Uintas: Highline TH to West Fork Black's Fork

Nick

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Here's another trip report from the archives, this one is from back in 2007, long before the days of packing around a fancy camera. This was the second time I did this awesome route, the first time I did it solo and forgot my camera in the truck that dropped me off! :facepalm: It was the most amazing trip I'd ever done so I had to go back and do it again with a camera, and luckily I also had a few friends on this one including my wife, audraiam and good friend Smokey.

This trip was the big one for 2007 and finished off our backpacking season at 122 miles. What a great year. Audra started the season as totally new to backpacking and by the end she was was pretty experienced. This trip is a point-to-point route that involves a car spot at one end or the other. I did this hike solo in 2005 by getting dropped off at the West Fork Black's Fork (WFBF) trailhead. On that trip I had allocated five days but I ended up doing it in three. I hadn't really done much solo backpacking, I enjoyed that trip but I didn't feel like sitting around like I do when I have people around. I also forgot my camera on that trip so I had been dying to redo it ever since.

This time around we hiked the route in the opposite direction so we started at Highline and ended at WFBF. Here is a very approximate map of our route. Keep in mind that this is not an actual GPS track, just me drawing a line on Google Maps.

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The day before we started hiking Taylor and I made the drive over to West Fork Black's Fork to drop off my truck. Crossing the river was fun as usual.
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We camped along the Mirror Lake Highway that night and the next morning we all loaded up into Taylor's truck and headed off to the Highline Trailhead.
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The first 9 miles of the trip follows the Highline Trail through one of the busiest areas of the Uintas. The trail is rocky with a lot of ups and downs.
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Pigeon Milk Springs marks the point where the trail turns uphill and starts to ascent Rocky Sea Pass
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Almost to the top of the not-so-rocky side of Rocky Sea Pass.
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Seconds earlier I nearly ate it scrambling over the rocks to get into the frame.
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Audra rests her legs on Rocky Sea Pass.
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Nikita and Taylor
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This is a pano looking into Rock Creek from Rocky Sea Pass. Over the next couple of days we will head north (left) higher into the basin and then out over Dead Horse Pass on the far northeast side. The pointed peak in the distant center is Explorer Peak. This will be a good reference point for upcoming shots.
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Descending Rocky Sea Pass into Rock Creek
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A small unnamed lake near the base of Rocky Sea Pass
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After a long 13-miles on the trail we reached our destination for the night, Black Lake. I camped here two years earlier when I did this trip solo.
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Black Lake
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Taylor and I taking a swim in Black Lake. Photo by Audra W.
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The next morning we were back on the trail heading north towards Lightning Lake. We weren't totally sure where we would camp next but we picked a small lake called Jodie Lake off the map as a good area to aim for.
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The first half of the day was on and off rain so we spent a fair amount of time hiding in the trees.
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Lightning Lake from below.
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Lightning Lake from above.
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Cows grazing at 10,800’, don’t get me started...
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Helen Lake
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Navigating through the upper reaches of the Rock Creek drainage.
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There is no trail to Jodie Lake so we spent some time hiking overland with the GPS as our guide. It was BEAUTIFUL!
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Nikita loved the open grass. When she gets happy she rolls over and rubs her back on the ground while making a funny groaning noise.
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So it turned out that Jodie Lake was something less than a real lake. Perhaps during wet years it actually fills up but this year it was about an inch of water in grass.
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Due to Jodie Lake’s absence we decided to hike a few extra miles to Ledge Lake to spend the night
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Ledge Lake is beautiful, there is a nice waterfall that pours off the ledge behind the lake. I love having the white noise of a river to sleep to. I was going to stay here on my solo trip two years earlier but I got here so fast from Dead Horse Lake that I decided to keep hiking until Black Lake.
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The next day we hiked above Ledge Lake. The plan was to spend some time at Continent Lake doing some fishing followed by a hike over Dead Horse Pass over to Dead Horse Lake. It was a dark overcast day with the occasional light ran storm.
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Continent Lake. You can see the results of the dryer than normal year we have had. The lake was down at least 6 feet below normal.
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Fishing at Continent Lake
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A strong storm moved in just after our arrival at Continent Lake. We hid in Taylor’s circus tent. There isn’t much protection at 11,300’
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I wouldn't want to camp here.
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Explorer Peak on the left and Squaw Peak on the right as seen from Upper Rock Creek.
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Audra making her way up the realtively safe and easy side of Dead Horse Pass. In the far distant center of the picture you can almost see Rocky Sea Pass that we crossed two days earlier.
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Dead Horse Pass
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Looking north into West Fork Black's Fork
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Selfie with Dead Horse Peak in the background
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West Fork Black's Fork
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Dead Horse Lake and EJOD Lake
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This is NOT the trail. Instead of veering north towards WFBF we should have veered south towards Rock Creek. The trail would have then curved back around to the north side of the pass.
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My wrong turn became more and more treacherous. The penalty for a slip here would have likely been fatal.
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Back on the trail. You can see our very scary diversion in the background.
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A few minutes later a large, fast moving storm rolled in and caught us before we could make it back down to tree line. I had to put away the camera and make the mad dash for shelter. I was raining so hard that the trail coming down Dead Horse Pass turned into a bit of a waterfall. The lighting was hitting all of the surrounding peaks so we ran right past Dead Horse Lake and on to an area where we could legally have a fire. This picture was taken as the rain was letting up.
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Cold and wet.
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The storm cleared out and we had a nice last evening in camp.
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The next day we were dry, the skies were blue and we were ready for the 10 mile hike out to the car and the cold drinks inside of it.
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West Fork Black's Fork is a non-stop, jaw-dropping hike. Every where you look is picture perfect. This is one of my favorite sections of trail that I have ever hiked.
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There are a lot of sheep in WFBF. I'm not a fan but this was a pretty cool scene watching the roundup.
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Nikita exhausted after 30+ miles of hiking. Buck Pasture is in the background.
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Buck Pasture is so nice.
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After Buck Pasture it was a few more miles through the trees to get to the truck. Odometer for this trip came to 35 miles. I would do this route again in a heartbeat.

