MtnMatt
Watch yer top-knot
- Joined
- Apr 27, 2013
- Messages
- 61
My son and his friends wanted to do quick overnight er in the Uintas the other day and they invited me to take them. I had 3 options in mind when we got started.
1. a quick trip into Naturalist Basin
2. the up and over Haydens into Middle basin
3. the "shortcut" up and over the northern shoulder of Haydens into Kermsuh
As we drove I presented them with the 3 options. I told them that Naturalist basin would be the easiest of the three but likely the most crowded and there are fire restrictions due to its popularity. That ruled that one out for them
I had done the route to Middle basin a few years ago with my wife and we had made it in to our camp near McPheters in about 3 hours. I am a few years older now and carrying a few extra pounds so I was a little concerned about my ability to keep up this time around. I had hiked up to the ridge and looked into Kermsuh not too long ago and I have been itching to get all the way in on this route so this was my choice. Luckily for me these guys just wanted an adventure so they were good with anything. In my memory the hike up the ridge was steep but not too tough so I was hoping to make it in to the lake in time to set up camp, rest a little and try to catch some dinner in Kermsuh. Well I wasn't carrying a backpack last time, I was about 30 lbs lighter and in much better shape overall. This is the first time backpacking, hiking, skiing...anything like this type of activity that I love to do that I thought " I might die up here" It is really discouraging how far I have let myself go. I got to within about 15 steps of the top of the ridge and I had to stop for 5 minutes to rub out the cramps in my thighs. My son finally called down to me to see if I was coming up there anytime soon. It was BRUTAL! I finally got my legs back and joined the teenagers at the summit.
The views in all directions were spectacular as I had remembered but I was hard pressed to enjoy them because we still had to climb down the other side and trek across the basin without a trail to get to our destination. At this point I was just hoping to get a camp set up before dark so I could crawl inside my tent and hope to recuperate enough to make it back out the next day. going down the other side was much easier than I anticipated. We picked up an old game trail that took a steep but manageable traverse to the basin floor then we just needed to move across the basin to the lake while trying to avoid some of the cliffs and steep little ravines that were between us and our destination. It was fairly straight forward but we did end up having to negotiate around one small cliff face and climb down about 20 feet off some nasty ledges. then we came out on the perfect campsite at the head of the lake.
We had enough room for a couple of tents up on a really cool granite slab looking down on the lake, with a little spring just off to the side for fresh water. 
Really this is one of the coolest campsites I have ever had. We did have to remind each other not to go the wrong way out of camp in the dark looking for the bathroom. If you made it past the nasty crevasse that was big enough to swallow you up and drop you down about 15 to 20 feet
then you were likely to fall off the little cliff to the lake either way was not a good option.
fortunately we made it through the night without losing anyone and the next morning was beautiful.
After a quick breakfast I grabbed my fishing pole and went to see what the lake had to offer. 1st cast with a gold domino lure was taken almost immediately by a very hard fighting brookie. turned out to be one of those days in the Uintas where the fish were very cooperative. Healthy, fat brookies and an occasional cutthroat were willing to take whatever we offered. the most fun were the ones that would shoot up from the depths and grab a hopper 15 to 20 feet from shore. As fun as they were on spinners you just can't beat the thrill of taking fat hard fighting trout on dry flies with a light weight fly rod. the water was so clear you could see them coming from way out. We worked our way all around the lake. even took a short walk down the outlet stream but those fish were small and spooky so we finished our circuit around the lake. We kept a couple of fish for lunch, took some pictures after breaking camp
then backtracked over the ridge to the car. It took just under 6 hours to get to camp the night before but we made it out in just under 3 hours. Way less elevation gain going out. The elevation where we parked the car was about 9450 ft you drop down a little bit from the road to cross Haydens fork stream then you start to climb and climb and you keep climbing until finally topping out at 11230 ft on the low point of the ridge. that is a brutal climb of just about 2000 ft in slightly over 1 mile. going down to the lake you only loose about half of that elevation. the lake sits at about 10300 ft so obviously the climb back out is much easier. I am glad to have done this route at least the one time but honestly I think this is one short cut that is not really a shortcut at all. maybe it would be fun to take the trail in to Kermsuh then go out over the mountain to a waiting car on the road for a nice twist...but maybe not. Here is the best part. Its been two weeks now and my son and his friends are still talking about how awesome that trip was. It was open invitation for his friends and only 2 joined us, now the ones that didn't want to know if we can take them before school starts in a few weeks. any time I can do something with my kids that they and their friends think is cool...success!
