Highline Trail (Sept. 2024)

Doobie

Doobie

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Joined
May 21, 2024
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Final week before my partner and I set out to complete the UHT! Thought I'd throw up a post to see how people's experiences have been on the trail this summer? This will be our biggest trip yet, and we're trying to get hyped up to get out there. We opted for a later attempt than I would have hoped for, but life got in the way. At least from the sound of it, the mosquitos are gone (and hopefully a bulk of the big storms)! It's definitely going to be a cold one, but we've hiked through colder.

Does anyone have any tips on must-see spots, great campsites, or tricky sections to be aware of? We're also doing some final gear checks—any late-season essentials you wouldn't leave behind? If anyone's been out there recently, how are the trail conditions, especially with the colder weather setting in?

I'll add my Caltopo route below; campsites are an estimate, but we're shooting for ~13+ miles per day. It would be great to hear if we'll see anyone else out there! We're starting from Mckee Draw this weekend, so let us know if you’ll be on the trail around then!

Click here to view on CalTopo
 
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You realize on the ground mileage will approach 13 maybe 14 if you are using 12 as you daily mileage.
 
Yes! The 12 mile measurement is more of an estimate to break up the trip.
 
Map mileage 8 to 12% less than actual on the ground mileage in most mountainous places
 
Thanks @Bob, we know that these will be hard miles, luckily I think we've trained hard enough to be able to enjoy it!
 
This reply might be too late, but we just got back from our UHT trip. We'd planned to go from Leidy to Hayden, but a stomach bug turned us around at Fox Lake, unfortunately. Nonetheless, it was a great hike in a beautiful part of the world. Some thoughts for your consideration:

1. Starting point thoughts: After driving through/around some of the terrain between McKee Draw and Leidy trailhead, I agree with what seems to be conventional wisdom to skip that easternmost section. We met a couple guys who started at McKee, and they didn't have much good to say about that first section. Just something to think about.

2. I saw maybe a dozen individual mosquitos (we camped just before Chepeta Lake, Fox Lake and then at Whiterocks Lake on the way back). I'd definitely skip the bug precautions at this point.

3. With regards to the "map mileage" comment above, I disagree that map mileage is 10-12% less than actual miles. I think that can be more true if you try to measure large stretches of mileage, but for smaller 10-15 mile segments I found the Caltopo/GaiaGPS routes to seem fairly accurate. My map mileages from GaiaGPS were consistent with the Trails Illustrated map mileages, and it "felt" about right. YMMV, I've seen this debate in so many forums on so many trails...guess it never gets old, ha.

4. Yes - it'll be chilly. All nights were in the 35'ish degree range, one night dipped down below freezing (but admittedly we were under the open sky on a colder-than-normal night). Days were glorious last week, like 58-60 degrees. Perfect.

5. Water is everywhere. Marshes, springs, you will get wet/boggy feet in the bottoms between passes. Just FYI in case you didn't realize it. The beta about water every few miles is pretty much spot on from our (shortened) experience. We, too, never carried more than a liter.

6. Deadman Lake: Stay high on the north ridge above the lake. There is a route you should be able to find with some effort, about midway up the (north) ridge above the lake. Don't descend and then try to find the higher line too late, stay high after Gabro pass, resist the urge to follow the lower trail & cairns that take you into the Deadman lake basin and back up. Caution though: There seemed to be two "high" routes here. The middle one is the one to take, the highest one is a little sketchy but the middle one is good traveling.

Wish I could give you more info, but as I said we only got to Fox Lake and had to retreat back to Leidy. Hope you have glorious weather like we did!

Goat
 
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