This trip was part of a project of Buddy and mine to backpack to, and climb, the high points in the western US states. We had started in 1990 with a backpacking trip on the Pacific Crest Trail that finished with a climb of Mt Whitney (CA), the highest point in the lower 48 states. In 1991 we did an ambitious, mostly off trail, traverse of the Beartooth Range including a climb to Granite Peak (MT) (link). In 1992 we split up our trip to climb the two Cascade volcanoes Rainier (WA) and Hood (OR). In 1993, we would go back to the Wind Rivers and climb Gannett Peak (WY), on a loop around the west side of the range (1993 Winds). On the final trip in 1996 we combined a climb of Borah Peak (ID) with a raft trip in Hells Canyon and a short backpack trip in the Sawteeth (Idaho). I would end up doing solo day trips up Elbert (CO) in 1990, Wheeler (NM) in 1992, Humphreys (AZ) in 1992, and finally Boundary (NV) in 1994 to finish the list.
The
trip also occurred in a Utah-focused period in my vacations. In 1994 I’d spent
a week floating the Green River with Buddy’s group, while earlier in 1995 Jean
and I had spent a week exploring Zion (Zion 1995).
Besides being home to Kings Peak, the High Uintas Wilderness covers 456,705 acres, stretches nearly 60 miles east to west, and is the largest wilderness in Utah. The Uinitas aren’t the biggest name in the west, but the range has the huge area, high peaks, extensive alpine zone, and well-developed trail system that make a top tier backpacking destination.
9-1-95
I flew from Knoxville on TWA to Salt Lake City arriving at 10:15 Mountain Time. Thrifty didn’t have the Corolla I’d reserved, and tried to give me a van. We settled on a four runner for an extra $10/day. I got a room at the Comfort Inn and immediately fell asleep. Buddy arrived about an hour later via the motel shuttle, and never even woke me up.
9-2-95
We
made a decently early start, with stops for breakfast, food for the trip, and
fuel. We were headed out of town by 10:30. We drove via Kamas for scenery, and
a faint chance of getting a shuttle for the whole Highline Trail. But when we
stopped at the Ranger Station there we weren’t able to arrange a shuttle.
We
got to the East Fork of Blacks Fork Trailhead around 2:30, after some slow driving.
We repacked our gear for the trip, and stashed some beer in the creek to cool.
Our route would end up being a giant triangle; southeast up Trail 111 to the Highline
Trail then a side trip to Kings Peak, the Utah highpoint. Next we would go west
along the crest on Trail 25, the Highline Trail, to Dead Horse Lake. There we
would climb Wasatch Peak, and return via the East Fork of Black’s Fork via
Trail 102. I used a large paper map of the High Uinitas Wilderness for most of
my navigating. We also had the local trail guide.
1995 Uintas trip map.
Once
underway we followed a good, but steep, trail an hour to tree line, and then
hiked another 30 minutes through a developing storm to Bald Mtn. Sketchy
weather with rain, wind, and lightning would become a main theme for this trip.
With the wind blowing hard, and lots of lightning ahead, we dropped down to
Bald Lake, and were glad to find it empty and sheltered.
Buddy on Bald Mountain.
We
quickly found a campsite and set up the tent before a brief rainstorm hit. We
got a fire going and watched the Uintas clear, while the mountains to the north
were still stormy. Walking down to the lake to wash up I realized that though I
wasn’t as eager to face the physical work of backpacking, a calm lake, under
clear skies, surrounded by snowy peaks will always be part of what draws me to
the mountains.
Bald Mountain Lake.
Bald Lake, 5 miles
9-3-95
We
got more rain during the night, but at least our morning was clear. We followed
a rough trail from Bald Lake to the east lobe of Bald Mountain, and then to a
casual trail above the USFS trail in Smith Fork. One thing we quickly realized
about the Uintas was the abundance of the casual trails that were often far
easier than the established trails. The official trails were heavily used by
horses, and were much eroded with loose rocks, mud, and horseshit. But there is
a huge amount of gentle terrain around 11,500’ that has great walking on or off
trail.
Buddy by Red Castle.
We
reached Smith Fork Pass on the divide by 1:15, and by then the afternoon storms
were catching up. We needed to go east, away from our triangle, to position
ourselves for a shorter summit trip to Kings Peak, so we decided to cut along
contour toward Anderson Pass. Traversing this exposed high country, we were
caught by another storm. Our only shelter was behind a giant boulder. Another
hiker who had just climbed Kings came in from Anderson Pass to shelter with us.
By now we were getting leery of the weather, both because of the lightning, but
also because Buddy had lost his raincoat sometime during the morning’s off
trail hiking.
