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- Aug 9, 2007
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I'm going to start digging deep into my trip report archives this weekend. This is the first trip I ever took a digital camera on. 
June 2005
This trip started out with a completely different itinerary then it ended up with. The original plan was for a nice trip to the desert. Early June can be a little warm down that way but it's still too early to do much at the high elevations. We set out from Logan in Nate's truck, he had just put a new engine in it and he wanted to 'break it in' by driving it on the trip. By the time we were driving through Ogden I decided I just couldn't take it anymore. Nate is known for driving cautiously (aka slow). Add to that his need to keep the needle at 55 or below to be good to the new engine and there was no way we were going to make it all the way to the desert.
So as we drove towards Salt Lake City we came up with a new plan; The Uintas! We knew the highway over the pass wasn't open yet but we figured we could drive up as far as we wanted and then backpack in to something lower elevation.
We found a nice place to camp low in the canyon on the Upper Setting Road. It was a nice camp but it's since been nearly destroyed by people tearing down trees.
Another shot of camp by Nate.
The next day after studying the map we decided to drive back to Kamas and go north to Weber Canyon above Oakley. Nate snapped this shot of Smith & Morehouse Reservoir on the way to the Ledgefork Trailhead
It was a nice day on the trail, cool temperatures and no crowds. Well, no people at all actually.
On the trail
There was so much snow melt coming down, the trail had become a stream in many places
It was a great snow year and the river felt it. It was raging so hard that it looked a bit brown.
This is one of my favorite pictures. We didn't have anywhere in mind to camp so we just figured we hiked until something stopped us. About a mile past this point we ran into snow. We through it for a bit but then decided we should turn back so we could have a snow-free campsite. This is on our way back down.
We were having a tough time finding a camp site so we decided to cross the river to a large flat area that looked promising. It turned out to be quite the task to find a crossing. We cut down this dead tree with my hand powered chainsaw. I ended up cutting a second before I crossed.
Lucky for us we found a nice spot on the other side of the river. Nate took this shot of Sonny and I.
How we spent the rest of the evening. I do recall that Nikita pulled a rock chuck out of a hole and killed it. That was pretty interesting.
When we woke up we couldn't help but notice it was a bit cold and wet. We opened the tent to see this. Photo by Nate.
What a fine reason to check the weather report. First of all this was my first trip using this tent so I didn't do the best job pitching it. I've since learned that it is almost mandatory to set it up near a tree so you can guy out the roof giving at least twice as much headroom. Second it was WAY small for two guys + 2 dogs + gear. WAY SMALL. Third, it just doesn't do so well when you get a lot of snow. This is after the first blast of a few inches. By the time it ended we had about 6-8 inches.
Do you see the back of that tent? There is about 2-3 feet of it stuck down under the snow. That is where I slept. I literally had the entire right side of my body packed in with snow. Every bit of snow that fell on the tent slid down and piled up there, slowly burying me.
Nate in hiding
After 18 hours in the tent we saw a good enough break. We opted not stay the second night. It was time to get warm and dry.
Our little log bridge was even more difficult with snow on it. Nate and I made it over okay but Nikita fell in. She got snagged on one of the branches and we had to pull her out.
Stress
That tricky river crossing was just a small part of the larger river.
Following a trail hidden under the snow.
Almost back to the car. It hadn't snowed very much at this lower elevation.
We drove into Park City and got a hotel for the night. Beer, pizza and a hot tub... ohhhh yes. Everyone was pleased.
June 2005
This trip started out with a completely different itinerary then it ended up with. The original plan was for a nice trip to the desert. Early June can be a little warm down that way but it's still too early to do much at the high elevations. We set out from Logan in Nate's truck, he had just put a new engine in it and he wanted to 'break it in' by driving it on the trip. By the time we were driving through Ogden I decided I just couldn't take it anymore. Nate is known for driving cautiously (aka slow). Add to that his need to keep the needle at 55 or below to be good to the new engine and there was no way we were going to make it all the way to the desert.
So as we drove towards Salt Lake City we came up with a new plan; The Uintas! We knew the highway over the pass wasn't open yet but we figured we could drive up as far as we wanted and then backpack in to something lower elevation.
We found a nice place to camp low in the canyon on the Upper Setting Road. It was a nice camp but it's since been nearly destroyed by people tearing down trees.
Another shot of camp by Nate.
The next day after studying the map we decided to drive back to Kamas and go north to Weber Canyon above Oakley. Nate snapped this shot of Smith & Morehouse Reservoir on the way to the Ledgefork Trailhead
It was a nice day on the trail, cool temperatures and no crowds. Well, no people at all actually.
On the trail
There was so much snow melt coming down, the trail had become a stream in many places
It was a great snow year and the river felt it. It was raging so hard that it looked a bit brown.
This is one of my favorite pictures. We didn't have anywhere in mind to camp so we just figured we hiked until something stopped us. About a mile past this point we ran into snow. We through it for a bit but then decided we should turn back so we could have a snow-free campsite. This is on our way back down.
We were having a tough time finding a camp site so we decided to cross the river to a large flat area that looked promising. It turned out to be quite the task to find a crossing. We cut down this dead tree with my hand powered chainsaw. I ended up cutting a second before I crossed.
Lucky for us we found a nice spot on the other side of the river. Nate took this shot of Sonny and I.
How we spent the rest of the evening. I do recall that Nikita pulled a rock chuck out of a hole and killed it. That was pretty interesting.
When we woke up we couldn't help but notice it was a bit cold and wet. We opened the tent to see this. Photo by Nate.
What a fine reason to check the weather report. First of all this was my first trip using this tent so I didn't do the best job pitching it. I've since learned that it is almost mandatory to set it up near a tree so you can guy out the roof giving at least twice as much headroom. Second it was WAY small for two guys + 2 dogs + gear. WAY SMALL. Third, it just doesn't do so well when you get a lot of snow. This is after the first blast of a few inches. By the time it ended we had about 6-8 inches.
Do you see the back of that tent? There is about 2-3 feet of it stuck down under the snow. That is where I slept. I literally had the entire right side of my body packed in with snow. Every bit of snow that fell on the tent slid down and piled up there, slowly burying me.
Nate in hiding
After 18 hours in the tent we saw a good enough break. We opted not stay the second night. It was time to get warm and dry.
Our little log bridge was even more difficult with snow on it. Nate and I made it over okay but Nikita fell in. She got snagged on one of the branches and we had to pull her out.
Stress
That tricky river crossing was just a small part of the larger river.
Following a trail hidden under the snow.
Almost back to the car. It hadn't snowed very much at this lower elevation.
We drove into Park City and got a hotel for the night. Beer, pizza and a hot tub... ohhhh yes. Everyone was pleased.