Trip details:
  • trip date: 8/15 thru 8/19/07
  • distance: 35 Miles</li>
  • starting point: Highline Trailhead on the Mirror Lake Highway
  • ending point: West Fork Black's Fork Trailhead
  • peak elevation: 11,581' on top of Dead Horse Pass
View the full set of photos on Flickr.

See all of my trip reports to the Uintas.
 
LOVE West Fork of Blacks Fork! Your pic of the stream crossing reminded me of a few years back. I was driving a '90 Accord and the flow was low, so I drove across and to the end of the road. MAJOR coolness points being the driver of the only low-clearance vehicle at the end of the road...
 
LOVE West Fork of Blacks Fork! Your pic of the stream crossing reminded me of a few years back. I was driving a '90 Accord and the flow was low, so I drove across and to the end of the road. MAJOR coolness points being the driver of the only low-clearance vehicle at the end of the road...

That's amazing! Pretty sure water would have been going into the windows a bit at the peek depth of the crossing when we did it.
 
LOL! The rain in your photos reminds me of EVERY trip I've taken into the Unitas! We went into Gilbert Lake for 3 days and got rained on every single day almost at exactly noon. One day it even hailed. Then I did an overnighter the next year near Star Lake and it rained then too!

Curious, what year is you Tacoma in the pics?
 
LOL! The rain in your photos reminds me of EVERY trip I've taken into the Unitas! We went into Gilbert Lake for 3 days and got rained on every single day almost at exactly noon. One day it even hailed. Then I did an overnighter the next year near Star Lake and it rained then too!

Curious, what year is you Tacoma in the pics?

That was actually Smokey 's Tacoma. I think it was a 97 or something around there. I was driving a 4Runner back then after my '03 Taco but now I'm back on an '09. Love the Tacos.
 
What would your opinion of a there-and-back to Dead Horse Lake from West Fork Black's Fork be? I have the option of staying a night in Uintalands, taking an ATV to the trailhead and hiking WFBF as an overnighter.
 
What would your opinion of a there-and-back to Dead Horse Lake from West Fork Black's Fork be? I have the option of staying a night in Uintalands, taking an ATV to the trailhead and hiking WFBF as an overnighter.

