cabins in two sets of duplexes. About 400 feet from the cache on a bearing of 170 or at about N 40 degrees 42.310-W 110 degrees 53.493 there were 4 modern cabins in two sets of duplexes. You can still see a sewer pipe and some shingles from one of the duplexes. In the other direction about 200 feet on a bearing of 270 or at N 40 degrees 42.383-W 110 degrees 53.575 is where the generator shack stood that housed a large diesel generator that ran 24/7 and provided power to the lodge and outbuildings. You can still see the fill pipe for the 800 gallon fuel tank that by the smell still contains diesel. The space between the trees and the generator shack was the parking lot. From the Generator shack a road curved around to the west then the south to a bank of 6 more rustic cabins connected together and shared a common boardwalk porch on the west side of that road. They were located about 250 feet from the cache on a bearing of 250 or at about N 40 degrees 42.365-W 110 degrees 53.535.Across the road and farther south there were 4 more rustic cabins in two sets of duplexes. This history and description is from my own memory. I lived at the Mirror Lake Guard Station for 10 years when my father was the recreation guard for this area and I was employed at the lodge for two summers. If anyone else has more information or memories of the Lodge or particularly any photos of it, please feel free to share them in the logs and add them to the cache. Over the past 37 years the forest has reclaimed much of her own but when you visit this site, if you are very quiet and listen very closely you can still hear the sounds of laughter and dance music………………..or maybe………………..it’s just the wind in the trees.
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