Panguitch Lake: Fishing Above Eight Thousand Feet
Near Panguitch, Utah
About seventeen miles southwest of Panguitch, at an elevation of about eighty-two hundred feet, Panguitch Lake sits in a high meadow on the Markagunt Plateau, surrounded by aspen groves and conifer forest. The lake is the source of the name that the Southern Paiute people gave to this entire area: the Paiute word for big fish, which eventually became attached to the town about seventeen miles to the northeast.
The lake has been a fishing destination since before European settlement. Paiute people and the early Mormon settlers both fished it heavily. The cold, clear water at that elevation supports trout, and the lake has been stocked and managed as a sport fishery for more than a century. Today it draws anglers from across the region, particularly during the summer months when the elevation keeps temperatures cool while the lower desert country bakes.
The area around the lake includes national forest campgrounds, and a small community of vacation cabins that have been occupied seasonally since at least the early twentieth century. For residents of Panguitch and the surrounding valley, the lake has traditionally served as a summer retreat from the already-high-altitude heat of the valley floor. It is a reminder that in this part of Utah, the geography is so layered with different elevations and ecosystems that a short drive in any direction changes everything about the landscape you are standing in.
