100 miles of Highline trail in Uintas

[JoshuaDyal]

Nice! More inclined to add it to the route, then. What is that; two days worth tops? Two days of acclimating to the altitude and the routine, at that, without jumping straight into the challenging part of the hike.

 

[Bob]

Parma...could be intereseting

 

[Blake Merrell]

Has anyone hiked the full 100 miles Highline trail? I would like to do this. I would like to do this in one week. Is this doable?

We are planning on do the Highline this year (September). our plan is to do it from Leaidy Peak in 6 days. SO EXCITED!!!!

 

[Artemus]

I saw this posted on another website (not nearly as cool as this one of course!) as a comment to a Highline trail TR:

by StunnedWolf Feb. 27, 2015
Highline trail update. I am a member of Uintah Basin Chapter of Back Country Horsemen of Utah. Two years ago we adopted the Highline trail from Leidy Peak trail head east to the trailhead just off from Hwy 191. We finished last fall we cleared all the wind the falls and marked the trail with cairns and carsonite posts. We plan on going back next spring to make sure there sure there isn't any log jams. Hope you all enjoy

Boy, if they signed it that is a big bonus. Huge. Navigation was one of the issues when I did the crossing a few years ago. Due to the lack of forest service maintenance for decades now and due to the hundreds of sheep trails in the high alpine meadows criss crossing every which way.

 

[Artemus]

Has anyone hiked the full 100 miles Highline trail? I would like to do this. I would like to do this in one week. Is this doable?

I think we did the 85 mile version, Leidy to Hayden Pass (the Mirror Lake Hwy) in 8 days. That was relatively comfortable. I flew back in to look for the missing Aussie hiker for a couple of days and met a soloist who was doing the same crossing and adding on the extension along the ridge towards Kamas and then down to his folks house near Smith Morehouse reservoir.

He was doing 20 mile days. I liked my 10 mile days better Something like 2 12K' passes and 6-10 11K' passes made for big up and down. Recommended!

I think the record is something like 28 hours so 7 days is doable for sure!

 

[JoshuaDyal]

Any more days than that and you're talking about really big food loads; enough so that I'd want to schedule a drop at East Fork Blacks Fork TH or something and split the load.

 

[Nick]

Whiskey resupply maybe. 10-11 days without a food resupply shouldn't be a problem at all. Check what PCT through hikers do, they do that regularly. With 8 days of food my highline pack was ~38 pounds. Being a little heavier at the start of the trip would still be way better than a 15-20 mile RT diversion to pickup a bit of food at a midway point, in my opinion. But then again, there are people out doing the Highline with 65 pound packs, cases of Red Bull and 4-man tents for one dude, so I guess it just depends on the person and what you're willing to leave behind.

 

[JoshuaDyal]

Yeah, well there's a reason I don't hike the PCT! Up to nearly 200 miles without a resupply isn't my idea of a great time.

Plus I don't have (or really want) a pack bigger than 50L.

 

[Nick]

Going 200 miles without a resupply is hardly what I was suggesting. But let's face it, if you're talking about not only doing the full Highline but possibly extending it, then you're officially 'thru-hiking'. You may not want to hike the PCT, but it might not be a bad idea to consider what other successful thru-hikers do when planning whether or not to take a 15-20 mile side-trip half way through to pickup a couple days of food. And going 10-11 days without a resupply would hardly require a pack larger than 50L so long as your gear isn't massive and you aren't carrying the kitchen sink around. I'm not a total ultralighter or a hardcore thru-hiker and I fit my 8 days into a 36L pack. Anyway, sorry to be negative on your plan. I'm sure it'll be awesome no matter what you do. Don't forget to come back and post some pics.

 

[Parma]

@JoshuaDyal
this guy (Paul Magnanti) did pretty much the exact trail you are speaking of, near Hwy 191 to Mirror Lake Hwy/Highline TH and posted it on his blog, and he only started at Hwy 191 because he was coming from Colorado and didn't want to drive the additional 120 mi. to Leidy Peak
http://www.pmags.com/east-to-west-uinta-highline-trail

 

[JoshuaDyal]

Going 200 miles without a resupply is hardly what I was suggesting. But let's face it, if you're talking about not only doing the full Highline but possibly extending it, then you're officially 'thru-hiking'. You may not want to hike the PCT, but it might not be a bad idea to consider what other successful thru-hikers do when planning whether or not to take a 15-20 mile side-trip half way through to pickup a couple days of food. And going 10-11 days without a resupply would hardly require a pack larger than 50L so long as your gear isn't massive and you aren't carrying the kitchen sink around. I'm not a total ultralighter or a hardcore thru-hiker and I fit my 8 days into a 36L pack. Anyway, sorry to be negative on your plan. I'm sure it'll be awesome no matter what you do. Don't forget to come back and post some pics.