Red Castle.
Though
we knew our camp was exposed, and another storm was likely to come through, we
set up high in Anderson Basin. We got some great views of the west side of
Kings Peak with the afternoon sun reflecting off the west face. We’d hiked
about 9 ½ hours, including 2 hours of breaks to cover ~11 miles, much of it
easy cross country hiking. It was nice to get into camp with some time to
relax. We made camp before the time we’d started out the previous day.
Anderson Basin.
Our
plan for the next day was to hike to Kings Peak, then return to camp, and move
west to Tungsten Lake. We’d originally hoped to be able to hike up the
Kings-Emmons Ridge (on the south side) but the weather was too unstable and it
was too early in the trip go the longer route. We got another thundershower at
7PM, it seemed like the weather pattern was to have two storms daily.
Anderson Basin, 11 miles
9-4-95
To
climb Kings Peak, we took a good trail with ten switchbacks to Anderson Pass in
50 minutes, then scrambled over stable boulders and a few snowfields for 40 minutes
to the summit. There was a plaque and a register on top. The view was a bit of
a shock, several of the nearby summits appeared taller than Kings. Buddy and I celebrated
with some of Jean’s wheat berry bread. The ridge south to Emmons would have
been all boulders. There was no way that we could have done the traverse in a
day with full packs. Though there were lots of recent register entries, we had
the summit to ourselves. The backpacker we’d shared our boulder with yesterday
would turn out to be the only person we’d see for the next few days.
At
13,528’ Kings is high enough for the altitude to be a concern. I was doing OK,
with minor queasiness, and occasionally light-headed when I’d stand. Our route
would stay high, I doubted we’d drop below 11,000’ until our last day.
We
returned to Anderson Basin, broke camp, and headed west on the Highline Trail.
Just west of Tungsten Pass, we camped at Tungsten Lake. Despite the name, I saw
no signs of any old mines, or likely looking veins. We pulled in just ahead of
the afternoon shower, got the tent up, and went over to the lake to wash up.
Buddy waded into the lake and dove in, so I did the same. Luckily the lake was
shallow, and water not too cold. The rains came in soon after. It had been
blustery all day long with a front coming in from the south. The rain brought a
little hail and some intense cold. We were pinned down in the tent until dinner
time, then blessed with the magic light of evening. I even had the energy for a
short walk.
I
thought the area would be good for Jean (who had not yet been on her first long
trip in the high mountains). The long gentle benches with easy walking would be
ideal, and so would the plentiful watered campsites. We still had two loaves of
her Swedish rye bread left in the food bag.
Tungsten Lake, 10 miles, Kings Peak, 13,528’
9-5-95
Our
storms from last night never really quit. At 1:30AM the wind blew so hard we
went out and restaked the tent and piled more rocks on the packs and stove
stored outside. Dawn looked no better, but we were able to break camp and cook
breakfast without rain.
All
through the day the sky slowly cleared, and it appeared our front may have
finally passed through. We set out west on the Highline Trail. By Porcupine
Pass we felt confident enough to take a side trip to climb the unnamed, but
prominent, 12,800’+ peak on the south side. We nicknamed it Hannah Peak, after
Buddy’s daughter. This was fun climb, mostly over boulders, but little loose
rock.
On Porcupine Pass.
Once
past Porcupine Pass we cruised through a long flat valley past Squaw Pass Lake
to Lambert Lake. It was some of the easiest above tree line walking I’d ever
done. We had nearly constant views, wind in our faces, and just a few sprinkles
of rain. It was too chilly to linger long at lunch, so we were in camp by 2PM.
We saw elk as we crossed a long meadow, and heard bugling from the meadow’s
edge. We saw some movement, then could spot 8-10, mostly cow, elk through the
trees. Most of the high meadows we’d seen were heavily grazed by sheep, and I’d
wondered how much wildlife there would be to see. 
Buddy near Porcupine Pass.
At
night we got a different show. Instead of furious thunderstorms, we got the
frenzied feeding of fish on the lake at dusk. We hoped they’d be feeding on the
mosquitos that had plagued us in the few lulls in the winds. Finally, we had some
calm, cool, clear air in the evening.
Buddy on the Highline Trail.
Lambert Lake, 10.5 miles, Hannah Peak, 12,800’+
9-6-95
We
had another violent storm overnight. At 3AM there was brilliant lightning and
powerful wind, but again with very little rain. A few bolts struck close by,
but overall, we felt better sheltered than at Tungsten Lake. 
Lovenia from Red Knob Pass.
Buddy’s
large tent was working well to keep us dry. His MSR water filter was working
well, and my cookstove was also performing well. From Lambert we had an easy
walk to Red Knob Pass, reaching it at noon. With clouds building again, and at
least two visible thunderheads, we scrapped our plans to climb Wasatch Peak that
day and decided to drop down to Dead Horse Lake. The drop was a lot farther
than previous passes, like Anderson, and I was expecting a long trip. But the
descent took only 25 minutes, and we reached the lake in 90 minutes. There was
a herd of sheep just below the pass. We took a break just before reaching the
lake, and through the trees saw a lone horseman, the first person we’d seen for
three days. There was another fisherman at the lake, so things were starting to
seem civilized. 
Dead Horse Lake.
In
the afternoon we walked about an hour west to the divide above Alsop Lake. To our surprise, once on the slope we found a little used, but
cairned, route to the pass. Our views into Alsop were spectacular, we even
found the start of another route steeply down to Alsop Lake.
Back
at the lake Buddy swam, and I washed, before cooking a bug infested dinner.
Most of our conversation now centered on getting back to Salt Lake City and
eating our remaining food. 
Scramble up Dead Horse Pass.
Dead Horse Lake, 11 miles
9-7-95
This
would be our lazy day. We hiked west over Dead Horse Pass to Continental Lake
and returned the same way. The climb to the pass
was so steep and eroded that I didn’t know how horses could make it. Along the
way we twice had to bypass frozen snowfields. 
Dead Horse Lake from the pass.
The
far side of the pass was easier though, we dropped down to a sandstone bench
with easy walking. We had the last of Jean’s bread at Continental Lake, then
tried to hike further down, but were blocked by boulder talus. We found the
remains of what we assumed was a weather balloon, with an illegible paper tag,
an orange parachute, an aluminum reel, and a 5” long closed cylinder that we
suspected was ballast. We also saw the remains of a spruce tree blasted apart
by lightening. 
At Dead Horse Pass.
On
our way back from Continental the sky once again clouded up, rushing us over
Dead Horse Pass with thunder in the background. Just as I reached the tent to
toss in my pack a hailstorm reached us with the attendant thunder and lightning.
Buddy at Red Knob Pass.
After
dinner we decided to move camp to give us a better shot at being able to climb
Mt Wasatch on our hike out. We camped directly below the switchbacks to Red
Knob Pass on a sheep shit covered bench. If we had trusted the weather at all,
we’d have tried to camp above the bench.
Red Knob Pass, 7 miles
9-8-95
We
were up early for a chance at Wasatch. It took 50 minutes to reach the pass,
where we dropped our packs and headed off trail to the peak. It was rough going
to the base of Wasatch, then a little third class scramble to get past some
cliffs. Beyond the cliffs it merely boulder hoping to the top, a total of an
hour off the trail. I was a little surprised at the start of the climb, we’d
expected straightforward boulder hopping, but got some route finding thrown in.
We saw few tracks along the route. 
Climbing Mt. Wasatch.
Buddy
was able to retrace our route perfectly on the hike back. Most of the Uinta
Range was visible from the summit, including the Kings-Emmons ridge and the
climbable but “ugly” Lovenia.
Mt. Wasatch Summit.
I
was happy we’d made the effort to climb another peak. I was still getting a big
rush from peak bagging, and a not often climbed 13’er was extra fun. 
Mt. Wasatch summit view.
Once
back to the pass, Buddy took off like a shot. We’d left our target for the
night uncertain, but I suspected he badly wanted to make it back to trailhead
campground. I could barely follow him down the pass, and across the uppermost
valley. Then I lost him at tree line. We were descending Trail 102 to the East
Fork of Blacks Fork, which should have been a major trail. At tree line we both
lost the trail. There were only a few widely spaced cairns, and no discernable
footway. We both ended up along the East Fork, but on opposite banks. After a
while I spotted Buddy and got him to cross over, not too long after we found
the trail which now well marked. We’d both planned to wait up at the wilderness
boundary if we’d remained separated, but luckily we didn’t have to put that
plan in place.
Wilderness Boundary sign.
The rest of the hike out was flat and easy, except for a few
bogs and a spot where the horse trail from the CG joins the main trail. We saw
one moose and four hikers on this lower end. 
Buddy fording.
We
made it to the campground near the East Fork Blacks Fork TH and retrieved our
well cooled beers. It was too late to drive out, so we camped there. There was
only one other group there, but that was enough. I had earplugs, but Buddy did
not, and he spent the night listening to high volume country music courtesy of
our neighbor. I got the feeling that much of the use of the area was for
hunting trips by horse in season. 
Buddy on a collapsed bridge.
