HighLine Trail 2017 Day 7

HighLine Trail, High Uintas Wilderness, Utah
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 :)

Highline Trail 2017 Day 7

HighLine Trail 2017 Day 6

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

Location: Yellowstone Creek - N40.76590°  W110.41489°
Elevation: 11,011'
Ascent: 2893' (Total: 12238')
Descent: 2694' (Total: 9394')
Day Distance: 15.45 miles (Total: 76.07 miles)

I started a little late today.  It rained for hours last night and as I had picked a East facing camp I was hoping the sun would dry somethings out before packing them up.  Also my GPS needed some back up batteries charged.  My watch had also died sometime during the night.  Not sure why the watch died, when I went to bed it had plenty of battery.  Now since it died, it lost some more time, so now it is about another 40 minutes off.  So with the sun up I charged my watch and my batteries.  Both were done by the time I had struck camp.  To start the day my GPS only had about 50% life left in the batteries.  So I knew I would be needing the batteries.  Sure enough, around noon I needed to change them out.  I then put the solar panel on my pack and charged the depleted batteries.  This is the first day that I did not have bad weather move in during the day.

As I left Kidney Lakes, I went down the wrong side.  I had looked at the map and thought I could connect to the trail by crossing over and going down the west side.  Didn't really work out, got pinned by terrain and water, and I ended up back-tracking to the lakes.  Seems the output from both lakes converged, and there was no way to cross.  Looking at the map the trail curved away from where I was, and if I did not cross I would be descending into the wrong drainage.  So I went back to the lakes crossed both streams individually, and then reverse followed the horse tracks that I had encountered the night before, back to the HighLine trail.  Turns out that there is a sign, I was just a little impatient, about 100 yards.

With a 09:00 start, the extra for the 'tour of the area' really put be behind.  It was almost 10:00 before I regained the trail.

The descent from Kidney Lakes was brutal.  Steep, rocky, downed trees, water crossings, and water running down the trail for large sections.  When I finally made painter basin, at the base of Anderson Pass I had four miles left to go, including a 1400' climb over the pass and it was 14:00.  I had been worried about the pass because of the almost daily afternoon thunder storms.  Luck was with me, because there was not a storm to be seen/heard.  By the time I had reached the top of the pass, a short two mile distance, it was 16:00.  Nice 'speed' climbing the pass with a loaded pack.  If I never do Anderson Pass with a pack on, it will be too soon!  At the pass I ran into two couples.  They asked where I was going and if I was going to summit.  When I told them where I was going and how far, I got interrogated about what I was eating, about the solar panel, and just about everything else non-experience backpacker would ask someone that was backpacking.  When I explained my food, I got questions on 'how good it was' and how could I fit it in my pack.  When I explained about the vacuum packed food, and my bear bag.  They wanted to know what a bear bag or vault was.  Thankfully, at the point, another couple arrived up the trail from the Yellowstone side and I was able to changed the conversation to trail conditions down the western side of the pass.  I never did explain what a bear vault was...

The descent into the Yellowstone drainage is a little daunting.  The trail, while steep is also along a very sheer wall.  A stumble would send you falling hundreds of feet. Going down hill, with pack, tired from a long day, is not something I would recommend.  At the base of the trail from the pass, there is a small basin.  I bumped into a gentleman from Moab that was here to hit all the 13,000' plus peaks.  He was going to camp in the small basin and hit it all in the morning.  He just could find any water, which was everywhere.  He said that he and his wife were considering doing the Highline Trail in September, but couldn't figure out the shuttle thing.  I offered to help.  He was talking about doing only the Chepeta trail head west.

I finally made it down to the Yellowstone Creek where I had planned to camp at about 18:30.  I got my phone out and called Shelly.  Somebody heard me talking, and a couple came to investigate.  I think they were going to try and get a little closer to attempt the summit tomorrow, so they didn't camp nearby.

A strong breeze was glowing, but the mosquitoes were still really thick.  I may hike tomorrow just because of the bugs, since I don't want to have to stay in my solo tent all day.  My original plans were to not hike on Sunday, but to take a day off.  I see in the morning how I feel about hiking or staying.

