High Uintas

This past week, I had the opportunity to go backpacking/hiking in the Uintas with my dad, my uncle Ken, my uncle Mike, and my cousin Robbie. The original plan was to leave Wednesday, but Ken and Mike thought we were going to leave Thursday. Dad and I decided we wanted to leave Wednesday, even without the rest of the crew. Unfortunately, we left a lot later than we had hoped, and even with my speedy driving skills, it was about 7:00 before we hit the trail. We hoped to get to Everman Lake before setting up camp (about 6 miles in), but after the sun went down, it became very difficult to make good time. My flashlight didn't really work, and I couldn't find the extra batteries in my pack. We decided to stop and make camp for the night. Dad found a place about 10 feet from the trail, and we set up there, even though we were supposed to camp at least 200 feet from the trail. We had our dinner (which was actually quite tasty), set up the tent, hung our food in a tree, and went to sleep. The plan was to wake up early and do some fishing before meeting Ken and the rest of the gang at "The Junction"--the place where the trail split and you decide whether you want to go to Everman Lake or Pigeon Milk Spring.

As it turns out, we slept instead of fishing, and got a late start going back to meet Ken, but we contacted him on the short-range radio and we decided to camp at Everman instead of Pigeon Milk. So, instead of hiking all the way down, Dad and I just waited for everyone else to catch up to us. We hiked the rest of the way to Everman (Dad and I hadn't quite made it the night before), set up camp, and slept. Who knew carrying a 45-pound pack up and down rugged terrain could be so tiring?

Anyway, we woke up and went fishing at some lake nearby. Apparently Everman lake has no good fishing. Friday was the fun day. We saw a freshwater spring on the map, and it appeared to be near to where we were camped, so we went searching for it. After a bit of hiking and scaling a couple of rock cliffs, we finally found it. It was so good. Those of you who have never been backpacking probably don't understand how much of a pain it is to filter water, and how great it is to just dip your bottle into the flowing water and fill it within seconds. After sitting there for a while, we went on our way to Pigeon Milk Spring. Friday was full of "bushwhacking": going places without taking a trail--a shortcut of sorts. We probably hiked about 8 miles total on Friday, and only about one of those miles was on an official trail. Anyway, after bushwhacking over to Pigeon Milk and eating lunch, we went on our way to Four Lakes Basin. We fished at one of the lakes, and left when it started pouring rain.

The rest of the trip was very wet. It rained for probably 4-5 hours that night, and got our shoes and socks all wet. Hiking out the next day was a joy...

Overall, it was a very great and fun trip, although the "Giles Curse" continues... neither my dad nor I caught a single fish during the whole week. We returned home, tired, blistered, dirty, and very sore. Thank goodness for Monica, who is willing to rub some of the soreness out of my shoulders.

It's good to be home.