Name: Kim
Location: Uinta Mountains in northern Utah
Description: We just returned from our escape to the wilderness of the Uinta mountains in northern Utah. This range includes King's Peak, the highest peak in Utah at 13,500 feet and among the 100 tallest mountains in Noth America.
We'd originally planned to backpack in the company of pack goats who would enable us to carry enough provisions to complete about 70 miles of the a 100-mile back country trail in 7 days. On our first day out, the goats abandoned us on the trail and ran back to the trail head. We re-grouped while dining on a wonderful supper of goat stew* and decided to climb King's Peak instead of traversing all the mountain passes in the range...
Reader Escapes: Kim's Glorious Backpacking Excursion
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On our first day we travelled nine miles south, off trail, towards the pass that would lead us to the western approach King's Peak. On our first night we set up camp with the best view of the drainage and "Red Castle" -- an enormous rock feature perched on the west side of the pass. We watched a "herd" of marmots scamper along the stream that serpentines through the valley (yes, Snow White was hanging there too!), and at sunset we heard grey wolves call and sing to each other across the valley floor.
On our second day, we lunched at pristine Red Castle Lake. The lake is fed by snow melt, and we had the fortune to be at this little oasis during the short four weeks or so a year that the flowers bloom and the snow has all but gone. The first snow of summer is only a few of weeks away now.
On our third day, we climbed into the clouds. The captain turned off the fasten-seat belt sign at 10,000 feet, and we finished our summit with an airplane view of the Western Uinta range.
On our fourth day, we awoke to a looming storm and scrambled to make it out of the basin and across the pass before the clouds broke over us. The storm was faster than us and Lance injured his ankle when we tried to shorten our ascent by crossing a tallis field. We taped him up as best we could, and in good humor but severe pain we decided to finish the 16 mile hike out that night. 12 hours later, wet, hungry, and exhausted we made it back to the trail head.
Our trip was glorious in all its contrasts and wild beauty. Our tiny tent represented safety, warmth, and home -- it was our connection to comfort in a place where amenities mean wet wipes and a fire ring. And I guarantee you that we completely escaped from the trappings and stress of work, debt, deadlines, commutes, and laundry!
*no goats were actually harmed.
>>View Kim's Escapes Slideshow Here
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Comments (11)
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Thanks, AT!!
I forgot to write about the porcupines! Did you know that the thing you really have to watch out for in the wildnerness is not bears, but porcupines falling from trees?
On that long haul out, we walked into the wee hours of the morning when all the nocturnal creatures come out to eat and do their creaturely thing. We'd kept our headlamps pointed pretty much straight ahead save the occasional sweep into the treeline, but always had the light shining at eye level.
At one point I nearly tripped over a porcupine crossing the trail in front of me and watched it waddle along and, to my surprise, straight up a tree like it was an every day occurrence. We thought it was doing its porcupine best to avoid being eaten by us and shrugged -- who knew they could climb? At about that point we started looking up and realized there were all kinds of eyes watching our progress and I thought, "owls?"
After we got back, the first thing I did was look up the tree-climbing habits of those spiney creatures and learned that indeed, "new world porcupines" (just like new world vs old world monkeys) have the peculiar habit of climbing and dining on the bark of trees. In fact, in the north east and Canada there's quite an industry dedicated to all kinds of porcupine repellants to keep them out of your ornamental trees. Old world porcupines, however, do not climb trees.
So, here's the best safety tip I can offer. When you scramble out of your tent at 2:00 am for a bio break, do it out in the open and not under a pine tree!
view kimg924's profile
What a stunning locale. I would love to camp there and I am not much for camping.
Plus the porcupines really kind of sealed the deal for me.
view Seaside's profile
Looks like an awesome trip. I've really wanted to go on another backpacking trip for a while now.
view tgfoo's profile
So Jealous. BEAUTIFUL photos Kim!!!!! Thanks for sharing! I am now officially inspired to break out the tent, although I am not lucky enough to live near such a beautiful location.
view OliviaV's profile
So lovely! & great to see yet another SLC dweller here on AT...we're going to need our own dedicated site soon.
view TannerAdair's profile
I am from SLC too it is great to know there are others, we have a family cabin up in the Uintas and I absolutely love it up there it is so beautiful!
view Rachel Anne's profile
Hello from another Utah dweller! It looks like you had a lovely trip. We haven't camped out in the Unitas, but oh they are gorgeous. Love your photos, and the tip about the porcupines. I didn't know about that! Glad we haven't had any drop on us. :)
view AimeeRoo's profile
That sky in the first photo looks like some enormous epic Remington painting. What a wonderful adventure it was just to look at the photos!
view Curtis's profile
Beautiful pictures- would you mind sharing what kind of camera you used? (I'm in the market for a new one right now) Thanks
view jende's profile
i just moved out east from utah and i miss it so much. it is a gorgeous state, and much of america is now discovering one of the country's best kept secrets.
view Pistachio's profile
Jende, we used last year's digital Nikon SLR. Retails for about $500 right now. It's a great camera! Two years ago the same model was $1000.
view kimg924's profile