Highline Trail 2017 Day 6

HighLine Trail 2017 Day 5

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

Location: Kidney Lakes - N40.79780°  W109.228814°
Elevation: 10835'
Ascent: 1956' (Total: 9345')
Descent: 2111' (Total: 6700')
Day Distance: 13.28 miles (Total: 60.62 miles)

What a Day!  Started out really nice.  Clear skies, cool temperature (48° F).  Got packed and hit the trail about 08:30.  From camp near Reeder Lakes it was essentially all up hill towards North Pole Pass, and a fairly steep uphill.  The only real downhill was just before the pass.  Camp was at 10980' and the plan for the day was to cross North Pole Pass at 12,200' and enter the wilderness area, and camp near Kidney Lakes.  The trail climbs to a shoulder where a trail down to Taylor Lake forks off.  There is a sign post at the fork, but no sign on the post.  The trail then descends a couple of hundred feet before beginning a serious climb to the pass.  I had to stop at the base of the pass to treat a hot spot on my left foot.  After doctoring the foot I began climbing.  There were dozens of switch backs.  I must of crossed the same stream 10 times.  At times the water ran down the trail for dozens of yards.  The trail was extremely rocky and I was able to step from stone to stone to keep my feet dry, but the going was slow.  As I was climbing the pass the sky started to darken.  So while I wanted to stop for water, I felt it best to keep going and get over the pass and down off the high ground before the storm moved in.  Once over the pass the west side was steeper than the eastern side that I had just climbed.  I kept crossing small streams, or maybe the same stream.  There were so many switch backs I lost count.  After getting off the high ground I stopped at one of the streams where it came out of the mountain and got water. It was clear and really cold, and while I filtered it, (I always filter), I am not sure it was really necessary since it was taken right at the spring.

All those streams combined into a larger stream that I kept crossing.  Some of the crossings were wide and it took some 'skill' to cross without getting wet.  The trail then deviated from the USGS 7.5' maps by passing Brook Lake.  In fact it deviated twice.  The second time it cut a big loop out, so I am not really complaining.  As the trail headed to Fox Lake I kept seeing fresh horse sign, and at Fox Lake there was a camp with four horses and a mule.  I didn't see anyone at the camp, but it was raining at the time.  As I got past the camp I heard voices and saw three people out on the dam headed my direction.  The sky had just opened up, just prior to my reaching the camp, so I was not watching the people on the dam closely and they were several hundred yards away.  Not far after the horse camp, I came upon three tents, I could hear voices in the tents, but with the heavy rain, no one was out.  I suspect that the people I saw on the dam where the inhabitants of the tents, since I never encountered anyone else the rest of the day.

At the dam there is an old cabin/shack. No roof, and a door about four feet tall.  Not sure what purpose it served.

After about an hour on the trail, the rain stopped and after I had divested myself of rain gear, the trail continued across a large open area, all the while with large and frequent puddles.  Near Dime Lake I had a really nasty stream crossing.  About 30 yards from the stream, the trail went through a bog with no way around.  The oily/slime water/mud of the bog was about mid-calf.  The stream was also about mid-calf with no way to cross, except to wade.  Which actually worked out, since I needed to wash the bog off.  Off came the shoes, prior to crossing the bog, and on went the sandals.  Through the bog and stream I went.  I stopped in the stream to wash of the mud and slime of the bog.  On the far side of the stream, I noticed that the tape on my right foot was gone.  So I took the time to re-tape my little toe that had a pretty raw open blister.  That open raw blister is really the only major issue that I have on my feet.  I have taped several hot spots before blisters formed and they are doing well.  I now worry about that open sore, especially after what I had just walked through.

As I got to Kidney Lakes I kept looking for a trail to turn off to the lakes.  I never did find one, so as the trail seemed to turn away from the lakes, I went cross country.  I headed right to the SE lake, but I didn't really find a good place to camp.  So I crossed a major stream coming out of the lake on a bunch of downed trees.  On the far side I ran into some horse tracks which I followed to the other lake.  The tracks just kept going, so I picked a nice spot and set up camp between the two lakes.  Prepared dinner, made my call to Shelly, and got ready for bed.  Just as I was ready, the skies opened up, thunder, heavy rain and some wind.  It has now been ring for over an hour, and I putting all this away.

Just a note:  When I call Shelly, I give here my GPS coordinates, and my plans for the next day.  If I decide to deviate from those plans, I call her and let her know my new plans.  Since I am solo, this is my way of making sure my last known position is known, and my plans.

