Let Nature Be Your Guide.......
2020 was very challenging for me in many aspects. From personal challenges, to a worldwide pandemic, times of trouble were plenty over the last year. As tough as it got, I found balance and peace in nature. Honestly, the trail was probably my personal therapist. The wild reveals it all. It left no emotion untouched. I had days in the wild sitting by a lake, suddenly crying the tears for those we have lost. Days that I was overjoyed at the new places I was able to see and touch. A sense of accomplishment for the mountains I was able to climb, and the love affair with the dirt of the wild under my feet. Nothing was ever left unresolved on my journeys. It has been said that the trails you travel today become the paths of our future. Nature defines us, it heals us, it can destroy us, and is at the very root of who we are. When I found myself in times of confusion or fear, I let nature show me the way.
This retrospective video for 2020 was extra special all things considering. When you put an entire year of content together in a year like this one, it reminds me that even in the toughest times, life is beautiful and precious. The wild is powerful. It is mysterious. It is life changing. Change is not comfortable. It was never meant to be.
Christian Paul Photography 2021 calendars are here! This year I am featuring images that I captured while letting nature be my guide this season! This year’s calendar is 8x10, perfect for the fridge, cubicle, or office wall. These will make great gifts for the holidays or for yourself for the coming year.
$20.00- price includes shipping to anywhere in the continental United States. Outside the United States alternate shipping rates apply.
Payment Options: PayPal, Google Pay, Venmo, checks, and money orders. Paypal and Google Pay requests can be sent to: christianpaulphotography@gmail.com
*Please include the address in your request that you would like your order shipped to. If you need a gift message, please include that in your request as well.
Message me here or email me at christianpaulphotography@gmail.com if you are interested in ordering or have any questions.
If you are in the Salt Lake City area I can deliver them for cash payment or the above options socially distancd and safe.
These will be a limited run, so if you are interested please let me know how many you would like so I can get them out timely before the holiday. Thank you for supporting a local Utah photographer and artist.
I wasa fortunate to get a mid week hike in the Wasatch. I have not been in this range hiking since August because I have been so busy in the Uintas this year. The colors were just beginning to pop and it was a nice 2.5 mile loop that me and my daughter did together. It was nice to have time to spend with my child, and the weather was just perfect! Its been a warm start to October. Enjoy the pics, more adventures to come!
I put together all my night time lapse videos from backpacking this year into a 2:40 second video that is calming and full of the night sky from the mountains. I hope you enjoy this video! More fun stuff to come!
I was happy to see the forecast hold for one more trip into the Uintas before winter shows up. I decided I'd do one more overnight trip out there before winter settles in. The drive in was traffic free and was a nice semi display of color from the aspens changing for winter. I found a spot in a really empty trailhead lot and put on the boots and headed on in. This hike goes mostly downhill on the way in so you can kind of pack a little heavier because if you eat and drink it all you go out very light. The trails this year have become moon dust since we have had virtually no moisture for three months. So as I kicked up a cloud I made my way into the divide. Not long after making the descent off the pass the going gets much easier. It was a really nice walk and really warm for October. I dropped down to Clegg Lake, Ran into my friends Jay and Elisa who were camped there. I chatted with them for a bit and then moved on. The hike down to Dean Lake was really dry. There is usually a good inlet stream when I descend through the meadow but it was bone dry this year. Arriving at Dean Lake and you could see how low it was from our drought year. I have never seen it this low.
I made my way to my spot and set up my camp for the night. I packed quite a few extra layer items as I knew the overnight temps would be mid 30's. After getting shop set I put it together and made my way out to the lake to go fishing. Not sure what it is the last few weekends but the wind just seems to get me everytime I try fishing. On top of that there was not much surface activity so it was really just tossing your angles and seeing if you would get any action. I did get one bite on the north end of Dean Lake, but nothing was there when I set the line. I circled the whole lake fishing all my spots for a number of hours. Just not much action. I guess my fishing luck has dried up for the year out there. Eventually the sun started setting to the west and I moved back to camp to get the night layers ready and to have some dinner.
The alpenglow on the peaks was beautiful and I was able to capture that on time lapse. The skies were a bit hazy bit clear for the most part. I had dinner as darkness fell. I was really quick to get out to the lake for a Milky Way shot since the moonrise was coming soon. I think the peaks behind me blocked the moon for a bit longer than it was forecasted to for moonrise and I was able to get a nice image. I then put out my camera for a star trail and settled into camp. As the evening wore on it got colder and I went out to grab my camera to turn in early for a podcast and then some really good sleep.
I awoke about 7:30 AM and could see my breath. There was frost on my tent poles and on my vestibule. I laid in my sleeping bag until about 8 AM then got up and made coffee. The sun was sending over rays of light off Bald mountain. The higher the sun got the more instense it was to watch. It was like the light was pouring over the ridge like a waterfall. Then the first rays hit my legs as I was in my chair. It was a nice feeling and in minutes you could not see your breath anymore. After breakfast and coffee I slowly packed it up. I was on the trail before noon and made my way up to the Jeep. Great season closer overnight trip. It has been a great year out there! Nothing more social distancing than solo backpacking! I am going to miss the nights in my tent and the days on trail. But everything that has a beginning has an end. Seasons come and seasons go. So do we! This party is gonna change to winter soon. Some hiking then its snow time! Enjoy the pics and be sure to hit my YouTube channel from this trip and subscribe if you like! More adventures to come!
