Red Rock Rangers
hiker-trash extraordinaire!
- Joined
- Sep 6, 2015
- Messages
- 23
At the risk of sounding like a broken record ... it's hot in St. George! Time for another mountain weekend escape.
Christmas Meadows
Provo River Falls
I'm embarrassed to admit that even though I've lived in Utah since 2008, I've only done one other hike in the Uinta Mountains. It's a tragedy. My only excuse is that the drive there is 5-6 hours from St. George. In that amount of time, we could reach the Sierras or the Rockies -- world-classes ranges that tended to eclipse the Uintas in our imaginations. Still, we have a couple buddies who constantly wax poetic about the Uintas, so it was definitely time to drive north and see for ourselves.
sandhill cranes
We set our sites on a hike from Christmas Meadows to Ryder and Kermsuh Lakes. It was glorious! The round-trip distance was 22.6 miles, and we spent 3 days and 2 nights exploring high alpine basins dotted with icy lakes. Dogs are allowed in the High Uinta Wilderness, and Frankie went 10000% buckwild frolicking through meadows and splashing in the water.
SO MANY MOSQUITOS!
a few of my favorite things
Get there:
We started off by loading up the car and driving north. To get to the trailhead, drive east from Kamas, UT on Highway 150 towards Evanston, Wyoming. Keep driving northeast on Hwy 150 for about 46 miles. Finally, you'll see a turn-off on the right for Christmas Meadows Campground. Turn right and drive 4.3 miles to the end of the road, where you'll reach the trailhead.
Day 1 (8.1 miles):
From the Christmas Meadows Trailhead, we started hiking along the Stillwater Fork. The climb up to 10,000ft was steady and gradual, which we definitely appreciated as we acclimated to the elevation (I guess living at 2,000ft has spoiled our mountain-climbing lungs!) The muddy, rocky trail meandered gently uphill for about 2.6 miles through lodgepole pine and aspen until it reached the intersection of the Amethyst Lake Trail. Stay right here.
After another 2 miles, we reached the intersection with the Kermsuh Lake Trail, which we decided to hit on our way back. We pushed on for 3.5 more miles before reaching Ryder Lake. As we climbed, the scenery opened up, and we caught our first glimpse of A-1 Peak and Mount Agassiz.
After a steep 0.5-mile push, we finally reached Ryder Lake in Middle Basin. We'd been trudging through the socked-in forest for a couple hours, so reaching the wide open basin was glorious. Middle Basin is dotted with a half-dozen lakes, surrounded by a rocky Precambrian cirque and fringed with wildflowers. We set up camp, ate dinner, and lounged in our hammock. The mosquitos were ferocious, but it was worth it.
Ryder Lake
Day 2 (7.1 miles):
The next day, we packed up and started hiking 3.5 miles back down the trail. When we reached the intersection the Kermsuh Lake, we turned left (west,) and started hiking the final 2.8 miles into West Basin. The climb was fairly steep for a half mile, but we quickly reached a series of wonderful meadows. Frankie goes nuts in meadows -- she started galloping through the wildflowers and splashing around in every creek she saw. What a nut.
We finally reached Kermsuh Lake, and we had the whole place to ourselves. Great stuff. The only downside to Kermsuh is that it's surrounded by boulders and marshes, so we didn't see any good camping spots. No problem -- we backtracked to one of the pretty meadows we had passed on the way up and set up camp.
Day 3 (7.4 miles):
The final day was a breeze. It was an easy downhill walk back to Stillwater Creek and on through Christmas Meadows to the trailhead. It was a Friday, so we passed a ton of people getting a head start on their weekend, (universal truth -- it's always better to hike mid-week to avoid the crowds.) Great hike.
muddy, muddy, muddy
Kermsuh Lake
meadow camping below Kermsuh Lake
Christmas Meadows
Provo River Falls
I'm embarrassed to admit that even though I've lived in Utah since 2008, I've only done one other hike in the Uinta Mountains. It's a tragedy. My only excuse is that the drive there is 5-6 hours from St. George. In that amount of time, we could reach the Sierras or the Rockies -- world-classes ranges that tended to eclipse the Uintas in our imaginations. Still, we have a couple buddies who constantly wax poetic about the Uintas, so it was definitely time to drive north and see for ourselves.
sandhill cranes
We set our sites on a hike from Christmas Meadows to Ryder and Kermsuh Lakes. It was glorious! The round-trip distance was 22.6 miles, and we spent 3 days and 2 nights exploring high alpine basins dotted with icy lakes. Dogs are allowed in the High Uinta Wilderness, and Frankie went 10000% buckwild frolicking through meadows and splashing in the water.
SO MANY MOSQUITOS!
a few of my favorite things
Get there:
We started off by loading up the car and driving north. To get to the trailhead, drive east from Kamas, UT on Highway 150 towards Evanston, Wyoming. Keep driving northeast on Hwy 150 for about 46 miles. Finally, you'll see a turn-off on the right for Christmas Meadows Campground. Turn right and drive 4.3 miles to the end of the road, where you'll reach the trailhead.
Day 1 (8.1 miles):
From the Christmas Meadows Trailhead, we started hiking along the Stillwater Fork. The climb up to 10,000ft was steady and gradual, which we definitely appreciated as we acclimated to the elevation (I guess living at 2,000ft has spoiled our mountain-climbing lungs!) The muddy, rocky trail meandered gently uphill for about 2.6 miles through lodgepole pine and aspen until it reached the intersection of the Amethyst Lake Trail. Stay right here.
After another 2 miles, we reached the intersection with the Kermsuh Lake Trail, which we decided to hit on our way back. We pushed on for 3.5 more miles before reaching Ryder Lake. As we climbed, the scenery opened up, and we caught our first glimpse of A-1 Peak and Mount Agassiz.
After a steep 0.5-mile push, we finally reached Ryder Lake in Middle Basin. We'd been trudging through the socked-in forest for a couple hours, so reaching the wide open basin was glorious. Middle Basin is dotted with a half-dozen lakes, surrounded by a rocky Precambrian cirque and fringed with wildflowers. We set up camp, ate dinner, and lounged in our hammock. The mosquitos were ferocious, but it was worth it.
Ryder Lake
Day 2 (7.1 miles):
The next day, we packed up and started hiking 3.5 miles back down the trail. When we reached the intersection the Kermsuh Lake, we turned left (west,) and started hiking the final 2.8 miles into West Basin. The climb was fairly steep for a half mile, but we quickly reached a series of wonderful meadows. Frankie goes nuts in meadows -- she started galloping through the wildflowers and splashing around in every creek she saw. What a nut.
We finally reached Kermsuh Lake, and we had the whole place to ourselves. Great stuff. The only downside to Kermsuh is that it's surrounded by boulders and marshes, so we didn't see any good camping spots. No problem -- we backtracked to one of the pretty meadows we had passed on the way up and set up camp.
Day 3 (7.4 miles):
The final day was a breeze. It was an easy downhill walk back to Stillwater Creek and on through Christmas Meadows to the trailhead. It was a Friday, so we passed a ton of people getting a head start on their weekend, (universal truth -- it's always better to hike mid-week to avoid the crowds.) Great hike.
muddy, muddy, muddy
Kermsuh Lake
meadow camping below Kermsuh Lake
