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Since I bombed my attempt at hiking the Highline, I ended up with a weekend to go backpacking that I had originally penciled in as rest time after the big hike. The thought of doing a super-relaxed hike with one of my oldest friends really hit the spot so I called up Nate and we made plans to go to Priord Lake in the Uintas.
This lake has long been on my list of places to go in the Uintas but it's taken me a long time to get there. I've been holding out to do it as part of a point-to-point over Rocky Sea and the old Priord Pass but I wasn't up for that this time around. The hike is pretty long and boring to get back there, despite what the Probst book says, it is significantly further than the hike to Allsop from the same trailhead. Just about 10 miles to the south shore compared to 8.25 that the book says. Meanwhile the book says Allsop is something like 8.5 one way and it's really 9.
Here's a map with my GPS tracks from the hike.
[parsehtml]
<iframe src="http://www.mappingsupport.com/p/gmap4.php?q=mymap,214533597045798101523.0004c667ce21163213829&z=13&t=t4" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" width="900" height="900"></iframe><br>
<small>View <a href="http://www.mappingsupport.com/p/gmap4.php?q=mymap,214533597045798101523.0004c667ce21163213829&z=14&t=t4" target="_blank">Priord Lake Map</a> full sized in a new window.</small><br><br>
[/parsehtml]We left the trailhead right around 3pm on Friday and barely made it to Priord just as the sun was setting. It was warm and sunny and great for hiking. The first half mile is always a treat on the way in since it's all downhill and mostly on boardwalks.
Teak rocking a new pair of dog boots. No blown out pads this time and she totally enjoyed herself!
Whether you're going to Allsop or Priord Lakes, you start at the same place, the East Fork Bear River Trailhead. From there it's 4 miles to the junction which is just inside the wilderness boundary, left for Allsop, right for Priord & Norice. The big difference in the two approach hikes is that the route to Allsop picks up most of it's elevation right there at the junction so the last few miles are spent hiking in beautiful meadows with peaks all around. The hike to Priord meanwhile is gradual almost all the way there so you're stuck in the trees forever. Before the junction it's just smooth sailing on a generally well maintained trail. Except for the massive cow-stink-filled mud bogs of course.
Shortly past the junction we were forced to cross the creek coming down from the Priord-Norice basin. Not too hard to keep dry with a little scouting around. Teak is afraid of crossing on logs so she just plows through all of this.
A while later and after another river crossing, we ran into the cows.
For the next mile or so, we followed them up the trail, slipping and sliding in fresh cow diarrhea splattered all over the trail. Go wilderness!!
One of the most irritating things is that they wouldn't get off the trail. Even when given great opportunities to get away from us, they would never leave the trail. So we would get a couple hundred feet of no cows in sight, then we would round the corner and they would all go scrambling up the trail shitting all over the place.
I just don't get it. If we are going to set aside land as wilderness, to preserve in it's pristine state for generations to come, how in the hell can we justify letting COMMERCIAL ranchers run their animals all over our designated wilderness?! Get this, the company responsible for the vast majority of grazing in the High Uintas Wilderness is also one of the largest land owners in the United States with over 170,000 acres of their own. Yet they only pay the forest service about $.60 per sheep to send up to 13,000 sheep in each year to trample what we have designated as land that should be preserved for future generations. If that doesn't get your blood boiling just a bit, I don't know what will.
</rant>
Ahh.. moving on to the happy part of the trip. As we approached Norice, I was getting tired and the day was getting close to over. But we knew that we were less than a mile from Priord so there was no sense in stopping there just so we would have to break down and move camp the next day. So we pressed on. This is the last steep pitch as we approached Priord. There is no trail between the two lakes.
We arrived at Priord just as the last bit of sunshine was lighting up Priord Peak.
Priord Peak from the outlet of Priord Lake.
Campsites weren't easy to find so we ended up walking along the shore for a while. Luckily we found this nice bit of sunset along the way.
We had a late, late night. Sometimes, when passing through Evanston, certain people trick me into thinking it would be easy to pack 8 beers, a liter of whiskey and a fifth of vodka 10 miles in. And sometimes those people make me believe we should get rid of all the beer the first night.
Right as we woke up, I let Teak out of the tent and heard her bark a few times towards the lake. After getting up I noticed there were four people walking the shore of the lake. Very surprising as we didn't see anyone nearby on the hike in. We wondered how they had gotten up there so fast and why they didn't have packs on. Turns out it was jinxrl who joined backcountrypost and posted his first trip report from that trip a few days later! And even better, they were the only people we saw the rest of the weekend.
This was the view from our campsite. It was more sheltered than it appears from this angle but still not the best in such lightning-prone terrain.
After breakfast, we went down to the lake and fished. It was great fun, bringing them in one after another both on the Tenakara fly rod and the spin rod. After an hour or two, the first of the daily storms rolled through. This one skirted to the east of us and never hit but still offered us the entertainment of rolling thunder and dramatic clouds.
