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Mixing a little work with pleasure, I took a trip up to the north slope of the Uintas in late January. Roger Eggett at Bear River Lodge graciously set me up in one of his cabins so I could put together a piece for the KSL Outdoors Radio show about winter recreation along the SR-150 corridor south of Evanston.
Bear River Lodge sits right along the river, across from the turn-off for the North Slope Road and its spur for the East Fork of the Bear TH.
I've been coming up this way since Bear River Lodge was just a little fueling station along the highway. It's grown into a nice, yet still somewhat rustic, facility for people who'd rather not rough it (especially in the winter).
My sister, her roommate and I arrived late Friday night. In the midst of temperatures in the teens, we took a late-night dip in the hot tub. I didn't dare expose myself to the cold long enough to set up the camera, but the night skies were downright amazing.
I woke early Saturday for a call-in to the radio show. The sun hadn't yet risen and the air had a real bite to it. My gloved hand holding the sat phone felt like a frozen brick by the time I'd finished talking.
[PARSEHTML]<audio controls><source src="https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3847512/Bear_River_Lodge_call.mp3">Your browser does not support HTML5.</audio>[/PARSEHTML]Then the sun started to rise.
We geared up after some breakfast and hit the trail toward Lily Lake. Both of my companions were convinced they'd need heavy coats. After a few minutes tromping in the sun, they started shedding the outer layers.
The Lily Lake trail system accesses several yurts maintained by the Bear River Outdoor Recreational Alliance, in cooperation with the Forest Service. The network of trails are routinely groomed and are well signed, making it difficult to get lost even for beginners.
Most of the trails on the system are reserved for cross-country ski or snowshoe use, however the primary forest road into Lily Lake is open to snowmobiles. At the lake, we ran into both types.
There were quite a few groups out on the trails but it never felt crowded.
Our total mileage for the entire loop clocked in at around seven miles.
On Sunday, I took another friend of mine out on one of Eggett's nice two-seater snowmobiles. We cruised up the highway to Bald Mountain Pass and played around a bit on the frozen-over Mirror Lake.
We also stopped by Provo River Falls before heading back northward. Snow at least waist-deep completely blocked access to the falls. Standing level with the top of the railing, we spotted some big kitty tracks down on the iced-over river.
Returning to the inversion haze of Salt Lake City after all of the clean air fun felt like punishment. The next week, the western Uintas were pounded by a series of heavy winter storms.
My radio report aired two weeks later on February 8th.
[PARSEHTML]<audio controls><source src="https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3847512/Bear_River_report.mp3">Your browser does not support HTML5.</audio>[/PARSEHTML]
It uses some of the same interview clips, but I also tossed together this short video for a piece on KSL.com.
My thanks to Skycall Satellite and Bear River Lodge for providing the goods to make this great weekend happen. I hope to get back up on the north slope next winter, hopefully gliding on skis into one of the yurts.
Featured image for home page:
Bear River Lodge sits right along the river, across from the turn-off for the North Slope Road and its spur for the East Fork of the Bear TH.
I've been coming up this way since Bear River Lodge was just a little fueling station along the highway. It's grown into a nice, yet still somewhat rustic, facility for people who'd rather not rough it (especially in the winter).
My sister, her roommate and I arrived late Friday night. In the midst of temperatures in the teens, we took a late-night dip in the hot tub. I didn't dare expose myself to the cold long enough to set up the camera, but the night skies were downright amazing.
I woke early Saturday for a call-in to the radio show. The sun hadn't yet risen and the air had a real bite to it. My gloved hand holding the sat phone felt like a frozen brick by the time I'd finished talking.
[PARSEHTML]<audio controls><source src="https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3847512/Bear_River_Lodge_call.mp3">Your browser does not support HTML5.</audio>[/PARSEHTML]Then the sun started to rise.
We geared up after some breakfast and hit the trail toward Lily Lake. Both of my companions were convinced they'd need heavy coats. After a few minutes tromping in the sun, they started shedding the outer layers.
The Lily Lake trail system accesses several yurts maintained by the Bear River Outdoor Recreational Alliance, in cooperation with the Forest Service. The network of trails are routinely groomed and are well signed, making it difficult to get lost even for beginners.
Most of the trails on the system are reserved for cross-country ski or snowshoe use, however the primary forest road into Lily Lake is open to snowmobiles. At the lake, we ran into both types.
There were quite a few groups out on the trails but it never felt crowded.
Our total mileage for the entire loop clocked in at around seven miles.
On Sunday, I took another friend of mine out on one of Eggett's nice two-seater snowmobiles. We cruised up the highway to Bald Mountain Pass and played around a bit on the frozen-over Mirror Lake.
We also stopped by Provo River Falls before heading back northward. Snow at least waist-deep completely blocked access to the falls. Standing level with the top of the railing, we spotted some big kitty tracks down on the iced-over river.
Returning to the inversion haze of Salt Lake City after all of the clean air fun felt like punishment. The next week, the western Uintas were pounded by a series of heavy winter storms.
My radio report aired two weeks later on February 8th.
[PARSEHTML]<audio controls><source src="https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3847512/Bear_River_report.mp3">Your browser does not support HTML5.</audio>[/PARSEHTML]
It uses some of the same interview clips, but I also tossed together this short video for a piece on KSL.com.
My thanks to Skycall Satellite and Bear River Lodge for providing the goods to make this great weekend happen. I hope to get back up on the north slope next winter, hopefully gliding on skis into one of the yurts.
Featured image for home page:
