I was able to get out for another amazing adventure in the Uintas over the weekend. If you have read my blog over the past year, you know that Hell Hole Lake turned me around trying to get in there last year. It was the only time in my life a trail has gotten me lost and had me turned around back to the vehicle. This time I had a little help and would not be going solo. I connected with my new buddy Dustin, who is Hiker85 on YouTube. I highly recommend watching his videos. They are very entertaining and he goes solo to some amazing places. Ok back to the trip report. We made our way to the lot across from Gold Hill Road and put on the footwear, packs, and headed in. We crossed the river, then had a bit of route finding to connect to the main trail. Nothing too difficult, just a few bobs and weaves and a quick walk across a ravine and we connected with the single track in there. We then followed that for about a mile where you connect with the road that is now a section of the trail in there. From the history I have read, the Forest Service granted a lease to an oil company years ago, and they bult a road up this drainage, then abandoned the lease and gated the road. That is far more interesting than actually hiking it. This road is the most uninteresting part of this hike. Two miles on a road that has no cover and was hot as hell. Once we moved past that eye sore, we ended up at a bridge where the trail continues on. There is a trail register at this point, then it moves to single track once more. We enjoyed this section of the trail. Lots of huge meadows and lots of wildflowers. Once we hit the last meadow we climbed the last and only really steep section of this trail to Hell Hole Lake.
All the information I read on this trail said it was 5 miles to Hell Hole Lake. They must be talking air miles because my All Trails tracker put it at 6.3 miles. Upon arriving at the lake we were greeted with perfect temps, passing clouds, and no bugs! We walked around the lake for a minute to look for a camp site and found one we settled on which was perfect! We got camp set then we decided to go fishing. The fishing was not red hot, but these Cutthroats are a lot of fun. We fished for hours out there. As the evening set in, I pulled out the camera to catch the alpenglow on the peaks and the lake. Dustin was out there killing it fly fishing for hours. He looked like he was having so much fun. As dusk set in, the light started falling off and it was time to get a fire going and have dinner. I set out the camera for a star trail and enjoyed the evening. It was very nice to have company as I have been out solo on the last couple of trips. Dustin is a good guy and really fun to backpack with. After a great night by the fire it was time to turn in. Once my head hit the pillow a small thunder storm rolled over the basin. A couple of flashes from lightning and about a five minute shower then it was out of there. It was awesome to fall asleep to the sound of rain on the rainfly of my tent.
Morning brought partly cloudy skies and mild temps. We got up and made coffee and breakfast, then we got after it fishing again. It was just so fun casting a fly and just simply being in such a beautiful place. Eventually we returned to camp and decided to go for a hike in the upper basin because Dustin was determined to get to this high point below A-1 and Kletting peaks. The walk into the upper part of the basin was beautiful with a nice running stream and wildflowers everywhere. I love when an area is this wild and has zero signs of human traffic. We topped out to the base of where Dustin would climb, and thunderstorms were pushing in. I decided to return to camp and Dustin went to climb the overlook. On my way back to camp it rained on me for about 20 minutes before clearing up. Hit Dustins channel at the link above in this report to see where he went. I have a serious resepct and fear of lightning and that is why I did not join him up there. The hike back to camp was amazing and I did a detour through the woods checking out the west side of the basin. I returned to camp and shot a timelapse of the clouds making their way like floating cotton balls in the sky over the basin. Dustin returned a short while later, and it looked like he had a great adventure up there. We got after it fishing again. The clouds came in a bit thicker and darker and I crawled into my tent for a nap when it started to rain. I guess both of us took a cat nap because when I rolled out of my tent, Dustin was just getting out of his hammock set up. It had cleared up quite a bit so we decided to try fishing other spots on the lake. Evening set in and we fished till the sun dropped below the peaks. Temps were a tad cooler than the previous evening which got us building a fire and working on dinner as both of us were starving. Night fell and we pulled up next to the fire. I shot another star trail and we stayed up a bit later than I usually do, but I think both of us were just so happy to be there we were in the moment. Eventually we turned in for a good nights sleep.
Sunday morning came and it was a bit colder than the previous morning. It was crystal clear and not even windy which had been a constant the last two days up there. We got up, made breakfast and coffee and then packed it up. We then made our way out on the trail to wildflowers being lit up from the amazing light. We made excellent time until we were almost to the trail register and the boring road section, when we ran into the largest sheep herd I have ever seen in the Uintas. They were crossing the trail and making a ton of noise as sheep do. They moved on to the east and we had a clear path again. The last section from the road to the car was a warm one. We followed the single track till it led us to a wet lands area that we had to navigate. Dustin post holed a deep section up above his knee. Luckliy we were very close to the vehicles so not a big deal. We crossed the river and that was the end of our journey! This was redmeption for last years faliure getting in there, and an amazing weekend with a new friend. It will be a couple of weeks till I am back on trail as my annual birthday trip to the Oregon coast is this coming weekend. Enjoy the pics! More adventures to come!
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