Utahns Look For Heat Relief On Higher Ground This Weekend

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SUMMIT COUNTY, Utah — Plenty of Utahns have made plans to head for higher elevation and maybe a stream or lake this weekend as temperatures are expected to climb into the triple digits.

Many of the attractions on the Mirror Lake Highway, also known as State Route 150, have been made accessible after it was opened all the way to Wyoming.

Utah Department of Transportation crews cleared the rest of the road Thursday, just in time for an escape from the heat. 

“It is boiling down there,” said Liz Romrell, who came up to the Uinta Mountains with some of her friends Thursday to camp.

Romrell said the group wasted no time cooling off.

“There’s another little river down the road and we were jumping in,” she said. “It was freezing cold.”

She said it was worth it, despite the water being so cold.

“One of the things I was most excited for was getting in the water,” Romrell said. “I’ve got a new swimsuit. I was OK. We are cooling off, it is so hot here.” 

She and her friends planned to visit a couple of the lakes and overlooks. 

“The thing about the Uintas is that everywhere is beautiful, and so everything we see, we want to explore this place,” said Romrell. “So, we’ll pull over and walk around for an hour or two.” 

Around 11 a.m. Friday, it was already 90 degrees in the Salt Lake Valley.

The temperature dropped about 10 degrees cooler once KSL-TV reached the Upper Provo Falls. 

Jimale Simpson came up from Evanston. It was her first chance to drive up from Wyoming.

Simpson said she found just what she was looking for at the falls. 

“Peace and quiet mainly,” she said. “Not a lot of people up here and the weather is always just right. You just enjoy the day.” 

Even with the low snowpack this year, and far below average runoff in Utah’s mountain streams, the water was still flowing. 

If you head out this weekend, be especially careful whenever you’re near the water’s edge, especially if you have kids with you. If so, it’s not a bad idea to designate one of the adults as a water watcher, somebody who’s always keeping an eye on the kids and where they are in relationship to the water. 

As you drive along the highway, you’ll still see some snow along the side of the road near Bald Mountain and patchy snow on the mountain slopes above 9,000 feet. 

That’s likely a welcomed sight this weekend as hundreds of thousands of Utahns try to avoid triple-digit heat in the valley. 

“Just being up here and checking it out and admiring the natural beauty of the state is my favorite thing,” said Romrell.