Oh, I know. It's typical for a JMT thru-hike (a little over 200 miles) to have 2-3 food pickups. If I do a US-191 to Yellow Pines thru-hike, then that's gotta be guesstimating a good 125 miles. I'd do a single drop for that (although it'd add a good 15-20 miles, since the Highline is nowhere near any trailheads.)

Anyway, I'm not doing it this summer; this summer, I'm going Red Castle via Bald Mountain, over the un-named pass between Squaw BM and Wilson to the Highline, and then taking the Highline to Dead Horse Lake, and then backing up to the Lovenia Basin, and from there completing the loop back to the EFBF Trailhead. Then I'll still have a few days; I'll probably explore the Stillwater Fork area; see Amethyst and Middle basins, and if I have time, West Basin too. I'd like to do a big Uintas Traverse including the full Highline and a western extension in summer 2017, I think.

Don't know for sure what I'll do in summer 2016 yet, but I'm thinking Henry's Fork and Kings Peak, as well as an Allsop-Priord loop.

 

[JoshuaDyal]

@JoshuaDyal
this guy (Paul Magnanti) did pretty much the exact trail you are speaking of, near Hwy 191 to Mirror Lake Hwy/Highline TH and posted it on his blog, and he only started at Hwy 191 because he was coming from Colorado and didn't want to drive the additional 120 mi. to Leidy Peak
http://www.pmags.com/east-to-west-uinta-highline-trail

Thanks for the heads-up! I'll go read that right now! Good info for the OP too.

 

[Parma]

Chepeta Lake could be a place for a food drop

 

[Nick]

Yeah, and Hwy 150 as well if you're going 191 to Yellow Pine.

 

[LarryBoy]

4th of July is too early unless it was an unusually dry winter and/or an usually hot spring. The problem would be getting over nearly-vertical snow-covered passes like Dead Horse. It's different from year to year, but this is why most of the end to end traffic really gets going later in July/early August.

Definitely a luck-of-the-draw situation. Did the Highline last summer from July 7-12 (I think), and it was totally fine. Trail was snow-covered at Dead Horse Pass and we had to pick a route up the mountainside, but it was definitely doable. That being said, in a big snow year like 2011, there would have been a lot of postholing involved in spots

That being said, unless something crazy happens, most of the high passes should be snow-free by late June this year...

Has anyone hiked the full 100 miles Highline trail? I would like to do this. I would like to do this in one week. Is this doable?

Definitely. As long as you've got a reasonable level of fitness, a good attitude, and the willingness to get up and hike early in the morning, you should be OK. Depending on what kind of thunderstorm pattern has set up, you might need to hike 12 miles before 12, take a break for a few hours, and then hike a few more miles in the evening once the storms subside. That also requires timing it so you're below treeline during the afternoons, which can limit the distance you could otherwise hike. We found 12 miles/day to work perfectly, not because we were incapable of doing bigger days, but because that set us up well to do a pass per day, early in the morning before the weather deteriorated.

A week is what, nine days with weekends? That's anywhere from 10-16 miles per day, depending on how many days you actually have. I'd feel very comfortable with hiking the 100-mile Highline in six days, with the understanding that you might have to make tracks in the morning if the weather is sketchy.

 

[Nick]

Definitely a luck-of-the-draw situation. Did the Highline last summer from July 7-12 (I think), and it was totally fine. Trail was snow-covered at Dead Horse Pass and we had to pick a route up the mountainside, but it was definitely doable. That being said, in a big snow year like 2011, there would have been a lot of postholing involved in spots

That being said, unless something crazy happens, most of the high passes should be snow-free by late June this year...

You crack me up, Larry. In 2011 that entire area was frozen solid on July 4th even down at 10k along the Mirror Lake Highway. Even the lakes were still completely covered in ice! I can only imagine the cornices that were probably still hanging on up on Dead Horse Pass. Getting over it that early that year would have involved a lot more than post holing in a few spots. Could people do it? SURE! I know folks who have gone over vertical cornices on Knapsack Col with nothing but trekking poles pounded in to the vertical snow to climb the tip of it. Do most people want to do that? Hell no! That's a steep face with a narrow trail cut into it. Even on a normal year, a few big snow drifts for the average person can make that impassable or at least epic pretty quick. So when someone asks, my advice is to push it off a little into the season to make sure their trip is safe and successful and to make adjustments based on the conditions when it's time.

From your posts I've read, it sounds like you're a real tough dude. Hell, I honestly haven't even heard of a single actual person before who doesn't pack toilet paper! So what might be a piece of cake to you might be a trip ender for others. I've crossed over that pass when it was dry as a bone and I've crossed it when there were still huge drifts in August that would seriously freak some people out (not 2011, btw). This year is looking to melt early but a lot can change before July, especially coming from early January when this was posted. Here's a fact: in early July, you face a higher chance of defeat. In late July, you face a much greater chance of success. So all else being equal, why go earlier? Unless you just like the extra challenge, of course.

