ogg
Member
- Joined
- Jan 23, 2015
- Messages
- 56
My usual stomping grounds in the summer tends to be the Eastern Sierra in California but this year will be embarking on what I like to think of as a brief sampler (about 2 1/2 weeks) of the Intermountain West, to include 3 nights solo backpacking in the Uintas. I'm thinking of camping at Amethyst Lake and Kermsuh lake with a layover day at whichever lake has better fishing, or spending one night near a lake in each of the three adjacent basins (i.e, Amethyst, then Ryder or McPheters, then Kermsuh, or the opposite order).
I'm wondering if anyone can offer insight as to general trail conditions, water crossings, fishing, quality of campsites, any preference of which lake to head to first or last. I'm intrigued by the idea of hiking up to the saddle between Middle and Naturalist basins as has been discussed here recently but wonder how this would be rated in terms of class and difficulty (class2, class 3?) I tend to shy away from appreciably more than Class 2 if I'm solo. Which isn't to say that I always do. Is there perhaps a decent cross country route between Middle and West basins? I'm pretty comfortable travelling cross country in the high Sierras, camping at higher altitudes, dealing with mountain weather, etc. I wonder what sort of adjustments I might need to make going from the drier Sierras to what seems to me should be more wetter Uintas? Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
I'm wondering if anyone can offer insight as to general trail conditions, water crossings, fishing, quality of campsites, any preference of which lake to head to first or last. I'm intrigued by the idea of hiking up to the saddle between Middle and Naturalist basins as has been discussed here recently but wonder how this would be rated in terms of class and difficulty (class2, class 3?) I tend to shy away from appreciably more than Class 2 if I'm solo. Which isn't to say that I always do. Is there perhaps a decent cross country route between Middle and West basins? I'm pretty comfortable travelling cross country in the high Sierras, camping at higher altitudes, dealing with mountain weather, etc. I wonder what sort of adjustments I might need to make going from the drier Sierras to what seems to me should be more wetter Uintas? Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.