uinta highline trail trip report

As others had warned about the Uintas, the mosquitoes were abundant around the lakes and boggy areas. The trip logistics are manageable for out-of-towners and the daily mileage is reasonable for those looking to complete within a week. total) and cuts out the least exciting section of the hike. Hikers travel all or part of 60 miles through classic alpine and subalpine Utah. The Uinta Highline Trail is a great option for those who only have a week to do a big hike (let's call big: 50-100 mi). In preparation, I brought along a pair of trekking pants for added protection, but preferred running shorts despite the vulnerability to the pests. Enjoy & research Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest, Utah with trail guides, topo maps, photos, reviews & GPS routes on Trails.com. After much debating on location, I settled on The Notch Trail, High Uintas because it was super scenic and pretty tame in terms of trail difficulty. In fact, the trail is well-marked by cairns (some sections moreso than others) and the trail is, for the most part, obvious. The Uinta Highline Trail, in northeastern Utah, crosses over seven mountain passes. With a travel window of a single week, my pals agreed on hiking east-to-west 78 of the trail's 104 miles, starting from Leidy Peak Trailhead north of Vernal, UT. Excellent and thorough guide book on the Uinta Mountains by author Cordell Andersen. tl;dr: The Uinta Highline Trail was a lovely ~5 day/80 mile thru-hike...mostly on-trail with great views and plenty of wildlife. Focus on hiking means keeping the gear to a minimum and filling the days with a casual strolling pace. Here is a map with the gps track from our Inreach. Trail: Highline Trail, High Uintas, UT Distance: 31 miles Submission: Brent Umphlett Difficulty: moderate Duration: 5 days Rating: 4/5 stars On September 20, 2018, I started a backpacking trip into the High Uintas Wilderness Area from the Highline trailhead, my first attempt at a solo backpacking trip. My heart pounded as the unknown shape morphed into three female elk that bolted––one l… Since the terrain starts with the relatively gentle mountains and open meadows of the High Bollies/Eastern Uintas and transitions to the more rugged peaks and massive basins of the High Uintas Wilderness, this trek brings the westward hiker nearer to more stimulating terrain with each mile. Well-traveled 19th-century explorer Ferdinand Hayden called Utah's vast Uinta Mountains—with their gorgeous pine forests, high-alpine meadows, and graceful symmetry—his favorite range. Uinta Highline Trail (Vernal, UT) Trail Map Listings . We dropped his car off at Chepeta Lake, then drove my truck around to the start of the hike. I think I passed you two on my last day, your first or second day, just West of Rock Sea Pass. By Casey Fiedler . The Highline was a great ~80 mile hike that requires some logistical planning but is possible to do from the Salt Lake City area without a car. I applied bug-spray once and was glad to have my long-sleeve shirt, but never broke out my head-net or felt the need to don the trekking pants. Cookies help us deliver our Services. The Uinta summers are known for their afternoon storms. Originally I was planning 7 days, which would be about 15 miles per day. 104 mi. About the Forest – Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest Trip Reports Zpacks Trip Report – Uinta Highline ‘18 *This is where we acquired .gpx file to plan our hike and I found it had well-condensed information as well. I know it’s high elevation, so it is a hard to pump out 20+ mile days because of this. Blog/trail guide by Paul Mags that we used to help plan the trip. From maps, to gear, to insider knowledge, we hope to share everything you will need to make your visit to the Highline Trail safe and enjoyable. Wasatch Front. We met in Duchesne at 8:00AM on Friday then set up a car shuttle. It is a true wilderness trail, and does not intersect a road for at least 70 miles. I strolled along until I came to a hulking brown form blocking the path, where I stared at three pairs of eyes twenty feet ahead. This may have merely been a product of the heavy snow Utah received this year and our choice to hike in late July, but the hike took us through many boggy areas of standing water and over hundreds of glacial streamlets that inevitably seeped into our trail-running shoes and socks. My hike on the Uinta Highline Trail will cover 65 miles over 5½ days. 5 friends. Highline Trail in the Uinta Mountains of Utah Hiking the Quiet Corners of Utah. Thank you for the excellent photo/video documentation and the excellent write up. In half the distance, it includes nearly as many passes as the John Muir Trail. 1 trek across Utah's Uinta Highline Trail & a new exciting documentary sharing it all Contributors Einstein and Kodak combined their efforts as writer and photographer to put together this photo essay. 10+ days. 3 talking about this. The regional flights between Vernal and SLC, and various shuttle services in both cities make this thru-hike one that visitors to Utah or those without a car can complete. The trail crosses multiple forest districts and is home to hundreds of different plant and animal species. I did it last year by myself. Dogs are also able to use this trail but must be kept on leash. Reading your story brings back all the memories from my own trip. Our Mission. Awesome trip report, Eric! Overall, the Uinta Highline Trail is a wonderful trail. A friend and I hiked a section of the Uinta Highline Trail on August 5-7, totaling 26 miles in about 48 hours. Despite our hiking party being a chatty one likely to advertise our presence to any creature in our path, we came across several large herds of elk, 3 moose, over 100 mule deer, hundreds of domestic sheep, and other critters during the hike. A few friends and I recently finished a thru-hike of the Uinta Highline Trail in northern Utah's Uinta mountains, so I