Backpacking season is on the tail end. Nights are getting longer and temps are getting cooler. We had a clear but expected cold weekend on tap so I packed some extra warm stuff and put it together for another weekend in the Uintas. The drive in was nice and not too many people out. I made my way into the trailhead which was about half full for a Friday. It was afternoon, and I put on the boots and made my way in. The wind was howling as I made my way past Washington Lake. Once I hit the trees at the Haystack Lake junction it was much calmer. The fall colors were popping in the meadows and even the light and shadows in the trees were looking much longer. I made my way past Tail Lake and then up to Shadow Lake which would be my home for the night.
I set up my camp then put my fly rod together to go fishing. The wind was relentless, and it made casting really hard. Despite this I got hit several times, just nothing there when I set the hook. It was almost white cap at times on the lake and that was not helping things. Being the not gonna quit kind of guy I am, I fished until dusk. The sunset in there was really nice and had a fall look to it. Lots of purple and blues making the colors at the lake delightful to view!
Darkness fell and with it the temps. I brought some midweight thermals for this trip and a much heavier weight beanie than I pack during the summer months. Surprisingly it was not bad. I set my camera out for a time lapse and turned on the Luci Lamps and settled in with some soft music on my phone. The night sky was amazing with some high clouds rolling over the range all night. Eventually the temps got me and I turned in for some much needed sleep.
I awoke to cloudy skies and really strong cold winds. I got up and made coffee and breakfast. I then set out a time lapse and went fishing. The wind was even stronger this day and the wind was really cold. My hands were going numb. I tried and tried to land something, I even got one on and was stripping it in when it wiggled off. So officially I got skunked for the first time this season fishing. Oh well, it happens. Upon returning to camp the temps were just really cold and I decided to pack it up and head out. The hike out was cold, really cold, and I made a quick pace to get back to the Jeep. This may have been one of my last trips in the Uintas for the year. It has been a good one for sure! Hints that winter is on its way are everywhere. The Mirror Lake Highway is full of Fall colors now. Enjoy the pics and videos! More adventures to come!
Finally got the family out of the house for a weekend and we wanted one more desert trip before winter shows up. We had a pretty traffic free drive down there. We tried the national park but it was closed by the time we went there. So we decided to hike Fisher Towers. Beautiful area! We then did a drive over the La Sal loop! Fall colors were popping and the peaks are amazing there! A fun short trip to the desert with the family that was a really great time! Enjoy the pics! More Adventures to come!
PLEASE READ: I am going to preface this blog post with some background information about my visits to this place over the last 11 years. I have had some strange encounters, expereinces, and have seen some things in here over the last decade that I cannot explain. I am not a paranormal guy nor am I a bigfooter. I am a backpacker and photographer who is trying to understand just what I have seen in this basin over the last ten years I have backpacked into this place. So what I am about to share, I ask you to please keep an open mind. I am not writting this to argue with anyone nor am I trying to change any minds. I am simply sharing my trip and some historical context here.
After an amazing Labor Day weekend over in the Lakes Country Area, It was time for me to make my annual trip into Cuberant Basin. As many of you who know me, this place has a strange history for me, and with this basin's history of Bigfoot sightings, missing persons cases, plus my own experiences, this place has haunted me for the last decade in the back of my mind. But this year there is something different, I have a bonafide Bigfoot Researcher coming in to invesetigate this basin! I am pretty much a tour guide this time out. My friend Todd headed in earlier in the day and got the camp we wanted. I was not able to depart till noon so I did not get to the trailhead till afternoon. I put on the pack and boots and headed on in. The crowds of just a few weeks ago have thinned out and I had the trail all to myself.
I made my way down to Reids Meadow. Fall is sure here all the grasses are yellow and the ground cover is turning red. I then pushed on up to the Kamas Lake Cuberant Lake Junction. They put in a new sign this year that is metal and really nice. From the junction I made my way towards the pass. Its a short but steep climb, and it is always fun. At the river crossing it looks like the trail crews put in a new log bridge which makes that section a lot faster to move through. Up a few section and then the final steep push up to the pass. I stopped to film and shoot some images, then I pushed into the woods. I then came to the other side of the pass and got my first view in the basin this year. A short climb down and then I made my way to camp. There were a lot of dead falls from our previous weeks wind event to navigate which altered the trail a slight bit to get in there. After making it around and over all the deadfalls I was able to move on to the final section to get to camp.
