In the late 1800s, Little Cottonwood Canyon was the site of a mining boom (and subsequent bust, of course). Many of the place names were coined by miners or taken from the titles of mining claims. While industrious, the miners weren’t winning any spelling bees. Cecret Lake (pronounced, and correctly spelled Secret) is a popular hike during wildflower season and a widely accepted misspelling. The US Geological Survey even goes along with Cecret on its official maps of the area.
The “cecret” isn’t so secret anymore—in the late summer high season, busloads of tourists and nature lovers from Salt Lake City crowd the trail to the Alpine lake, because the basin it winds through is crowded with wildly colorful wildflowers—lupine, Indian paintbrush, American bistort, sunflowers, fireweed, and many others. Take a picnic.
The Town of Alta, now a
ski mecca, got its start as a mining town in the 1800s. Photo courtesy of Marriot Library
A black and white stereograph from 1883 by W. H. Jackson showing a scene in Little Cottonwood Canyon. The caption reads “Looking up from near Wahsatch,” yet another typo.Photo courtesy of Marriot Library
The mining boom in Little Cottonwood Canyon had another side effect: The large population was vulnerable to the frequent avalanches. By 1872, Alta Town had become the home of several thousand miners and camp followers, and that winter 10 died in a December avalanche. In 1885, 16 were killed in a deadly slide that destroyed the town and left 50 feet of snow on its ruined Main Street. The frequency and deadly nature of the slides prompted The Deseret News to dub Alta “home of the avalanche.” Today avalanches in Little Cottonwood Canyon still are a threat but are mitigated by the Utah Department of Transportation’s aggressive avalanche control and the Alta and Snowbird ski patrols. Explosive fact: The Utah Department of Transportation, responsible for keeping the highway open and safe, owns six World War II-era howitzer artillery pieces that it uses to fire shells onto slopes to trigger avalanches deliberately.
The trailhead to Cecret Lake carries the typo. Photo courtesy of Marriot Library
“Cecret” isn’t the only word the early Wasatch miners couldn’t spell. See “Iron Blosam,” now a vacation rental development at Snowbird Snow & Summer Resort, named after an early mine. Another spelling bee fail.
Find the ‘Cecret’:
What: A perfect Alpine lake with an imperfect name
Where: The Cecret Lake trailhead is near the Albion Basin Campground at the top of Little Cottonwood Canyon. To reach the trailhead from I-215 in Salt Lake City, take Exit 6 for 6200 S. Wasatch Blvd. Drive south on Wasatch Blvd. for and take Utah Highway 210 to Alta. In the peak summer season, a bus system takes you to the trailhead.
Pro Tip: There are more ambitious hikes above Cecret Lake that will take you to spectacular views into American Fork Canyon from the ridge above Alta and Snowbird.
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