30 July 2017, 20:00
Location: Oweep Creek - N40.76590° W110.41489°
Elevation: 10,953'
Ascent: 1744' (Total: 13,982')
Descent: 1699' (Total: 11,093')
Day Distance: 12.01 miles (Total: 88.08 miles)
Shelly's birthday today. I called her early this morning, probably before 07:00 and wished her a happy birthday.
Today is Sunday, and I was not going to hike, but the camp site was not that great for shade, and even though the wind was blowing last night, the mosquitoes were thick. I actually pick the site because of the breeze, hoping for some relief from the bugs. My clothing, sprayed with permethrin, is working, but they attack my face, hands, and feet. When I take off my trail runners around camp, to allow my feet to dry, the mosquitoes think it is feeding time. So with blue skies, a prayer in my heart, I ate breakfast, struck camp, and was on the trail by 08:00.
Today was a two pass day. From camp there was a steady climb , as far as mountain trails can be steady. Not steep like Anderson Pass, but consistent. The climb is consistent all the way to Tungsten Pass. At Tungsten Pass you give up some elevation and descend to Tungsten Lake. Then back to a steady climb towards Porcupine Pass. Porcupine Pass is typical of passes in the Uintas. The trail climbs to the base of the pass, then suddenly gains 500 plus feet in the next .25 miles. In other words, hike to the meadow below the pass, then go vertical at the base of Porcupine. I encountered a west-east HighLine Trail hiker about a third of the way up the pass. He was on his fourth day and had only planned for a total of seven days, at 15 miles a day. Which he thought would get him out to the highway (where I started). I guess Wikipedia apparently has the hike as about 100 miles. He was talking about turning around. My GPS says I have about 30 miles left, having covered 88 miles.
After climbing Porcupine Pass, the back side of the pass (west side) is more scary than the west side of Anderson Pass. The trail is not as well used and there are some pretty bad pieces. Narrow, loose, and rocky, with a vertical drop rewarding a misstep. As I got down from Porcupine Pass, and started across the basin below the pass, a storm started to move in. All along the ridges it was dark and you could hear thunder in the distance. I was still above tree line with maybe a mile to the tree line. Sometime around 14:00, the storm caught me. I was just getting to the tree line, with some big parks to cross. The rain turned to hail for about 20 minutes. Then into a steady rain until about 16:00. I got my camp setup during the rain. At one point the time between flash and boom was under two seconds. As I write this the storm has finally stopped. I need to go get dinner soon, which means I need to emerge from my tent. After all the work I did to inflate my mattress from inside my one man tent :).
The sun finally came out with clear blue skies. I was able to put some wet things out in the sun to dry out a little bit. Mostly, my rain jacket. I've eaten, called home, and now I'm going to crawl into my tent. The bugs are trying to eat me alive. The mosquitoes are thicker than I've ever seen, not saying much :)
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