Snow levels in the Uintas - 2012

Heard today from the Kamas Ranger district that the Mirror Lake Highway is now open!
 
I was up at the Stillwater trailhead last night. I hiked all the way to the turn to Amethyst, and then up the steep section for about a 1/2 mile. Of course Ostler Creek was raging, but it was staying in the channel. It got too dark, or I would have continued, as I never ran into snow. According to the GPS, I was just over 10K in elevation. The normally swampy trail was in great shape - I don't know if it is because of lack of storms, or the horseman not making the big mud holes yet. I really think that a backpack trip will be doable Memorial day. The only problem was, I got back to my truck and the mosquitos were out - what a weird year. I was also at Whitney Reservoir last weekend for ice off - everything is in great shape, just incredibly dry. This may be the year the North Slope burns - the forest is almost all dead in the Stateline - Henry's Fork areas due to bark beetles, and with the dry conditions who knows what may occur.
 
Thanks for the report uintawanderer! I think you might be right about it burning. Every time I'm up there I think it has to happen soon and it is super dry up there. Nothing like I would have expected even for the conditions on the trip I just did.
 
Anyone been up there lately? Thinking about doing an overnighter this weekend, wondering what the situation is like up high.
 
My friend went up yesterday and took these pics. The second pic is Butterfly Lake
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Uintas 2.jpg
 
My friend and i are thinking of a quick overnighter this friday night to Cuberant Basin. Any thoughts about what the snow conditions might be on that side of the highway?
 
backpackingismything said:
My friend and i are thinking of a quick overnighter this friday night to Cuberant Basin. Any thoughts about what the snow conditions might be on that side of the highway?
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Tough to say. I would think it would be close enough that you could do it but expect some snow and mud. But then I look at the pics above and it makes me wonder. I think a safer bet would be to hit the Duck-Marjorie-Weir Lakes area from the Crystal Lake TH. They're lower elevation than most Uinta lakes and aren't as heavily wooded as the Cuberant Basin area so has probably melted off better. If you make it into Cuberant, say hi to bigfoot for me and post some pics when you come back!
 
Went camping with the family yesterday up the Mirror Lake Highway. Stayed at Shady Dell and it was WARM even last night. We drove up to the highline trailhead/Butterfly Lake and there was just patches of snow drifts in the shady spots, but other than that virtually snow free. Butterfly is at the 10,300 foot elevation. There was already people fishing even a canoe on the lake. I'd give it a week or two before most if not all the snow that's remaining is gone. It is still very sloppy in the meadows and such though.
 
Yellowstone 1 said:
Went camping with the family yesterday up the Mirror Lake Highway. Stayed at Shady Dell and it was WARM even last night. We drove up to the highline trailhead/Butterfly Lake and there was just patches of snow drifts in the shady spots, but other than that virtually snow free. Butterfly is at the 10,300 foot elevation. There was already people fishing even a canoe on the lake. I'd give it a week or two before most if not all the snow that's remaining is gone. It is still very sloppy in the meadows and such though.
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Pics? :)
 
Butterfly Lake Saturday 6/2/12

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Across the highway at the alternate Highline Trailhead there was this patch of snow and that's it.

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Scroll up to the pics I posted from Tuesday and you can see that alot of snow has melted since then. The meadow in the distance of the first pic had almost 2 feet of snow on Tuesday.
 
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