Hell Hole Lake, High Uintas Wilderness- July 2018

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!

Elizabeth Mountain, Uinta Mountains- July 2018

I had the great honor of taking my family into the Uintas over the holiday weekend. It was my son's first time to the Uintas so we were all excited! We packed up the Jeep and headed into Kamas. A quick stop at the corner Cheveron in Kamas for the best homemade doughnuts you've ever had. Once we were doughnut ready we made our way up the Mirror Lake Highway. Its beautiful this year. We made our way up over the pass and to our road for the Elizabeth Mountain area. I am not going to divulge road numbers, I want to keep my spots off the radar. But from all of my expolring out there, you really can't go wrong from taking a side road here or there. We made the rough ride out on the main road, then we arrived to the area I had been looking at on Google Earth. It was a rough start in there, but short lived as this road mellows out after you do the first climb. We drove all the roads in the area, took some pictures and then looked around for our camp site.

Down a few spur roads, then we ended up in one of the most beautiful camp sites for car camping that I have ever seen. We settled on our site and proceeded to set up camp. A thunder rumbler with a pretty decent down pour started up right as we got our new 6 Man Long Lake Tent by Mountain Smith sold at Scheels. This tent is well designed and easy to set up. Lay it flat on the footprint, slide the poles in, connect the corners, stake it, and throw and clip the fly over the body, sake out the fly and you are done! It literally takes the same amount of time with two people to set up as my backpacking tent. I am 5' 8" and I can stand up in both the tent and vestibule. The interior is roomy, spacious, and has all the storage you could need. Bonus features is a closable screen window on the door, and zip open windows on the rain fly for ventilating the tent. It proved its waterproofing on our first day. As soon as we had it set up a big thunderstorm came in with wind, heavy rain, and thunder. I stood in the vestibule during the rain storm and I was totally dry. You'll need a large area to set this up, but you'll never want to camp in another tent after you spend a night in this one. Great design, easy set up and break down, has its own stuff sac with handle, and packs down smaller than some other tents this size. If you are looking for a 4-6 man tent, you are for sure going to want to consider this one for the price, functionallity, and waterproofing.

We did not want to sit around camp so while it rained, we did some more exploring of the area. I found the route to a lake I want to backpack, and we tested out the Jeep on some really rough and rugged terrain. Did not even seem to affect the Jeep. A couple of slow and go places, but over all my Jeep Renegade really showed how awesome it really is! Once the storm passed we headed back to camp to finish setting up our home for the weekend and to get dinner going. We made camp pizza and boy was that delicious. S'mores were up for dessert and my daugher was excited for that! Evening set in and my son had an early bed time. I stayed up and took some shots of the Milky Way and a star trail shot that is the title photo in this report. We awoke the next day to clear skies and we made pancakes and then took it easy in camp for a while. The ladies played Sushi Go while I watched my son as he slept in the shade in his pack and play. Once he woke up, we headed out on an adventure expolring the area. I found a few connections to trailheads I want to hit in the future and it was just beautiful out there.

Eventually we came back to camp. At this point the mosquitoes were unbearable and my wife was having a hard time with our son. So I think everyone was tired and as soon as dusk set in everyone went to be. I stayed up for a bit to have a fire, but there was cloud cover in all night so no photography. I tunred in to what was a very light drizzle on the rain fly. I was awakened at 5 AM by my son so I popped out of the tent and saw an amazing sunrise popping through the trees. Red sky in the morning, campers warning! We all went back to sleep for a couple of hours then got up, hung out for a bit then packed it up. We drove out to Kamas and ate at Taco's De Somrero, an new place next to the Cheveron. It was so delicious! Its on my to eat list everytime I go there now. And they are open on Sundays! A great time with my family and I hope to get out with them more often. Enjoy the pics, More adventures to come!

Ryder Lake, High Uintas Wilderness- 6.29-7.1.2018

I have wanted to visit Ryder Lake for years. It seemes something always got in the way, or something came up that would not make this a viable plan to do this big of a hike. Well that day to go there finally came as things rapidly came together this last week to do what would be for me the biggest solo backpacking trip I will have ever done to date. I made my way up to the Uintas early Friday morning because I was looking at what all the info I researched suggested was a 8.5 mile hike into Ryder Lake. So getting an early start was crucial as it is a long walk. I arrived at the Christmas Meadows trailhead and put on the boots and pack and started in. The temps were perfect and I made the 2.7 miles to the Amethyst junction in 59 minutes. Moving to a UL set up really lets you put in the miles in rapid fashion. I stopped for about five mintues at the junction for Amethyst, then I moved on. This is where the water/mud rocks in the trail crossings begin. You would have stretches of trail you could really make some nice time on, then you would either have to cross water, or a big mud bog that the horses on this trail have made precarious for backpackers. I just would swing around them to avoid them. But a few you had to walk across logs or squish your way through.