Highline Trail 2017 Day 5

HighLine Trail 2017 Day 4

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

Location: Reeder Lakes - N40.78579°  W109.06909°
Elevation: 10921'
Ascent: 1484' (Total: 7389')
Descent: 1537' (Total: 4589')
Day Distance: 12.75 miles (Total: 47.34 miles)

The day started nice and clear.  The only problem was the dew after all the rain.  The rain fly on the tent was soaked.  I ended up wiping it down three times, inside and out.  Once before breakfast, once after and again just before I packed it.  While packing everything, I set out ended up with dew on it.  I finally hit the trail about 09:00.  A little late because of the moisture.  My socks and shoes were still wet and before I finished the pass above Deadman Lake I needed to stop and fix a hot spot on my right foot, and re-apply tape to the fourth toe.  I also had to fix the tape on left foot.  All the moisture, and wet feet, was playing havoc with my feet.  As much as I like the trail runners, with my wool socks my feet stay wet forever.  Note, coming down from the pass, before WhiteRocks, I post holed into a bog, then got both feet wet clearing the bog.  I stopped and rang water out of both socks, and every time I stopped I took of my shoes.  By the time I made camp my socks had finally dried.  Just in time for me to wash out the dirt out of the socks, getting them wet all over again.

Last year, descending from the pass at Deadman into WhiteRocks I lost the trail several times.  Today I only lost it once at a creek crossing, seems it didn't go straight across.  I picked it up pretty quickly and was able to stay on trail all the way down to Chepeta Lake.  The trail was soaked with mud holes and bogs everywhere.  I manage to keep my feet dry by either leaving the trail to get around the bogs, or by carefully navigating from stone to stone.  Sometimes (most times) it was a bit of a puzzle.

Just before I came out of the trees for the last stretch to the Chepeta Trail head I encountered what I believe to be two families with children near the age of ten and younger.  They were headed up to WhiteRocks.  We chatted for a bit.  The weather threatened all day, but never did more than sprinkle once, just as I ran into the families.

At the road I turned left and headed for the Chepeta Trail head, instead of turning right and going to the lake.  When I got to the trail head there were people and horses everywhere.  Tents were set up, trailers, etc.  I stopped and chatted with an older gentleman from Vernal.  While I watched a DWR employee setup a trailer.  He had two young children with him, but was driving his DWR truck.  I was told a youth group was expected tomorrow.  According to the USGS maps, and my GPS, the trail from the Chepeta Trail head goes to the far end of the Chepeta dam.  Not so!  It winds well away and actually heads away from Chepeta for a ways.  It is well marked, but I was beginning to wonder if I had missed a turn because I was going away from where the maps showed the trail to be.  It finally made a big loop and cut the trail from the dam, some distance past the dam and lake.  As I headed for my planned camp near Reeder Lakes I descended to a small lake with a moose standing in the middle.  Her belly was not even in the water.  Apparently the lake was not very deep.  At the lake there was sign indicating it was the lower Reeder Lake.  I had a significant creek crossing at the lower Reeder.  Luckily I was able to find a spot to cross on stones about 20 yards off trail.  I stopped for water and then continued on.  Not long after the Lake I encountered another stream crossing, about 10 feet wide and no way to cross without wading.  I change into my trekking sandals and waded across, then changed back to my trail runners.  My camp tonight is not where I planned.  I was going to head towards the Reeder Lakes, but I wasn't looking forward to the descent tonight, followed by the climb back out tomorrow.  Anyway I came across a small stream and headed off trail for several hundred yards.  As I was pitching my tent, two ladies walked by, heading out.  Turns out the trail turned and now I am a couple hundred feet off the trail, not a couple hundred yards.  Nobody else has gone by.  The mosquitoes are thick but the permethrin seems to be working.

Highline Trail 2017 Day 4

HighLine Trail 2017 Day 3

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

Location: Deadman Lake - N40.77166°  W109.91210°
Elevation: 10,980'
Ascent: 2363' (Total: 5905')
Descent: 1125' (Total: 3052')
Day Distance: 12.1 miles (Total: 34.59 miles)

Apparently I got a late start.  When my watch died yesterday, the time got messed up, and I didn't notice.  It is off by an hour and a half.  As a result, when I called Shelly, I was late and she was pretty scared that something had happened.  The watch (fitbit blaze) has no way to reset the time without syncing and syncing requires Internet, which I don't have.  I am going to have to remember that it is later than the watch is reporting.  Lucky for me, the GPS has the correct time.  I will just need to check that instead of the watch.

When I got up this morning, the sun was out, so I took my time, thinking it was early (watch), letting some things dry out.  The sky began to darken to the west, which was mostly blocked by trees at my camp site.  Shortly after I hit the trail it started to rain again.  My sock were wet to start the day, as were my shoes.  Since Summit Park is mostly one big bog, they stayed wet.  I had used some tape (leuko) on my blister, but I scrimped a little in size.  Soon my blister began to heat up again by the time I got to the Hacking Lake Trail head.  At the road, where the trail comes out, there is a huge flat rock across from the road from the trail.  I walked over, set my pack down, and took off my shoe and sock.  I wrung the water out of the sock, the tape was still on but the adhesive had separated.  I re-taped using a larger piece.  I then put it all back on.  I then removed the other shoe and sock, inspected the foot, wrung water out, and replaced everything before walking up the road to the trail.

