Yuba Lake Utah

I have a goal to find all of the sailable lakes in Utah and try them out. The problem is that I consider certain qualities of a lake important for a good sailing outing. Most of these qualities come from the fact that I have a young family and I want the trip to be enjoyable for everyone. I wouldn't mind spending an entire day on the water, but that is impractical for my wife and kids. Yuba Lake in Utah meets  all of these requirements if you go out on a week day.

1. A Sandy Beach

For young kids, a sandy beach offers countless hours of fun. For the past 5 years or so I've been sailing with three young kids. This year, for the first time in a while, I'll also have a tiny baby. That means that someone will always be a shore with the little guy. There are lots of lakes in Utah, but Yuba has the best sandy beach.

2. Warm Water

Water in Utah takes a while to warm up. Most lakes are feed by mountain streams. Many of lakes are up in the mountains and the water is cold. Yuba is 5100 feet as compared to deer creeks 5400 feet. In the summer the water is warm and clean.

3. Shaded Camping

There are some options for shaded camping on Yuba, but it comes with some trade offs. The worst is bugs. the shade attracts mayflies. Most of the time we camp in the trees on the west beach or right on the north beach and set up a shade. I also like to camp on the beach next to my boat.

4.Close to Home

My tolerance for driving to a lake is about 3 hours of highway time. Since we live in Cedar Hills that puts Yuba about 2 hours away. There are many good lakes (reservoir) in southern Utah that I haven't explored because they are too far to get to for a day trip. I'm going to have to suck it up and drive to them.

The down side to Yuba is that it is crowded on the weekend. I completely steer clear of it on the weekends in the summer. If only they would make one lake completely reserved for sailing, sigh...