Mirror Lake • The U.S. Forest Service often greets visitors to the areas it manages with signs that read, “Land of Many Uses.”
On a given day, sightseers drive the scenic road to elevations as high as 10,715-foot Bald Mountain Pass, watching the forest flora and fauna change.
They marvel at the Provo River Falls, Hayden Peak, Bald Mountain and the Slate Gorge. Some take short day hikes while others strap on their backpacks and head into the wilderness.
The nearly 30 developed campgrounds along the way fill many nights, creating miniature mountain cities. Most visitors brace for the rains, which occur almost every afternoon in the high country of one of the nation’s few mountain ranges running east to west.