Parma
@parma26
- Joined
- Feb 12, 2014
- Messages
- 751
June 24-27, 2015
I took the ole Varsity Scouts to a place never visited before by scouts...the Grandaddy Basin!
This was a good trip to kick off the mountain backpacking season. It's always great to get into the Uintas for the first time of the year. We chose Pine Island Lake, it's 7 miles from the Grandview Trailhead. Most things I've read about this area is that that in the first 3 miles from the trailhead to Grandaddy Lake you'll encounter a number of people. Once you pass Grandaddy Lake, the crowds get thinner and thinner. This was true for us. Pine Island was a great choice, we pretty much had the area to ourselves. Pine Island Lake is quite large (80 acres) so there is plenty of space to not notice others if they are near you.
The only downer to the trip were the relentless mosquitoes. They were thick.
Day one we left in the evening and stayed that night at Iron Mine Campground.
Day two we ate, packed up and made our way to Grandview Trailhead up the steep and bumpy dirt road.
The trail is in great shape and very easy to follow.
Some of the scenery along the trail
This was the only snow left in the area
Grandaddy Lake finally in view.
It's always fun to see the various backpacks the scouts show up with. This one looks just like the one I used when I was a scout back in the late 80's.
Grandaddy Lake
Betsy Lake
Our camp near Pine Island Lake
Day three we decided to take a hike around Pine Island Lake. It was just over 2 miles to make a complete loop. Most of it was along the shore or a faint trail that would show up here and there. It was really fun!
This was a cool rock wall next to Pine Island Lake...I like how the square section of rock at the bottom has separated itself.
Back at camp, and this was the only refuge from the mosquitoes. Who doesn't love an afternoon nap?!
We didn't have any rain the first couple days, we didn't even have our rainflys on our tents. Then Friday afternoon these dark clouds came rolling in and we put the rainflys on just in case. We ended up only getting a 5 minute sprinkling. @LarryBoy said he was in the Four Lakes Basin at this same time and I'm betting this was the same storm that gave him a 3 hour thunderstorm and dime-size hail.
Day four we headed back and took a different route, this time we went past Palisade Lake and Brinton Meadow as seen here. Both routes were pretty close to the same distance. This one past Palisade Lake was slightly longer, but less traveled.
This was atop a high point before dropping down to Betsy Lake. The trail is behind me and Betsy Lake is off to the right over that rock wall.
Making the final decent to the trailhead.
That's it...another great trip in the Uintas completed.
Featured image for home page:
I took the ole Varsity Scouts to a place never visited before by scouts...the Grandaddy Basin!
This was a good trip to kick off the mountain backpacking season. It's always great to get into the Uintas for the first time of the year. We chose Pine Island Lake, it's 7 miles from the Grandview Trailhead. Most things I've read about this area is that that in the first 3 miles from the trailhead to Grandaddy Lake you'll encounter a number of people. Once you pass Grandaddy Lake, the crowds get thinner and thinner. This was true for us. Pine Island was a great choice, we pretty much had the area to ourselves. Pine Island Lake is quite large (80 acres) so there is plenty of space to not notice others if they are near you.
The only downer to the trip were the relentless mosquitoes. They were thick.
Day one we left in the evening and stayed that night at Iron Mine Campground.
Day two we ate, packed up and made our way to Grandview Trailhead up the steep and bumpy dirt road.
The trail is in great shape and very easy to follow.
Some of the scenery along the trail
This was the only snow left in the area
Grandaddy Lake finally in view.
It's always fun to see the various backpacks the scouts show up with. This one looks just like the one I used when I was a scout back in the late 80's.
Grandaddy Lake
Betsy Lake
Our camp near Pine Island Lake
Day three we decided to take a hike around Pine Island Lake. It was just over 2 miles to make a complete loop. Most of it was along the shore or a faint trail that would show up here and there. It was really fun!
This was a cool rock wall next to Pine Island Lake...I like how the square section of rock at the bottom has separated itself.
Back at camp, and this was the only refuge from the mosquitoes. Who doesn't love an afternoon nap?!
We didn't have any rain the first couple days, we didn't even have our rainflys on our tents. Then Friday afternoon these dark clouds came rolling in and we put the rainflys on just in case. We ended up only getting a 5 minute sprinkling. @LarryBoy said he was in the Four Lakes Basin at this same time and I'm betting this was the same storm that gave him a 3 hour thunderstorm and dime-size hail.
Day four we headed back and took a different route, this time we went past Palisade Lake and Brinton Meadow as seen here. Both routes were pretty close to the same distance. This one past Palisade Lake was slightly longer, but less traveled.
This was atop a high point before dropping down to Betsy Lake. The trail is behind me and Betsy Lake is off to the right over that rock wall.
Making the final decent to the trailhead.
That's it...another great trip in the Uintas completed.
Featured image for home page:
