Four Lakes Basin - August 14, 2008

For what looks to be my last trip of the year, I organized a trip for my brother and my brother-in-law up to Four Lakes Basin in the Uintas. We originally expected to have a few additional people on the trip, but conflicts came up and just the three of us went. We passed several folks along the way. We ran into a guy who rents pack goats. He had lost one of his goats and asked us to keep an eye open for it, but we never ended up seeing it.


Weather couldn't have been better for hiking. We made very good time up to our initial rest stop about 5 and 1/2 miles in. We stoppd at one of the prominent streams that cross the trail and endulged in some snacks and gatorade. We also treated a few developing blisters. The quality of the trail was not the best. Many parts of the trail were like walking up a creek bed...extremely rocky. The rockiness made for awkward stepping. I normally don't get blisters, but I got a few whoppers, and my brother-in-law starting having knee problems. Before we could quite make it to our destination, his knees locked up and left him in agony. Gratefully, we were close enough to our destination that we made it the rest of the way. My brother and I left my brother-in-law to rest and scouted out a decent spot where we could establish our camp. It was rather difficult finding a flat spot without rocks to pitch a tent. The site we chose wasn't the most fabulous spot, but given the circumstances would have to do. While scouting, we had carried one pack with us so that we could carry the other two packs after we retrieved my brother-in-law. That way he could walk the rest of the way without having to carry a pack, which he did with extreme pain.

Our original plan was to stay two nights, but we decided to start back early since we might be going very slowly due to injury. In the meantime, we made a great camp. I was able to try out one of my ideas for improvement by bringing an empty, 5-gallon water container (light as a feather). Instead of constantly refilling water bottles for drinking, washing, and cooking, we filtered a whopping 5 gallons all at once, built a tripod with some cut poles and a tripod lashing, and had what amounted to a backpacking kitchen sink. Any time you can do a little extra work and eliminate worrying about something, it is worth it. We didn't have to worry about retrieving water for every little thing every time we ran out...we never ran out!

Being as this was also my brother-in-law's first backpacking trip ever, my brother introduced him to what we call the "poo rope". Taking care of business in the wilderness can be downright unpleasant, or, if engineered properly, quite comfortable. All you need is a 6-foot piece of good rope and a bow line. Once you've dug a hole at your chosen location, you simply tie one end of the rope to a tree and the other end around your waist with a bow line. You use a bow line because it won't slip and tighten against your body. You can then lean back with both hands free to handle your business. This process eliminates all awkward reaching, straining, and leaning that risks total catastrophe. Of course, you must tie your knots properly, and heaven forbid something should attack you while you're tied to a tree, but at the very least you have one hand free to transact while the other can fight off buzzing and biting intruders. I suggested to my brother that he patent the idea.

The consensus was that we enjoy the evening and then get to the business the following day of figuring out how to get an injured hiker out of the middle of nowhere. To make matters more complicated, our night was not very pleasant. Although we had no rain, wind gusts thrashed at us for the majority of the night and prevented a reasonable night's sleep. In addition to the wind, whenever I have a lot on my mind or have a problem to solve, I sleep poorly. Oh, and the moon was almost full, which, in the Uintas, is unbelievably bright. You almost don't need a flashlight. Some people sleep better when it's dark.


We had a rather plentiful breakfast in the morning. We all rose early, and I hiked up to Amy Lake to catch a few trout. Another idea I came up with after my last trip was to pack a small and light cutting board. After catching the fish, I filleted them and removed the skin. I then seasoned them with salt, pepper and Lowry's seasoning salt (all packed in miniature ziplock bags). After breading the fillets in flour, I fried them in butter on my backpacking stove. The vote was unanimous...delicious.

We decided that our best bet was to give my brother-in-law a few light items and then divide the remainder of the gear between my brother and me. We offered a prayer and then began our hike back. An idea of cutting the injured two walking sticks which he could treat as semi-crutches popped into my head in the wee hours of the morning. They seemed to help significantly.

Our initial plan was to travel about halfway back and camp, but at some point during the trip back my brother-in-law was doing well enough and wanted to try to make it all the way back to the truck before sundown. I agreed that that was a good plan, so we pushed hard and made it the rest of the way back. There were spots when it felt like the trail was never going to end. I had an irritated hamstring that became outrageously mad by the end of the hike, partly due to a heavier pack. I am glad we were able to make it out though, and I hope my brother-in-law's knees are not permanently injured. It's a real blessing to be able to ask for help and strength from God and receive his aid. Indeed, we could never have done it without Him.

I have to confess that as I planned this excursion I thought we would be able to take on something tough and have no issues. The trail turned out to be one of the worst I've seen, especially carrying a heavy pack. The rockiness of the path required us to take awkward steps to get appropriate footing and avoid mistepping. If a person were trail running or just out for a light hike, it might have been different, but with a pack it was harder to be agile on such an uneven surface. Perhaps for trips in the future, especially group trips, it might make more sense to take the trip in shorter legs of 4 or 5 miles...at least to avoid injury.

North Erickson - July 24, 2008

We went up to Erickson Basin again, only this time I decided to take both of my older boys (8 and 6). I thought we'd give them a chance to carry all of their own gear, and they did very well. The only tears on the trail were from not getting to walk side by side and such nonsense, which I was rather happy about. There were no runny noses over difficulty.

The weather was charming. My brother-in-law Kevin went with us. This was his first ever backpacking trip, although he is an experienced camper / outdoorsman. We camped at North Erickson this time on the north-east side of the lake. There was a rather nice little setup there with a firepit, so we took it.

We stopped briefly at East Shingle Creek Lake again for a breather. My youngest boy had to go number two and had never done the "dig a hole" thing, so that became a training moment.

The fishing was remarkable. We caught several brook trout that tasted rather delicious. As seen from the pictures, the quiet morning scenery is unmatchable. The one challenge with the trip was mosquitos and flies; they were the worst in this particular area at this particular time of year than I have ever seen them before. Despite repellant and other precautions, we counted 23 bites on the back of my younger boy, and that did not include his arms, legs, and face. The interesting thing is that he didn't really say anything about it until we got home.

Once again, taking youngsters into the Uintas is a challenge. There is already so much to do on top of keeping them alive, but these two guys handled themselves very well. I feel confident that with practice they'll become the kind of experienced outdoorsmen that can handle themselves. I realize that I can't expect to wait until they are adults to introduce them to the outdoors. I sense that the results will be much better if I help them learn to love, appreciate, and respect the outdoors while they are young.

Dead Horse Lake - August, 2008

This post is a summary of my solo last year. I went from the West Fork-Blacks Fork Trailhead to Dead Horse Lake in the Uintas. The trip was about 10 miles each direction. As planned I stayed the first night at the trailhead so I could get an early start on my first day. I slept in the back of the Jeep due to a downpour. However, I am just taller than 6 feet, and the space in the back of the Jeep only amounted to about 5 and 1/2 feet, so it was quite uncomfortable. I barely slept at all. But, it was better to be uncomfortable and dry then uncomfortable and wet, and as luck would have it, the sun popped out the next morning and made for ideal hiking weather...other than all the fresh mud available.

About 2 miles into my hike I passed a family that had gone in on horseback. There had to have been about 20 people in their group. When I passed their camp, they were hanging nearly everything out to dry, and it looked like they had had a fairly miserable night.

The hike was nice and hugged the river almost all the way up to the lake. I wish I had planned to stop and do some fly fishing, but I wanted to make it up to my spot before too late in the day. At one point, I lost the trail where it disappeared in a marsh, but between the map and GPS located it very easily without losing time or backtracking.

As I neared Dead Horse Lake, I became very aware that I was the only person within miles of the location. It was a strange and yet somewhat pleasant feeling. I began to notice some rather fresh moose tracks on the trail and began to keep my eyes open for wildlife. Sure enough, I came upon and startled a cow and her calf. Fortunately, rather than get upset with me, they both ran parallel down the trail from whence I had come. They were too fast for me to capture a decent picture.

After about 9 and 1/2 miles, the trail ascends several hundred feet along a nice bouncing brook. At the top of that ascent is Dead Horse Lake surround by towering cliffs. I reached the top and paused for a moment to catch my breath when I heard a snorting sound from my left. I turned to look and about 30 feet away standing in the stream was a rather large bull moose. He began to turn around in my direction, so I moved quickly away. Once a safe distance, I realized I had missed my photo op. Rather than return and disturb the munching moose, I zoomed my camera in as far as I could but only ended up with an outline of the lower half (which you might be able to make out from the picture...he is standing between the lighted far tree and nearer shaded tree in the middle of the picture).

Once I had selected my site, I set up camp and went to taking care of necessities, e.g. gathering firewood, setting up shelter, changing out of wet clothing, etc. On having things in order, I made dinner and set my hand to fishing. I did end up catching what looked to me like a tiger trout, but I decided to sit back and enjoy the warmth of the fire instead of fish. Right after I had arrived, I noticed a thunderstorm blowing up the valley behind me. There were rather dark clouds and lightning moving in at a decent speed, so I hurried myself in taking care of the essentials. It was only after I noticed that the storm was going to blow off to the northwest that I took the time to fish and relax.

The night was breathtaking. If you've never seen the stars from a remote area, you should find a way to do so. The coyotes seemed to enjoy the night as well, for they barked and yelped nearly all night long.

In the morning I tried a new modifications to my breakfast by adding craisins to my oatmeal. I know, it doesn't sound real spectacular, but when you are a ways from civilization little improvements are nice. It seems like each time I go I come up with ideas that improve the experience. I've realized that taking a small notebook to jot down those ideas is a must.

I made excellent time returning the following day. I don't think I will do a solo again though. My original plan was to have my brothers and brothers-in-law accompany me, but at the last minute scheduling prevented anyone else from going. It was either don't go, or go alone. There are just too many things that could happen to you that would end up life threatening if you were alone in that country, most of which would be minor under normal conditions. It's probably best to take someone with you.

Well, I realize I am posting for past events, but as this becomes up-to-date, I can post each new experience. I can't possibly catch up with all the trips I've done, so I'll only mention a few from recent years and post pictures where possible. I spent all of my scouting years backpacking, and I spent some time in the Army that added to my knowledge base about survival.

About 6 years ago I took a trip up to Amethyst Lake with a friend of mine from Mexico. He had absolutely no experience in the outdoors and wanted to go, so I offered to take him. There was one spot in the hike where you go up a significant ascent. My poor friend (Eduardo) nearly had a heart attack, but we made it to our destination. The reason I mention this trip is because the next day I thought I'd be a stud and swim across the lake. Well, I got halfway across when I could no longer feel my arms. I was sitting in the middle of this ice-cold lake wondering how I was going to get the rest of the way across. I ended up having to turn onto my back and do a modified back stroke to get the rest of the way across. Once on the other side, I got out and ran around the lake to get back to camp. Needless to say, I was for the most part in a state of hypothermia. I had to light a fire and get warm fast. That's a mistake I won't make again.

Last year I only did two backpacking trips. I took the whole family to Duck Lake from the Crystal Lake Trailhead, and I also did a solo to Dead Horse Lake from the West Fork-Blacks Fork Trailhead (see other post). Up until the last few times, I haven't been as diligent about carrying my camera, so I don't have any pictures from the family trip. It was about a 3 and 1/2 mile trip each direction. My wife carried the youngest, the two older boys (5 and 7) carried their own packs, and my brother and I carried our own gear plus my wife's gear. It was a tough trip. I don't recommend taking youngsters into the Uintas for several reasons. Kids are not able to take care of themselves. They don't know how to cook, they aren't knowledgeable about sanitation, they don't exercise adequate caution around the fire, etc., etc. The Uintas is probably not the best place to have to look after little ones and worry about all the other stuff going on. If the trip is short and manageable...okay, but best to leave them home and gradually get them ready for full-fledged backpacking.

South Erickson - July, 2006


These photos are from a trip I took with my 6-year-old son two years ago. We went over night up to South Erickson in the Uintas. (It will be no secret that the Uintas is one of my favorite places to go.) I wasn't sure how my boy would handle backpacking at his age. I had him carry his sleeping bag, his sleeping mat, and a few small items, while I carried everything else he needed. He had a rough time when the trail got steep, but other than that, we had a great time. We stopped about half way up at East Shingle Creek Lake for lunch and caught a few fish. That gave him a chance to catch his breath before we went on to South Erickson.

The weather during our trip was exquisite. We caught some beautiful brook trout which we enjoyed for dinner along with some rice and other trimmings. The only other folks we ran into were camped on the other side of the lake; they arrived slightly after us on horseback.

The total distance of our trip was only about 3 and 1/2 miles each way. By the time we got to the car, my poor boy was wiped out. He got in, buckled up, and went right to sleep. He attempted to take a picture of me, but only got the lower half. We'll have to work on his photography skills.

I never cease to admire the grandeur and tranquility of the mountains. With a little bit of effort and know-how, you can find some real peace and quiet. This seems to be one of the last places on earth where you can get away from the crowds.

New to blogging

I've decided to try my hand at blogging to see if I can create an effective method for sharing info and pics with family. I particularly want to open a forum for experiences in the outdoors. I am an amateur backpacker and thoroughly enjoy spending time in the remote wilderness. This experiment might end up being a good way to connect with and get ideas from others like me, as well as share the journal of my trips with family and friends.