It has been a great year in the high country! Some big adventures and some revisiting favorite places I have previously been. I had the chance to get out with my long time friend Jared over the weekend. We have been friends for over two decades, as well have adventured in Denali and all over Utah together. So when I invited him and he accepted, I was really stoked! He has not been out on trail in nearly two years, so I did not want to push him too hard. I decided Duck Lake would be a decent one to get him back out on. I have not been to Duck Lake in over three years. It is usually my season opener, but I wanted to see some new places, so I took a break from Duck. Coming back after a few years was pretty nice. People have done a good job keeping it clean for all the traffic it sees.
We arrived at the trail head Friday afternoon, loaded up the packs, and headed on in. Both of us probably had too much weight in the packs, but we wanted to have a good weekend out there so we packed accordingly. We made our way up the pass, then descended towards Long Lake. Did I mention the fire smoke? It was pretty thick and looked very apocalyptic while hiking. It was not pleasant on the lungs and I put a buff over my face to cut down on what I was breathing. Long Lake looked so gloom and doom with all that smoke. The sun was glowing orange and it was raining ash with no wind. I was happy to move into the forest and out of the open air. The further we descended into the basin, the less the smoke was a problem. Once we arrived at Duck Lake, it was just grey from the fire smoke.
We made our way to camp and got things set up quick as it was late in the day and the sun sets earlier these days. Plus the temps from no sun in there were chilly to say the least. We got a small fire going and made dinner. I walked the shore and there was no one camped here. We had Duck Lake all to ourselves! The sun set and the stars started popping out. I ran an image trying something new out. Not what I was expecting but it turned out pretty cool. The time lapse I shot turned out nice though. We stayed up pretty late catching up. It was hard to not want to be awake. The night sky was pretty awesome! Eventually we coaled out the fire and headed for our tents. It was so quiet and dark when we turned in. You could hear a leaf drop.
Dawn brought clear skies and warm temps. I got up and made coffee and sat in the sun. It was chilly overnight and the wind was blowing and it was a cool wind from the south. After breakfast we set out fishing. I wasn't having any luck till I put on the ugliest, most thrashed and gnawed on caddis fly I had in my box. They just stared slamming it, including one Brookie that doubled over my 9' 6wt rod. It was a fight, which I have not had all summer. Catching that fish is forever etched into my memory. Afternoon came and so did the return of the fire smoke. I guess while we were in there two new fires started in the Uintas. We for sure had a plan to evacuate just in case, but the fires were miles from us. We both kind of got sick of breathing the fire smoke and felt laying low would help reduce our exposure. We both took naps until about 6 PM when we woke to clearing skies and much better conditions.
Evening set in and we got settled into camp for the evening. I set out the camera again for a much longer star trail. Unfortunately there were some clouds and lingering fire smoke that hung around, so not what I was aiming for, but still got a fun night time time lapse. about just before ten a band of clouds came over and even put off some rain drops for about 2 minutes. Then the skies went clear. I think both of us were tired so once my camera was done, we wrapped it up for the night.
Sunday morning brought really strong winds. I slept in, as did Jared. When we got up the wind was howling. It was hard enough just to flash boil a meal, let a lone to try to make coffee. We both packed it up and headed out around noon. Our hike out was very nice. A lot of fall colors and the lakes on the way out were awesome to see. This was a great trip with my good friend. We need to get out more. Once you adventure together with friends, you become family for life. I hope to get one more trip out to the Uintas this year backpacking before the snow flies. Fingers crossed! Enjoy the pics and time lapses! More adventures to come......
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