As I was climbing to the shoulder of Leidy Peak, clouds started blowing in, and at times I couldn't see 20 yards through the clouds/mist.  Makes it very hard to pick out landmarks and stay on trail since there is not a worn path through this area.  It rained on and off for the entire day.  My shoes would start to get some dry spots, on the outside and then it would rain.  After traversing the north side of Leidy Peak the sun finally came out, and I ate lunch there on the ridge line.  As I finished lunch, the sun disappeared and clouds blew back in.  This set was accompanied by thunder.  I never saw a flash of lightening, but to the south there was a lot of noise.  The trail from Leidy Peak to Deadman is all above tree line, with no way off the mountain.  The thunder was scary.  As I neared Gabro Pass the thunder that was well behind, at this point, quieted down.  There was a huge snow field blocking Gabro Pass.  I had to transition from the north side to the south side of the pass because the trail was completely blocked by a 20' wall of vertical snow.  Even from the south side I still had to cross about 30 yards of steeply sloped snow.  Luckily no mishaps.  As I crested Gabro Pass another thunder storm moved in.  This time the storm was right on top of me, and I had a mile descent to Deadman Lake, all above tree line.  Let's just say it was a bit spooky.

The rain was only a sprinkle until I got to Deadman Lake.  Then the skies opened up and turned into a hard driving rain with thunder for over an hour.  It even hailed for a few minutes.  I found a dry spot inside a small grove of trees.  I know trees are not good cover during a lightening storm but this was a low set surrounded by much larger tree nearby.  After the heavy rain let up, I pitched the tent and moved in.  While I was inside, inflating the air mattress, the sun came out.  So I made dinner, then puttered around waiting for 19:00 to call Shelly.  That's when I found out the error in my watch time.  After the call, I crawled into the tent, getting ready to call it a day.  The rain started back up, and I fell asleep to the rain.

Highline Trail 2017 Day 3

HighLine Trail 2017 Day 2

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

Location: Summit Park - N40.79136°  W109.74796°
Elevation: 9824'
Ascent: 2404' (Total: 3542')
Descent: 1593' (Total: 1927')
Day Distance: 17 miles (Total: 22.48 miles)

What a day.  About 01:30 a storm started blowing in with high winds. By 03:45 it was raining, and it has continued to rain all day.

By the time I struck camp and hit the trail, my feet and pants below the knees were completely soaked. Since it continued to rain all day, my feet stayed wet the entire day. This was my first outing using trail runners and the wet feet were a new thing for me, but with the wool socks my feet never got cold. I kept worrying about blisters but that did not happen today.

I have never been able to find the right rain gear. I sweat and any rain gear just holds that sweat in. No matter how much the manufacturer claims about breathability, I still get as wet on the inside as the outside. I have tried ponchos and rain jackets all with the same result.

The previous afternoon I had heard chain saws, so I figured that trail maintenance was being done. Sure enough, throughout the day I kept seeing fresh cuts where the trail had been cleared. In one short section there had been a blow down, and there were over thirty trees downed trees that had been cut to clear the trail. This section of the trail crosses multiple dirt roads and you need to be careful at the crossings because the trail often jogs on the road for a few dozen yards before re-entering the forest. The re-entry point is not always clearly marked and seldom does the trail cross straight across the road.  In fact, I finally encountered the trail crew about four miles from Summit Park. They told me that there was a hiker they encountered the day before that had become lost, or lost the trail, when he had missed one of the crossing and had hiked the dirt road for a while. There chains saws brought him back to the trail.

My destination for the day was Summit Park. Summit Park has what is officially classified as an intermittent stream. But last year during the drought I had hiked in to check the stream, and verify the stream had water. This year it had about the same amount of water flowing. However Summit Park was one big soft boggy meadow this year, while the previous year it had been mostly dry. Summit Park was/is the first chance to refill water after leaving East Park.

In summary, it had rained all day, all the way from East Park, to Summit Park.  Some 17 miles of trail with 2400' of ascent, 1600' of descent, taking 10 hours, including lunch, refueling breaks and an extended chat with the trail crew.

I had my first break in the rain as I was scouting and deciding on a camp site. I was able to setup camp, filter water, prepare and eat dinner, call home, and climb into my tent before it again started to rain.

Highline Trail 2017 Day 2

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