Teak relaxing on the shore of Priord Lake
We had another period of sunshine after that before another storm rolled in that afternoon, this time it was a direct hit and we had to head for the tents and take an afternoon nap. Nothing to complain about on our end but sadly, a man was struck by lightning less than a mile away from us at Amethyst Lake and had to be evacuated by helicopter in critical condition. Still haven't heard if he made it through okay, more on that here at KSL.com.
After the rain and a nice nap, we went back down to the lake and had a blast doing some more fishing. I really fell in love with the Tenkara rod on this trip. It's about the most fun fishing I've ever had and it weighs next to nothing. How can you go wrong!?
It was mostly small-medium Tiger Trout but there was also a decent population of good sized Cutthroat Trout to be had.
The doberman pretzel relaxing with me on the shore between catching fish.
Soon enough the evening light set in and we were treated with the usual evening light show that you get on the west facing slopes in the Uintas. I'd left my tripod back in camp and I really regret not running up to get it. All of these shots are hand-held.
Nate in awe as the sunset starts to light up.
A beautiful sunset over Priord Lake
True alpenglow on Yard and South Yard Peaks.
We cooked up a handful of trout that night with our dinner. I was surprised at how delicious the tigers were. This was actually my first trip on which I caught a tiger despite fishing at several lakes that I knew had them. We got to bed early and were up with the sun to start the long hike back down the canyon.
Nate saying goodbye to Priord Peak on the way out.
The clouds that morning were surreal.
Norice Lake on the hike out. It's kind of hard to see since it's all so flat right there, but it's there.
Nate and the pups descending the short steep section of trail where the spring comes in.
As we approached the river crossing near the junction, I stepped on a loose boulder and rolled my ankle hard. The same ankle I injured back in Arches in January that took me off my feet for 2 months and kept me limping for several more. I could tell I had hurt it pretty bad but not as bad so I just kept going. I didn't want it to swell up from taking a break. It was a tough hike, sometimes I could hike normal but periodically I would strike a nerve or something and nearly fall to the ground. To add to the fun, it rained on us for a while, but that actually felt pretty good.
We made it back to the trailhead around 2:00 and celebrated for a while before heading back home where I could ice it and get it elevated. The next day was rough, had a lot of pain just walking to and from my desk. Really irritating after going through all of this a few months ago. I guess it's true that they say once you really screw up an ankle, it will never be the same. A week out now, it's feeling better but still not good enough for a long backpacking trip. I had to cancel my plans this weekend but hopefully it'll be good to go for a nice Winds trip next weekend. Fingers crossed...
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This lake has long been on my list of places to go in the Uintas but it's taken me a long time to get there. I've been holding out to do it as part of a point-to-point over Rocky Sea and the old Priord Pass but I wasn't up for that this time around. The hike is pretty long and boring to get back there, despite what the Probst book says, it is significantly further than the hike to Allsop from the same trailhead. Just about 10 miles to the south shore compared to 8.25 that the book says. Meanwhile the book says Allsop is something like 8.5 one way and it's really 9.
Here's a map with my GPS tracks from the hike.
[parsehtml]
<iframe src="http://www.mappingsupport.com/p/gmap4.php?q=mymap,214533597045798101523.0004c667ce21163213829&z=13&t=t4" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" width="900" height="900"></iframe><br>
<small>View <a href="http://www.mappingsupport.com/p/gmap4.php?q=mymap,214533597045798101523.0004c667ce21163213829&z=14&t=t4" target="_blank">Priord Lake Map</a> full sized in a new window.</small><br><br>
[/parsehtml]We left the trailhead right around 3pm on Friday and barely made it to Priord just as the sun was setting. It was warm and sunny and great for hiking. The first half mile is always a treat on the way in since it's all downhill and mostly on boardwalks.
Teak rocking a new pair of dog boots. No blown out pads this time and she totally enjoyed herself!
Whether you're going to Allsop or Priord Lakes, you start at the same place, the East Fork Bear River Trailhead. From there it's 4 miles to the junction which is just inside the wilderness boundary, left for Allsop, right for Priord & Norice. The big difference in the two approach hikes is that the route to Allsop picks up most of it's elevation right there at the junction so the last few miles are spent hiking in beautiful meadows with peaks all around. The hike to Priord meanwhile is gradual almost all the way there so you're stuck in the trees forever. Before the junction it's just smooth sailing on a generally well maintained trail. Except for the massive cow-stink-filled mud bogs of course.
Shortly past the junction we were forced to cross the creek coming down from the Priord-Norice basin. Not too hard to keep dry with a little scouting around. Teak is afraid of crossing on logs so she just plows through all of this.
A while later and after another river crossing, we ran into the cows.