wanted to throw a quick trip-report up here to combat the dearth of detailed info about this hike or the region more generally. I’m currently planning a trip this summer, but I am unsure how much time to plan. Our team has spent a significant amount of their lives in the High Uinta Wilderness of northeastern Utah. Over time, we've gained knowledge about this area and we want to share it with anyone interested in hiking this trail so that they can have a safe and memorable trip. See more ideas about trail, fantasy football gifts, fantasy football funny. Uinta. While the peaks are a bit less extreme looking than those in the Wind River Range to the north or San Juans to the south-east, there is great beauty to the Uintas' seemingly endless basins connected by many picturesque passes and peppered with countless lakes and snowmelt-nourished streams. There were two exceptions to this: 1. After an enjoyable three-day trip to the Uintas last July, I was eager to return and the Highline Trail was the most obvious candidate for a week-long trip. This site is dedicated to helping travelers prepare for and execute a successful trip on the Highline Trail. DISTANCE (round-trip) DIFFICULTY. UintaHighlineTraill.com New website with all sorts of Uinta Highline Trail Info. Starting the hike from Chepeta Lake Trailhead would shorten the trek by 13 miles (to ~65 mi. The GPS came in handy during both of these sections and we managed to return to the obvious trail within a few minutes. We had read that the Uinta Mountains include some of the most contiguous above treeline terrain in the lower 48. PrologueI left Casper and covered 100 miles before camping for the night north of Rawlins, avoiding all the major thunderstorms that threatened the area. At the trailhead, I hoisted my 38-pound pack and proceeded up trail number 025. The stretches between passing other hikers ranged between 10 hours to entire days. The flight from SLC to Vernal was inexpensive and offered a cool view of the entire Uinta range as a teaser of the hike to come. The Uinta Highline Trail extends 104 miles (167 km) along the east-west oriented crest of the Uinta Mountains. It was a blast! Our feet were more often than not wet or damp and the skin problems associated with maceration became a worry. PMAgs – East to West – Uinta Highline Trail If you're considering a week-long thru-hike in the American west, the Uinta Highline Trail deserves a look. Along those same lines, the trail can be quite intimidating, and at times can put travelers in unpredictable and deadly situations. The Uinta Highline Trail runs the length of the high Uinta mountain range through the High Uintas Wilderness in northeastern Utah. I’m planning on doing the Highline Trail this year, with my dad, but starting from the east end. Read about my complete Uinta Highline Trail experience, including prep, gear, logistics, and post-hike impressions. Has anyone hiked the Uinta Highline Trail before. ALTERNATIVE TO. We didn't see another hiker for the first 40 miles of trail. I covered the last 200 miles the following day and met up with Shan, my “shuttle” at the turn off for the Red Cloud Loop north of Vernal, UT. The trail offers a secondary achievement near the hike's mid point as it tops out on Anderson Pass, just a .7 mile rock scramble from the Utah State Highpoint (Kings Peak, 13,527'). I blinked. Route. Uber: Park City, UT to Salt Lake City, UT (~35 min), Flight: Salt Lake City, UT to Vernal, UT (~45 min in 8 seater prop-plane [commercial flight]), Shuttle: Vernal, UT to Leidy Peak Trailhead in Ashley National Forest (~120 min), Hike: Leidy Peak to Highline Trailhead (Hayden Pass) ~80 miles over 5 days/5 nights, Shuttle: Highline Trailhead, Wasatch National Forest (~75 min) to Park City, UT. Sometimes I’d spot a tent far off on the horizon or down in a … The trail is around 100 miles long, but most backpacking trips are done over a 70 mile section between Chepeta Lake and Hayden Pass. The trail is primarily used for hiking, running, camping, horses, and backpacking and is best used from July until September. The route is class II all the way to the summit, staying just on the E (left) side of the ridge. We have developed a love for this region that can't be described in words. The scenery was spectacular. The Highline Trail in the Uinta Mountains of Utah, often called the Uinta Highline Trail (UHT), captured my imagination since someone, and I took a trip to the nearby Dinosaur National Monument this past Memorial Day Weekend. He arrived earlier than expected; I was just finishing lunch and nowhere near ready. Trail. About the Uinta Highline Trail. Join them on a journey through this incredibly unique, spectacular, and wild mountain range. This site is dedicated to helping travelers prepare for and execute a successful trip on the Highline Trail. Despite some complexity in transport logistics, drop off and pick up at the trailheads can be done without a car of your own. After an inspiring all-women’s backpacking trip in Colorado last year, I was motivated to plan my first trip out here in Utah. 9 part youtube series by Redbeard about the trail. Of course, making sure you'll actually make the arranged pick-up time at the end-point is up to you and your hike itinerary planning. Not ultra-light, just enjoyable-light. Virtual Tour of Uinta Highline Trail. We have developed a love for this region that can't be described in words. We did about 70 miles with the focus on hiking. On day 1, I set up camp at Wilder Lake, a small, quiet mountain lake only 4 miles … The Uinta Highline Trail is one of the most stunning trails in all the world. SOLITUDE. That’s much slower than normal for me, but I’m hiking with a less seasoned backer and I want her to enjoy herself. Many past trip reports described some areas of the Highline trail as little used and easy to lose, so I was expecting to be relying heavily on my GPS and maps. 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