West Fork Beaver Trail, High Uintas Wilderness- August 2015

This is an area in the High Uintas that I have wanted to visit for a very long time. After a long drive we arrived at the trail head and headed on in. The hike is not too hard, as the terrain is very gradual and never is really steep. It is a great nature walk which seems to go on forever. Eventually you come to a river crossing and you head south into the drainage. Passing some meadows you find yourself with a view of Gilbert Peak and you get a sense for how massive this place is. We continued on pushing to our destination for the weekend. It was a great hike, very long, and we soon found ourselves after a long walk at our home for the weekend. Night came in and we had a fire and some beverages after dinner. I got a very nice shot of the Milky Way out there. After some photo fun we were all ready for bed after the long day we had on the trail.

Morning came and I was playing with the light on the peaks surrounding us. We decided breakfast and coffee were in order. We then packed up the day hiking gear and made our way out to explore the basin. After fishing the first lake we ran into, a quick thunderstorm came in and we took shelter in a stand of trees and ate lunch as it rumbled on by. Eventually, the storm moved on and the sun came out and fishing and exploring were on again. I am not going to tell you where we landed some really great fish. I am only going to tell you that this was some of the best fishing I have had in the Uintas. We kept on pushing up to the very base of one of the peaks. There we sat back and took in the view of the rain columns coming down out of the sky as the clouds moving north were fun to watch. After what seemed to be hours of fishing and hanging out, we descended to camp and got ready for the evening. It was a great night of good friends, Perseid's meteors, and shooting the Milky Way. We all eventually turned in to a good nights sleep and the silence was so still.

I awoke to the sound of rain on the fly of my tent. The thunder was rolling across the basin and one strike was within a mile of our camp. But as fast as it came, it was gone. The sun came up and everyone woke to a beautiful day. After breakfast and some coffee we packed it up for the 9.3 mile hoof to the car. We made our way down to the river crossing, and were greeted in the meadow by a cow moose and her calf. We crept by them quickly and then stopped at the river crossing to have lunch. The walk to the car was as long as I can remember any hike I have done in the Uintas. I think only Red Castle seemed longer than this one. We did find Strawberries on the way out and had to stop for 45 min picking a huge patch we found. We then moved on to the final push to the car which seemed to never end. The last 1/4 mile my feet hurt so bad it was pure will that I kept my pace up and made it out. We had cheeseburgers with fresh tomato and avocado when we reached the car. That was worth every step. This was an amazing place, pristine, and no one else but our group in there for three days. I never get that in the Uintas. If you get lucky enough to visit this area, keep it pure and leave no trace. Enjoy the pics and slideshow. More adventures to come!