HighLine Trail 2017 Day 1

HighLine Trail, High Uintas Wilderness, Utah
24 July 2017, 20:00

Location: East Park Reservoir - N40.79394°  W109.54566°
Elevation: 9024'
Ascent: 1138' (Total: 1138')
Descent: 334' (Total: 334')
Day Distance: 5 miles (Total: 5 miles)

The HighLine Trail has three eastern trailheads accessible for drop off by vehicle.

• Chepeta (N40.77997°,W110.01377°) about 75 miles from the western terminus
• Hacking Lake (N40.77732°, W109.81484°) about 90 miles from the western terminus
• McKee Draw (N40.79330°, W109.47627°) about 120 miles from the western terminus

I started my trip at the eastern most trailhead, McKee Draw, just off highway 191 near Flaming Gorge Reservoir.  Leaving the Salt Lake City area around 06:00, and after about a four hour drive I arrived at the trailhead around 10:00, the temperature at the trailhead was 87℉.  There is a composting toilet at the trailhead, but no water.  My plan was to hike the 120 mile trail in ten days. Since most of the trail is above tree line (above 11,000') I was planning a slower pace. The only drawback to a slower pace was that I would need to carry more food.  There are nine passes on the trail that reach near or above 12,000' elevation. Typically, there is a daily afternoon thunder shower in the High Uintas. This meant that I could get stopped behind a pass, short of my daily goal, pinned by a lightening storm, and adding days to my trip. With that in mind, I took provisions for 14 days, an extra 4 days.  As it turned out, this extra food was not needed, but I had some extremely great luck with the weather and passes as you will see.

My first day goal was East Park Reservoir, about five miles from the trailhead. East Park Reservoir is the last water source until Summit Park.  Summit Park is about 22 miles from the trailhead.  With my late start, and not wanting to carry water for a dry camp, I was going to hold up short, and get an early start the next day with enough water for the 17 mile day to Summit Park.

It threatened rain all day, and did periodically rain lightly throughout the day. The section of the trail between McKee Draw and East Park alternates from a single track, no motorized vehicles, to an ATV trail. This section of the trail also crosses several, well maintained dirt roads.  The few miles is a Black Diamond ATV trail, (steep and rocky).  Near the top of the climb and down the back side I had to skirt several deep mud holes that spanned the entire trail, and were conveniently located at choke points with several down trees on both sides of the trail. At one point I walked on down trees for about 20 yards, going from trunk to trunk to get around a mud hole. Before skirting the mud hole, I had stuck a pole into the hole and the mud was over 12" deep.

I arrived at East Park Res. in the early afternoon and had my camp setup, and water gathered by 14:00.  Conveniently, it only began to rain hard after I ate lunch and had all my gear stored at about 15:00.  It rained hard for about an hour, then cleared slightly but with dark clouds to the east.

Note: there is a re-route of the trail during this first short section.  The TOPO's do not reflect this re-route that avoids a steep loose section that is beginning to erode.

Highline Trail 2017 Day 1