FISHLAKE UTAH
I am going back to camping/traveling for this post, which is what most of my posts will likely involve.

In this post I am looking at one of my favorite spots anywhere that I have visited over my 49 years of life.
I love the more isolated environment, the surrounding countryside, the cool climate even on an otherwise hot July/August day elsewhere. I am not always good as to expressing with words things I see and love (including persons), so I really cannot convey the utter beauty I see at Fish Lake Utah, but what I can say is that I find Fish Lake as well as much of the Colorado Plateau region of Utah a place where I find more inner peace than almost anywhere else.

Part of it is the shimmering Aspens which are one of my favorite trees, another aspect is just the drive to this area as some of the most beautiful countryside in the west surrounds
this place including Bryce Canyon National Park (which we often visited on our way here when we lived in LA). I also love the crisp alpine air and the simple “peace” of this area. (Click the picture to the left to enlarge)
I will also note that another attraction for me is that I have been to this area during some of the lowest times emotionally in my life and it has lifted my spirit. In fact I find much of Utah inspiring for me and it was my Grandfather who really got me to love it here when he brought me to Panguitch Lake for a week long fishing trip during a time in my life that I was mercilessly ridiculed in school. My father took me to Utah later as well for family trips (but the more intimate fishing trip with my Grandfather really inspired me)

Some Facts about Fish Lake Utah:

• Elevation: 8,848 ft or 2,697 m
• Geography: located in the Fishlake/ Southern Wasatch Plateau region of south-central Utah. The lake is five miles long by one and a half miles wide at its widest point (8 by 2.5 km), lies in a valley that is a depressed block of land bordered by parallel faults (a type of “Rift Valley”. Fish Lake is bordered by the Mytoge Mountains on the south-east shore which rise sharply to over 1,000 feet (300 m) above the lake level. Along the north-west shore the lake is bounded by Fish Lake Hightop Plateau which rises to an elevation of 11,600 ft (3,500 m). Fish Lake has an average depth in summer of about 100 ft (30 m) and has been found to be 127 feet (39 m) deep in its deepest known location.

Fish Lake is a beautiful turquoise blue, more so than most lakes of it’s depth as normally water owes its intrinsic blueness to selective absorption in the red part of its visible spectrum via water depth thus only allowing the blue light down to the UV light band to be visible. In the case of Fish Lake (& Bear Lake Utah as well), it is limestone present in the water which helps absorb the red part of the visible spectrum making the turquoise blue color.

• Fishing: Fish Lake is known for it’s large lake trout (also known as Mackinaw Trout). Fish are caught every summer upwards of 25 lb.
• Camping: Obviously my main reason for this post. There are several camp grounds on or very close to the lake, both private and operated by the US Forest Service.
My favorite is Doctor Creek (29 sites) even though it is not directly on the lake, I just find this campground more peaceful and less “busy”. This campground is also where the “dump station” is located for the area.
Other National Forest campgrounds include Mackinaw (53 sites) and Bowery (31 sites), both of which are further down the road and more accessible to Fish Lake.

The RV Parks include Bowery Haven (69 full hook up sites) and is lake accessible with boat facilities as well. Fish Lake lodge also has 25 full hook up sites and a marina as well.