To the other folks who might read this, take that for what it is. I'm a relatively cautious hiker who writes trail guides for part of my living, so I try to think of all of this with the average hiker in mind, not the stronger hikers.

 

[Parma]

I believe 2011 was the year Snowbird was open until July 4th.

 

[JoshuaDyal]

From your posts I've read, it sounds like you're a real tough dude. Hell, I honestly haven't even heard of a single actual person before who doesn't pack toilet paper!

If that's your criteria, add me to the list! I don't pack toilet paper.




I do bring a small pack of baby wipes, though. Although we sometimes joke with my outdoorsy buddies about what kinds of leaves and grasses are the best (and worst) at wiping your butt, in reality, it's not like we're out there using them for real.

So all else being equal, why go earlier?

Because all else isn't equal. Sometimes you have to go when you're available to go and hope for the best. I'm going early July this year too, and although I'm not hiking a thru-hike, I hope to crest a few passes in the loops I've constructed, including Red Knob and Dead Horse. I'm keeping a close eye on the weather and snow as the trip gets closer, and I've got back-up plans in place in case it doesn't work out, but by and large, I'm crossing my fingers and relatively confident that this year will be a good year to hit the high passes early and pull it off without a hitch.

That was a caveat from the OP too; that they wanted to go in early July because of vacation schedules working out best then.

 

[Nick]

No. If anything wet wipes makes you less tough. Rocks and leaves man...

 

[LarryBoy]

You crack me up, Larry. In 2011 that entire area was frozen solid on July 4th even down at 10k along the Mirror Lake Highway. Even the lakes were still completely covered in ice! I can only imagine the cornices that were probably still hanging on up on Dead Horse Pass. Getting over it that early that year would have involved a lot more than post holing in a few spots. Could people do it? SURE! I know folks who have gone over vertical cornices on Knapsack Col with nothing but trekking poles pounded in to the vertical snow to climb the tip of it. Do most people want to do that? Hell no! That's a steep face with a narrow trail cut into it. Even on a normal year, a few big snow drifts for the average person can make that impassable or at least epic pretty quick. So when someone asks, my advice is to push it off a little into the season to make sure their trip is safe and successful and to make adjustments based on the conditions when it's time.

From your posts I've read, it sounds like you're a real tough dude. Hell, I honestly haven't even heard of a single actual person before who doesn't pack toilet paper! So what might be a piece of cake to you might be a trip ender for others. I've crossed over that pass when it was dry as a bone and I've crossed it when there were still huge drifts in August that would seriously freak some people out (not 2011, btw). This year is looking to melt early but a lot can change before July, especially coming from early January when this was posted. Here's a fact: in early July, you face a higher chance of defeat. In late July, you face a much greater chance of success. So all else being equal, why go earlier? Unless you just like the extra challenge, of course.

To the other folks who might read this, take that for what it is. I'm a relatively cautious hiker who writes trail guides for part of my living, so I try to think of all of this with the average hiker in mind, not the stronger hikers.

Ha! Apparently I underestimated just how big a snow year 2011 was! (Didn't move to Utah until 2012/2013). We did do quite a bit of research beforehand to make sure it was going to be passable (one of my buddies lives in Manila and had a pretty good idea of what snow levels were like. This was the trail on the north side of Dead Horse Pass when we went over on July 10-ish. Probably wouldn't want to descend the north side of the pass without a usable trail, but ascending it was alright.

Because all else isn't equal. Sometimes you have to go when you're available to go and hope for the best. I'm going early July this year too, and although I'm not hiking a thru-hike, I hope to crest a few passes in the loops I've constructed, including Red Knob and Dead Horse. I'm keeping a close eye on the weather and snow as the trip gets closer, and I've got back-up plans in place in case it doesn't work out, but by and large, I'm crossing my fingers and relatively confident that this year will be a good year to hit the high passes early and pull it off without a hitch.

Let me just add - Going in the early season offers a unique challenge, and unique beauty. I did the Teton Crest Trail last year over the 4th of July (immediately prior to the aforementioned Highline Trail trip) and it was probably the best four days of my life. I saw very few other people, saw a wolf gliding across Alaska Basin, and expanded my snow-travel skills. Even got to glissade about 500 feet off the east side of Paintbrush Divide. Doing your homework, bringing the right gear, and learning the right skills can make early season travel not merely possible, but desirable.

No. If anything wet wipes makes you less tough. Rocks and leaves man...

Haha! I've never found rocks to work very well to be honest. They tend to smear, and get sand and other abrasive things in a very sensative place My preferences -

Deciduous forests - large green leaves (the ribbed undersides for maximal effectiveness)
Coniferous forests - moss (found on rocks, trees, etc)
Desert - Toilet Paper. There ain't nothing in the desert that isn't prickly or sandy. At least that I found.

By far my favorite is moss. In fact, given the choice between Charmin ultra-soft and moss, I'd take moss every time. It's truly amazing. Some people swear by using snow, but they're much tougher than I am. That's way too cold!