Moments in Dirt and Ink

Ashley National Forest (blue-green line, map link ) DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3 It was icy when I woke, but things thawed quickly as the sun hit them. Frosted blueberries. The creek flowing from Dale Lake to Daynes Lake had spots of ice. Packed up, I headed back to follow the Four Lakes Basin Loop Trail to join up with the Hades-Rocky Sea Pass Trail again. Since I was heading away from Rocky Sea Pass, I must be heading toward Hades. I was actually headed for a lot of lakes, some of them quite grand. I followed the arrows for Rainbow Lake at first. Daynes Lake from a camp along the main trail. A meadow where one of the tributaries of Fish Creek starts. It looks quite lush with the water, but all yellowed with the season now.

Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest Ashley National Forest (orange line, map link ) DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3 Much of the parking along the Mirror Highway (UT-150) requires a permit. For short term, you can buy 3 days for $6 or 7 days for $12. I wanted 4 days and since this forest claimed they were honoring the fee free day on Saturday (AKA "tomorrow"), I should have been able to get it. Nope. I got to pay for the free day, too. It doesn't seem honest to me. So I had a 1 week permit to park for 3 days plus an extra night at Hayden Pass, the western terminus of the Uinta Highline Trail. I couldn't find my GPS anywhere, which was disturbing. In fact, I remembered that I had set it on top of my pack in the passenger seat one day and then hauled the pack into the trailer, forgetting about the item sitting on top of it, the next. I was worried I would have to drive back to Wyoming to find it as I swapped out the lighter extra AA NiMHs for my brick of a charger ...

Wyoming State Historic Site ( location ) I was making my way along county roads of uncertain quality. Most of them seemed to be oiled and not at all dusty, but one bit was one lane covered in big, dusty gravel. All of it was smooth. As the roads were improving again, I saw them, like rock beehives. Charcoal kilns. One of those signs in Leadville along the Mineral Belt was about the creation of charcoal. They would stake out a circle sometimes 100 feet wide, pile it high with wood, light it up, and bury it with dirt to make charcoal for the smelters. Eventually they started getting charcoal from places with kilns like these which were built where there were more trees. That's what it said. You look around Leadville, there's quite a number of trees. You look around here, there's nearly none. It's all range land now with this row of well preserved kilns in the middle of the sage covered hills. Three near perfect kilns and one ruin. Of course I had to stop. There...

Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest (brown line, map link ) DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3  |  DAY 4 It was a windy morning and I didn't much like my kitchen spot's wind blocking, so I packed up and left before eating. Morning shadows stretch a long way across Henry's Basin. Waterfall in the sunlight. I bumped into eight people scattered over three groups making their way to the peak in the short distance to the junction of Henry's Fork Trail with Henry's Basin Trail. This day wouldn't have any cloud troubles no matter how early they got up. Or late, for that matter. Shortcuts and multitudes of trails at the junction. At the sign for Henry's Basin, I turned and left the crowd behind. There is a rock ledge halfway to Henrys Fork Lake that made a pretty reasonable windbreak for cooking breakfast. The area was another established camp site beside a marsh area on the map that looked rather lake-like to me. Peeking at Kings Peak, or really ...

Ashley National Forest Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest (blue line, map link ) DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3  |  DAY 4 My sunny third morning started off clear enough. Once the sun started hitting the wet valley, the clouds billowed upward and filled it. The upper valley of Yellowstone Creek before the morning sun hit it. View down the glacial valley of Yellowstone Creek before the clouds took over. Kings Peak (high point of Utah) showing itself before the clouds fill in. I dallied a bit in starting in hope it would clear again. That didn't include drying the tent. Some things take far too long. I had to shake a thick layer of ice of the rain fly to pack it. Clouds filling in (and camera fogging up in solidarity) as the morning wears on. I found little streams higher up. They weren't any closer than what I'd collected the evening before, but would have been less climbing with the weight. They came off small waterfalls further up.

Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest Ashley National Forest (orange line, map link ) DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3  |  DAY 4 My start was slow because it was a short day anyway. Foolish human. It was a short day because the second half of it was expected to be stormy. Don't waste the bright, sunny bits! And it was bright and sunny, at least to the north. There were two trails across Lower Red Castle Lake. I took the upper one the day before. I decided to backtrack slightly so I could take the lower one back. My deep suspicion that it would be muddier was confirmed. Some of it even has creeks flowing down it. I saw a lot more people. Apparently everyone I'd seen coming up the trail were camped down along this lower route. They were the last people I saw. A smaller two toed ungulate: mule deer . The watery trail to Lower Red Castle Lake. Rather cloudy to the south past Red Castle. Lower Red Castle Lake.

Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest (pink line, map link ) DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3  |  DAY 4 The High Uintas have been on my list of places to visit for a while. I headed off toward Bridger Lake to stick with the "Bridger" theme, but never quite got there. And what hikes could I do there? Well, the typical approach for Kings Peak, high point of Utah, was just around the corner. It's a sign! On my first big outing, I hiked the high points of New Mexico and Arizona . On this outing, I'd already hiked Colorado's high point . Utah would make it a nice, complete, Four Corners set. (Disclaimer: following "signs" is a good way to make bad decisions.) That usual approach is an out and back without much in the way of on trail looping options. I could make a loop from China Meadows, which is around the corner the other way. The loop I picked would be nice in four days. I settled on the direction that would make climbing Kings Peak fall on the sunny...

Bridger-Teton National Forest (red line, map link ) DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3  |  DAY 4 I had had thoughts of taking one more day heading north on Fremont Trail (and the Continental Divide Trail), but it wasn't going to happen after all. I turned to head for the trailhead instead. The shortcut trail is signed on this end. Leaving North Fork Lake, seen between the hills. But first, I was going to see what that black block on the map might be. There's a little bit of trail out to it, but I only caught that for the way back. There's a camp area that has been used by equestrians. Further into the trees is the old cabin. Maybe there was a guard station once. It looks like a rougher construction than those generally are. Then I headed out to find the Highline Trail. It was ultimately under some trees making a sharp bend on its way down a hill to get to Lake Vera. Unnamed pond along the trail. I turned the other way and headed for Macs La...