High Uintas Roughing It

All of my conversations last weekend were filled with negativity. Utah is a terrible place and no one should move here because it is a terrible, ugly place to live with nothing to do ever. At least that’s what we kept saying because life is so awesome that even we couldn’t believe that this is real life.

On Saturday I called up a friend and, as luck would have it, my buddies were packing up the car to head into the high Uinta mountains for some camping. 30 minutes to gather my gear? Easy! I mean, I forgot a tent and didn’t have time to grab food and certainly didn’t have time to buy booze but I made it and we headed into the mountains.

The Mirror Lake Highway goes through the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest and is an U.S. Wilderness Area. Why is that important? Backcountry access is easy and for a small fee you can park the car in a pullout and head off into the wild.

Utah is ugly. Don’t come here.

We headed straight from the road laden with backpacks and dogs and made our way down a pretty rocky trail to our secret spot of awesome. I will not tell you the mile markers, the landmarks, or the name of the lake (partly because I don’t know the name of lake) but you should know that if you ever find it you will know it because you will fall in love. Just up from the shores of the lake the ground flattens out and a fire pit marks the spot.

And thus camping began

That night the lake helped insulate our campsite and it was an incredibly pleasant evening with a swath of stars so bright that you could see their reflections in the calm glass of the lake. I saw a multitude of shooting stars and we all contemplated the vastness of the universe before scaring ourselves with stories about moose trampling people and retreating back to the fire. Finally tired we all retired to our various resting places (I was fortunate enough to be granted space in a tent) where I curled up on my REI sleeping pad zipped snugly in my Marmot Ouray sleeping bag and slept more soundly and completely than I have in months.

Breakfast, upon waking, included eggs, cheese, peppers, bratwurst, and hash browns…not exactly roughing it! I maintain that food tastes better when made over an open fire or white gas. Although our original plans included climbing at Ruth Lake just up the road we got distracted by the awesomeness of the lake and then sun lounging and lake swimming (and belly flopping) commenced.

Epic Flop

It ended up being a short trip. We napped in the sun for a bit before heading back down out of the high mountains of the Utah backcountry. As summer starts to turn into fall around here (the leaves are starting to change in places!) it’s wonderful to get out into the mountains and away from the heat and smoke trapped in the Salt Lake Valley and remind ourselves why we all moved here. Because it is awesome!

Happiness is in the Uinta Mountains!

 

 

Jackson Hole, WY (a brief trip)

After a grueling couple of weeks it was time to get out of SLC for a while and enjoy what will most likely be my last grand trip for the summer. School is approaching for many and my focus is changing back to skiing so it’s time to stop being a lazy patron of summer and buckle down to train hard for this upcoming season. So I packed up the camping gear and hit the road north!

Jackson Hole is a veritable disaster show in the summer time. Everyone and their mother and their camper and their motorcycle is in Jackson at the same time en route to Teton or Yellowstone National Parks. We managed to eek into a camping spot the first night after much driving and enjoyed a gorgeous sunset and some epic grilled steaks…not exactly roughing it!

Our main goal was white water rafting the Snake River which, due to the amazing wetness of water and the ability it has to destroy cameras, I did not photograph. So please just imagine how epic I must’ve looked paddling down the river being accosted by gigantic waves of awesome. I might add that I also stole a salmon from a bear and rode a wild moose through the Tetons on this same adventure. In all seriousness, though, the rafting was super fun and we did see bald eagles and an osprey fishing in the eddies. I was impressed at the beauty of the area and found the rapids to be just exciting enough to keep it from being a scenic float down the Snake. 

Back down to the lake we went to enjoy some adult beverages and another sunset. After another fabulous night sleeping under the stars it was hard to believe that we’d really only gone up to Jackson for one full day and two nights. Not nearly enough time. I’m going to call this one a test run since we ran up there and had to run back but we got some nice time outside of the city to enjoy the mountains again and now when we go back we’ll be ready to seize the adventure!

 

A Mellow Alta Summer Evening

What do you do when you’re really too tired to move? You go biking, of course. Too exhausted and sore from my previous day’s activities to follow my friends back to the Crest I found a buddy who was also looking for some mellow in his life. We headed up to Alta to bike through the flowers and enjoy the mountains more than the ride. 

Alta showed us a lovely evening. The Wildflower Festival was on and the trails were devoid of people. There were a few ground squirrels that looked at us warily but at low speed we posed them no threat. 

Post ride we shared a beer and the view until it was time to get dinner. 

A surprise greeted us. For the first time in the 2012-2013 season the canyon was jammed with the notorious Red Snake. A gnarly crash is what kept us all up in the canyon for longer than we had originally planned but I’ll take it as some good practice for this upcoming season. It’s tough to avoid the snake, even in the summer apparently! 

A Little Night Climbing

Some of you know (especially if you’ve read my last post) that I recently got a significant promotion at work. What a wonderful summer it has been. The only trouble (if you can REALLY call it that) is that I’ve given up my afternoon shift for a morning shift. 6 in the morning, that is. I’m not sure what affect it is going to have on my winter ski plans, though I doubt it will be much, but it has made my summer evenings exactly what they’re supposed to be: perfect summer evenings.

I had a good buddy travelling through town and we were trying to figure out what to do. It was hot in the Valley, near 90, so we thought we’d head up to a lake on the Park City side of Guardsman’s Pass to swim and cool off. Well, when we got to the top of the pass it was downright cold. We decided to go climbing instead but as we headed down canyon it was getting a little too late for roped climbing. So I called another climbing friend with a crash pad and we headed up Little Cottonwood Canyon.

With the sun rapidly setting we thought we could get a few decent bouldering problems worked out. As the light dimmed I helped out by shining my headlamp onto the rock to give a little contrast. Then what was going to be an hour or so of bouldering turned into four hours of climbing, photo taking, being munched by mosquitos, and some incredible breakthroughs on the rock!

And, of course, the best way to wrap up a mountain evening is with some good, cold, cheap PBR and some sore hands!

Where Have I Been!?

Well, it has been a tumultuous few weeks. A new position and shift at work left me upside down and backwards and a broken computer left me with little to no blog updating ability. My quiescence on the web scene comes from lack of tools, not lack of adventure.

So where have I been? The month of July was amazingly busy and different. I was working almost every day of the week training for my new position. However, I have evenings free now and summer evenings are where it is at (I’m not sure how this is going to go over this winter because winter evenings are NOT where it’s at). I’ve enjoyed taking my bike out and have gotten quite a few rides in (see A Day on the Crest Trail). I’ve done a little climbing and a lot of evenings just soaking up how amazing everything about Utah really is.

A Day on the Crest Trail

The Wasatch Crest Trail is described as one of the best single track mountain bike trails in Utah. While this is not something that I can completely confirm because there are quite a few single track trails I have yet to experience The Crest definitely delivers the awesome.

It had finally rained in Utah and the parched earth had gotten a decent soaking. The sun came up on Friday and dried up all the rain [and the itsy bitsy spider…]. The trail, instead of being dusty and horrific was hard and just a touch tacky. I didn’t feel guilty for riding it the morning post-rain due to Utah’s fantastically dry climate and ability to suck the moisture out of just about anything within minutes of being touched by the sun.

The top of Guardsman’s Pass was cold and I was glad to have brought my jacket though I knew that I wasn’t going to need it after too long. After some last minute morning maintenance we got on the trail and I knew it was going to be a perfect day. The trail wasn’t terribly busy and the weather couldn’t have been more perfect.

The Crest’s awesomeness arises from a few factors. First, the views are absolutely incredible. You can see all 7 of the Wasatch’s major ski resorts as well as panoramic views of Big Cottonwood and Millcreek Canyons as well has Park City. The trail dips and winds and climbs through high alpine meadows, bright green aspen groves, deep red dirt, and thick pine forests with lakes and wildflowers and peaks assaulting you with their beauty around almost every corner.

There is the early and classic Puke Hill climb which is aptly named. Loose rock and a steady, terrible climb to 9900’ is brutal. Another steady but doable climb follows shortly after called Red Hill. The rain had turned the ground the deepest crimson and the flowers were happily blooming in all their cheery colors on either side of the narrow single track. After surmounting this last hill it pretty much becomes a downhill and the options abound. After riding (ok, I walked) the spine you can head down Millcreek Canyon towards Salt Lake or continue on to downhill the Canyons Resort and pop back into Park City. We opted for the latter.

I finally understand why so many skiers mountain bike in the summer. To start with the uphill conditioning is a fantastic way to keep your hiking muscles and lungs in shape for the winter’s backcountry adventures and the downhill is just as addicting and feels similar to slaying tight glades in the winter. I was all smiles on the way into the Canyons base area.

To top of an awesome 17 miles of mountain adventure we stopped into The Red Tail Grill for margaritas and lots and lots of water! I highly recommend this little joint for deliciousness, after an adventure or just for lunch. We hopped on the bus back up to Main Street and showers were in high order.