I arrived at our camp and Todd was out fishing on the shore. I dropped the pack and we had our greetings. Todd is a Level 2 Tracker and a official BRFO investigator. He put some light sewing string in a perimeter around our camp about 7' up so if anything came through camp that was bigger than a human we would know which way it went. It would also tell us which way it came from. I was really happy someone who is into all this stuff was here to check this place out. After getting camp set for the weekend I joined Todd down at the lake for some fishing. After a few casts I had one on. Small but fast action brookies! I fished for a while and landed a few more as the alpenglow set into the basin. It was really good to be in the mountains again and we had this place to ourselves. Dusk was setting in so we moved back up to camp to have dinner and settle in for the night. We had just finished dinner when both of us heard what sounded like someone talking coming from the outlet. We knew no one was in there and it got Todds attention for sure. Kind of creeped me out to be honest. As it got pitch I set out my camera for a star trail and Todd did some howls and some whoop calls. About 30 minutes after his whoop call we had a return call come from the ridge above our lake. It was so quiet at our lake you could hear a pin drop. So the whoop sound we heard really stood out. Todd then did some wood knocks but we did not get a response. We spent the rest of the evening going over the next days plan and catching up on things. Eventually I gathered up my camera and headed for my sleeping bag for some much needed rest.
Morning came and we both slept in a bit because the temps overnight were some of the coldest I have had since early June out there. Eventually I could not lay in my bag anymore so it was time to get up and make coffee and breakfast. Todd went fishing and I enjoyed my coffee. After breakfast we put it together for a loop hike of the basin so Todd could see all the places I have had strange things go down in previous years. Our first stop was the Spooky Pond! We made the off trail hike up there, and had to climb over and through deadfalls and boulders to make our way over to it. In 2009, my first time in here with three other friends, we visited this pond. It was dead quiet when we got there, and while we were checking for fish one of our friends noticed a intact, uneaten deer leg like it had been literally ripped off a deer. We all thought this was a little strange. As we moved on since we saw no fish sign, we rounded this pond and there was huge bush sized hairball at the shoreline. All three of us got a weird feeling and we moved on. Todd looked around as I was really shocked to see how low the water is. The lilly pads were still there but no deer legs or hairballs this time. We then moved on to the next pond. It is a short but steep climb off trail to get there. As we came out of the trees to the pond I noticed a large assortment of tracks in the mud that was semi dry because the water level was so low. We have had very little in the realm of rain out there this year and everwhere the water is lower than normal. As we begin to look at these tracks we are seeing what look like toes in them. As we look further its not just a couple of tracks, this is a trackway that circles half of this pond and exits the way we came in.
Todd started to really look at every track and I started photographing them. Each one seemed to have some new detail that really made them stand out from any other tracks I have seen in the Uintas. First, the depth of the tracks indicated something very heavy made them. There was a wetter section right next to one of the tracks and I really planted my foot to try to see if I could sink as deep as these tracks and I did not even come close. We noticed they straddled and the gait between tracks was in the 40 inch range. The tracks were 11-13 inches in length and there were at least half a football field in length for this trackway. I have to be honest, I have only heard and seen things in here that were just not normal for a wilderness experience, but to actually see tracks like this that do not match any other tracks I have seen in the Uintas had me stunned. Todd was like a kid on Christmas encircling the entire lake examining every inch of the area. A wow moment for sure, and keeping up the yearly tradition of strange things being seen, heard, or found in this place.
After quite a while in this place we moved on to the next lake so Todd could see more of this basin. We fished at the next lake and Todd landed a very nice Cutthroat Trout! We moved down the Cuberant trail to Lake #1 and gave fishing a go, but alas, nothing was biting. We moved down to #2 lake and I put in at my favorite spot and they start hitting my fly right off first cast. I landed a couple of Cutthroats then I got a pretty nice one that was at least 12 inches. Todd had moved down to our camp and I made my way down there to see how things were. My tent was in the shade and I decided to take a cat nap and let evening settle in. After a good hour snoozer I got up and made dinner. I then headed out for some more evening fishing at our lake. Once again fast action pan fryer brookies were really a lot of fun! We settled in for our final night. Todd had to leave early in the morning so he went to bed and I stayed up to shoot another star trail. While the camera was running I heard a wood knock and a whistle. It for sure caught my attention with how quiet it was in there. Nothing exciting happened after that. I finished up my long exposures and then turned in.
Morning came and it was a bit warmer than the previous day. Todd packed it up and headed out. I got up and put my pack together then hung out and had a snack before heading out. I put the pack on at 8:30 am and hit the trail to head home. The hike out was cool, perfect temps in my opinion. I made good time up the first side of the pass. Once I hit the other side, I could see that the fire smoke had setteled in the range. No more blue skies. I descended the pass and made my way out on a very empty trail to the Jeep. Another great weekend with a bonus find of some very interesting tracks in a place that has had more mystery for me than any other wild area I have been on the North American continent. Fall has set in the range, and the nights grow long and the temps are cooler. I am hoping for one more before winter is here but we shall have to see what the weather gives me. Enjoy the pics and time lapse! Fall colors are starting to pop on the Mirror Lake Highway so the big color show is just around the corner. Soon this party will turn from dirt dances to snow dances. Hoping for one more before winter sets in. Thanks for stopping by! More adventures to come!