For the next mile or so, we followed them up the trail, slipping and sliding in fresh cow diarrhea splattered all over the trail. Go wilderness!!One of the most irritating things is that they wouldn't get off the trail. Even when given great opportunities to get away from us, they would never leave the trail. So we would get a couple hundred feet of no cows in sight, then we would round the corner and they would all go scrambling up the trail shitting all over the place.
I just don't get it. If we are going to set aside land as wilderness, to preserve in it's pristine state for generations to come, how in the hell can we justify letting COMMERCIAL ranchers run their animals all over our designated wilderness?! Get this, the company responsible for the vast majority of grazing in the High Uintas Wilderness is also one of the largest land owners in the United States with over 170,000 acres of their own. Yet they only pay the forest service about $.60 per sheep to send up to 13,000 sheep in each year to trample what we have designated as land that should be preserved for future generations. If that doesn't get your blood boiling just a bit, I don't know what will.
</rant>Ahh.. moving on to the happy part of the trip. As we approached Norice, I was getting tired and the day was getting close to over. But we knew that we were less than a mile from Priord so there was no sense in stopping there just so we would have to break down and move camp the next day. So we pressed on. This is the last steep pitch as we approached Priord. There is no trail between the two lakes.
We arrived at Priord just as the last bit of sunshine was lighting up Priord Peak.
Priord Peak from the outlet of Priord Lake.
Campsites weren't easy to find so we ended up walking along the shore for a while. Luckily we found this nice bit of sunset along the way.
We had a late, late night. Sometimes, when passing through Evanston, certain people trick me into thinking it would be easy to pack 8 beers, a liter of whiskey and a fifth of vodka 10 miles in. And sometimes those people make me believe we should get rid of all the beer the first night.
Right as we woke up, I let Teak out of the tent and heard her bark a few times towards the lake. After getting up I noticed there were four people walking the shore of the lake. Very surprising as we didn't see anyone nearby on the hike in. We wondered how they had gotten up there so fast and why they didn't have packs on. Turns out it was jinxrl who joined backcountrypost and posted his first trip report from that trip a few days later! And even better, they were the only people we saw the rest of the weekend.
This was the view from our campsite. It was more sheltered than it appears from this angle but still not the best in such lightning-prone terrain.
After breakfast, we went down to the lake and fished. It was great fun, bringing them in one after another both on the Tenakara fly rod and the spin rod. After an hour or two, the first of the daily storms rolled through. This one skirted to the east of us and never hit but still offered us the entertainment of rolling thunder and dramatic clouds.
Teak relaxing on the shore of Priord Lake
We had another period of sunshine after that before another storm rolled in that afternoon, this time it was a direct hit and we had to head for the tents and take an afternoon nap. Nothing to complain about on our end but sadly, a man was struck by lightning less than a mile away from us at Amethyst Lake and had to be evacuated by helicopter in critical condition. Still haven't heard if he made it through okay, more on that here at KSL.com.
After the rain and a nice nap, we went back down to the lake and had a blast doing some more fishing. I really fell in love with the Tenkara rod on this trip. It's about the most fun fishing I've ever had and it weighs next to nothing. How can you go wrong!?
It was mostly small-medium Tiger Trout but there was also a decent population of good sized Cutthroat Trout to be had.
The doberman pretzel relaxing with me on the shore between catching fish.
Soon enough the evening light set in and we were treated with the usual evening light show that you get on the west facing slopes in the Uintas. I'd left my tripod back in camp and I really regret not running up to get it. All of these shots are hand-held.
Nate in awe as the sunset starts to light up.
A beautiful sunset over Priord Lake
True alpenglow on Yard and South Yard Peaks.
We cooked up a handful of trout that night with our dinner. I was surprised at how delicious the tigers were. This was actually my first trip on which I caught a tiger despite fishing at several lakes that I knew had them. We got to bed early and were up with the sun to start the long hike back down the canyon.
Nate saying goodbye to Priord Peak on the way out.
The clouds that morning were surreal.
Norice Lake on the hike out. It's kind of hard to see since it's all so flat right there, but it's there.
Nate and the pups descending the short steep section of trail where the spring comes in.
As we approached the river crossing near the junction, I stepped on a loose boulder and rolled my ankle hard. The same ankle I injured back in Arches in January that took me off my feet for 2 months and kept me limping for several more. I could tell I had hurt it pretty bad but not as bad so I just kept going. I didn't want it to swell up from taking a break. It was a tough hike, sometimes I could hike normal but periodically I would strike a nerve or something and nearly fall to the ground. To add to the fun, it rained on us for a while, but that actually felt pretty good.
We made it back to the trailhead around 2:00 and celebrated for a while before heading back home where I could ice it and get it elevated. The next day was rough, had a lot of pain just walking to and from my desk. Really irritating after going through all of this a few months ago. I guess it's true that they say once you really screw up an ankle, it will never be the same. A week out now, it's feeling better but still not good enough for a long backpacking trip. I had to cancel my plans this weekend but hopefully it'll be good to go for a nice Winds trip next weekend. Fingers crossed...
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