Took this one on the way out, looking back at Ruth lake, and the hiway. If you look close you can see Teal Lake way off in the distance
Selected image for home page
1. a quick trip into Naturalist Basin
2. the up and over Haydens into Middle basin
3. the "shortcut" up and over the northern shoulder of Haydens into Kermsuh
As we drove I presented them with the 3 options. I told them that Naturalist basin would be the easiest of the three but likely the most crowded and there are fire restrictions due to its popularity. That ruled that one out for them
I had done the route to Middle basin a few years ago with my wife and we had made it in to our camp near McPheters in about 3 hours. I am a few years older now and carrying a few extra pounds so I was a little concerned about my ability to keep up this time around. I had hiked up to the ridge and looked into Kermsuh not too long ago and I have been itching to get all the way in on this route so this was my choice. Luckily for me these guys just wanted an adventure so they were good with anything. In my memory the hike up the ridge was steep but not too tough so I was hoping to make it in to the lake in time to set up camp, rest a little and try to catch some dinner in Kermsuh. Well I wasn't carrying a backpack last time, I was about 30 lbs lighter and in much better shape overall. This is the first time backpacking, hiking, skiing...anything like this type of activity that I love to do that I thought " I might die up here" It is really discouraging how far I have let myself go. I got to within about 15 steps of the top of the ridge and I had to stop for 5 minutes to rub out the cramps in my thighs. My son finally called down to me to see if I was coming up there anytime soon. It was BRUTAL! I finally got my legs back and joined the teenagers at the summit.
The views in all directions were spectacular as I had remembered but I was hard pressed to enjoy them because we still had to climb down the other side and trek across the basin without a trail to get to our destination. At this point I was just hoping to get a camp set up before dark so I could crawl inside my tent and hope to recuperate enough to make it back out the next day. going down the other side was much easier than I anticipated. We picked up an old game trail that took a steep but manageable traverse to the basin floor then we just needed to move across the basin to the lake while trying to avoid some of the cliffs and steep little ravines that were between us and our destination. It was fairly straight forward but we did end up having to negotiate around one small cliff face and climb down about 20 feet off some nasty ledges. then we came out on the perfect campsite at the head of the lake.
We had enough room for a couple of tents up on a really cool granite slab looking down on the lake, with a little spring just off to the side for fresh water. Really this is one of the coolest campsites I have ever had. We did have to remind each other not to go the wrong way out of camp in the dark looking for the bathroom. If you made it past the nasty crevasse that was big enough to swallow you up and drop you down about 15 to 20 feetthen you were likely to fall off the little cliff to the lake either way was not a good option.
fortunately we made it through the night without losing anyone and the next morning was beautiful.
After a quick breakfast I grabbed my fishing pole and went to see what the lake had to offer. 1st cast with a gold domino lure was taken almost immediately by a very hard fighting brookie. turned out to be one of those days in the Uintas where the fish were very cooperative. Healthy, fat brookies and an occasional cutthroat were willing to take whatever we offered. the most fun were the ones that would shoot up from the depths and grab a hopper 15 to 20 feet from shore. As fun as they were on spinners you just can't beat the thrill of taking fat hard fighting trout on dry flies with a light weight fly rod. the water was so clear you could see them coming from way out. We worked our way all around the lake. even took a short walk down the outlet stream but those fish were small and spooky so we finished our circuit around the lake. We kept a couple of fish for lunch, took some pictures after breaking camp
then backtracked over the ridge to the car. It took just under 6 hours to get to camp the night before but we made it out in just under 3 hours. Way less elevation gain going out. The elevation where we parked the car was about 9450 ft you drop down a little bit from the road to cross Haydens fork stream then you start to climb and climb and you keep climbing until finally topping out at 11230 ft on the low point of the ridge. that is a brutal climb of just about 2000 ft in slightly over 1 mile. going down to the lake you only loose about half of that elevation. the lake sits at about 10300 ft so obviously the climb back out is much easier. I am glad to have done this route at least the one time but honestly I think this is one short cut that is not really a shortcut at all. maybe it would be fun to take the trail in to Kermsuh then go out over the mountain to a waiting car on the road for a nice twist...but maybe not. Here is the best part. Its been two weeks now and my son and his friends are still talking about how awesome that trip was. It was open invitation for his friends and only 2 joined us, now the ones that didn't want to know if we can take them before school starts in a few weeks. any time I can do something with my kids that they and their friends think is cool...success!
Took this one on the way out, looking back at Ruth lake, and the hiway. If you look close you can see Teal Lake way off in the distance
Selected image for home page