I arrived 5.2 miles later at the Kermsuh junction, but kept going because the mosquitoes in this area were thick. I moved up the trail about another mile and found a spot to stop for lunch about 6.3 miles in. This is where I tried out my LifeStraw as Stillwater Creek was flowing right next to where I stopped for lunch. Ten seconds in the water and five quick sips and boom fresh clean water! It was so good and ice cold and I drank quite a bit of water while I was there. It really does help cut down on having to carry a lot of water with you and having a back up means of obtaining water is invaluable! Highly recommend this if you are a backpacker. I eventually moved on and made my way to the steepest part of the hike. It was a mix of boggy areas and really rocky terrain. At 8.5 miles I came to a big river crossing in a meadow which was at least waist deep. I did not want to get wet this late in the day so I looked around for a better place to cross. There were some stacked logs about fifty feet from the main trail and some boulders they were resting on. I made my way across those and was thinking 8.5 miles, lake has to be close right? The lake should be right here right? Wrong! More steep was in store including one final ascent that after 9 miles was a butt kicker to say the least. After topping out and walking which what seemed the biggest meadow with ponds I have ever seen, I arrived at Ryder Lake.

I arrived to a very moody Ryder Lake with clouds billowing over the peaks and the wind was howling and was chilly to say the least. I made my way around the lake till I found a spot that looked comfortable that would be my home for the weekend. I found it atfer a short walk. I then got camp built and then got a fire going as evening was setting in. I sat down for some dinner, then the alpenglow started setting in so out came the camera for some really fun shots. Clouds would stay with me all night so I did not stay up late to shoot a star trail. I had a nice fire and enjoyed the night then turned in. There is a certain type of light a photograher is always looking for, and moring brought that right out the door to my tent. I spent probably a good 1 1/2 hours just shooting and playing with the light that was painting the peaks with light and shadow. I was having a bit of an apetite issue on this trip, and I did my best to eat some breakfast as I knew I had burned a lot of calories. I did not have an upset stomach, just was not hungry for some reason. I heated up some tea with honey and enjoyed the moring as best as one could. There was a cold wind blowing and it was chilly start to the day. I worked on camp for the evening, rounding up fire wood, and refilling my gravity filter.

Afternoon warmed up a bit, so I put together my fly rod and camera and went for a walk. I ended up at BR-17 and took some pictures and fished a bit. The wind was just a bit too cold for my liking so I moved into the sun and fished Ryder for a bit. Walking back to camp my lower back was not feeling well so I made my way up to camp. I was honestly kind of anxious about my back being in pain and having to walk 9.6 miles back to the car. I took some cold water in one of my roll up water bottles and used it as a cold press and took some Aleve. It seemed to calm down and I walked down to the lake to kind of stretch it out. I met my neighbors Robert and Mike. Nice guys, and I let them use my fly rod for the evening as I did not want to agravate my back by casting. Once the Aleve kicked in I was feeling much better and got things going for the evening. I got a good fire going and made dinner. I was still struggling feeling hungry, but forced myself to eat all my dinner as I knew I was going to need the calories to get out on Sunday. Mike brought my fly rod back up after he was done and we chatted by the fire for a bit before he headed back to his camp.

Not a cloud in the sky and the stars were out in force. I put my camera out for a star trail and pulled up next to my fire and enjoyed the night. My back was feeling much better and I was in a very happy place. As the moon rose into the sky, it lit up all the peaks and the lake making for a wondeful view from camp. After my shots were fininshed I took a few at camp then decided to turn in as I was going to have a long walk out the next day. I set my alarm for 6 AM and got up, made breakfast and some more tea, watched the sunrise, then packed it up. I was ready to go at 8:59 AM. It was cool but pleasant this morning on the trail. Not a cloud in the sky. Not too many bugs either which made the walk out very nice. I must have been making a break neck pace, I walked right past the Kermsuh Junction and before I knew it I was crossing Ostler Creek. At the Amethyst Junction I checked my tracker and it said I had done 6.2 miles in 2 hours and 48 minutes. That UL set up is really paying off. Once at my Jeep I celebrated finishing the biggest solo backpacking trip I have ever done. I have done longer walkabouts than this with company, but never this far all by myself. I was proud of myself for pushing through everything all weekend and still having an amazing time! Ryder Lake is an awesome destination and I am glad I was able to visit! Enjoy the pics! More adventures to come!