Red Pine Lake is a small alpine reservoir in Little Cottonwood Canyon, in the U.S. state of Utah. This area is also part of the Wasatch National Forest. Red Pine Dam, which holds the lake, was constructed in 1920.
The lake can be accessed through a dirt trail from a parking lot off the main road. The most common route is around 7 miles round trip. The lake has a capacity of 100 acre-feet, with the surface area fluctuating frequently through seasons. Recreation around the lake includes fishing, hiking, climbing, and camping, although swimming and wading are prohibited due to it being a protected watershed.
Red Pine is considered a watershed area which supplies drinking water for Salt Lake City metropolitan area. This drinking water comes from several hundred inches of snow each year that lasts into July.
Dam
Red Pine Dam (National ID # UT00256) is an earthen dam completed in 1929 with a height of 20 feet tall and 242 feet wide. The dam impounds water from Red Pine Fork mainly for irrigation. It is owned and regulated by the Utah Division of Water Rights, although it sits inside of the Wasatch–Cache National Forest. In the latest inspection, the dams condition was assessed as poor with a high hazard potential.
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