Well worth the time. West Fork Black's Fork and the Dead Horse Cirque are amongst the most beautiful places in the entire Uinta range. Probably the most beautiful, in fact. The hike up from the 4WD trailhead is easy and very engaging. A mile or two in the trees but then just before the wilderness boundary the trail/road emerges from the trees and you are wandering through incredible, open meadows lined with huge rocky peaks. To make it even better, there isn't really anything steep until the last tiny bit before Dead Horse Lake so you won't even feel like you expended much effort to get there. Great hike.

If you can eek out a bit more time, it would be very cool to turn it into a loop. Cross over from Dead Horse Lake to Allsop Lake (second prettiest drainage?) and follow the trail down the East Fork Bear River drainage to where it meets back up with the other Highline Trail. Then take that back over the ridge to the WFBF trailhead.
 
If you can eek out a bit more time, it would be very cool to turn it into a loop. Cross over from Dead Horse Lake to Allsop Lake (second prettiest drainage?) and follow the trail down the East Fork Bear River drainage to where it meets back up with the other Highline Trail. Then take that back over the ridge to the WFBF trailhead.

Yeah, I considered this as well. Reality is I won't have the time for that long of a trip due to work for awhile. I'm assuming under this scenario one must head up to Dead Horse Pass and traverse in order to reach Allsop? Or is there a primitive crossover between the two drainages?

The Uintalands thing can happen any time as my family has property there. I could just as easily do two out-and-backs, one into WFBF and another into EFB. This is how I did Amethyst Lake a few years ago and it worked really well.

I spent a lot of time in my youth at the East Fork of the Bear BSA reservation leading Silver Moccasin and never even really knew the two drainages existed until recently. I always overlooked them because they're not overflowing with lakes like some other parts of the Uintas.
 
Yeah, I considered this as well. Reality is I won't have the time for that long of a trip due to work for awhile. I'm assuming under this scenario one must head up to Dead Horse Pass and traverse in order to reach Allsop? Or is there a primitive crossover between the two drainages?

You don't head up Dead Horse Pass at all. From Dead Horse Lake, just head west out past Lake EJOD and find your own way across the pass between the two. I think it's best done towards the north end of the pass but I haven't done it myself (yet). I have spoken to several others who have though.
 
You don't head up Dead Horse Pass at all. From Dead Horse Lake, just head west out past Lake EJOD and find your own way across the pass between the two. I think it's best done towards the north end of the pass but I haven't done it myself (yet). I have spoken to several others who have though.

Gotcha. I can see the potential for trouble doing that with a big pack. Coming down the opposite side could be tricky. I'll have to research it more.
 
Gotcha. I can see the potential for trouble doing that with a big pack. Coming down the opposite side could be tricky. I'll have to research it more.

I've heard it's actually quite easy. But again, not from direct experience. Maybe I need to go do it this year...
 
From "High Uinta Trails" it says -

From Allsop lake experienced hikers can go southeast across the ridge and join the highline trail or the West Fork Blacks Fork at Dead Horse Lake. There is no trial, you just strike off cross country, heading for the low spot on the ridge to the southeast. The slop going up to the ridge is steep and rocky, but once you are on the ridge, it's a nice easy trip though very beautiful contry down to DHL.
 
Great pics and descriptions, Nick! I’ve made a couple of trips up to Dead Horse lake, but never up and over the pass. I’ve been waiting until my son was old enough to do a trip up over Dead Horse Pass and into Continent Lake and have finally decided this will be the summer to do it. The problem I’m seeing is Dead Horse Pass. My son has some problems with heights. Your pictures make it look pretty rough (even the parts where you’re on the trail!) How bad is it? For Comparison, I’ve done Rocky Sea and Cyclone Passes a coupl,e of times each and think he’d do OK with those. Were any of your group afraid of heights? My son is only 9 years old and I don’t want him to have a bad time or be scared. We just want to get to Continent Lake and Ledge Lakes for a day and do some fishing around there. In short, I want my son to love fishing and backpacking the Uintas as much as I do and am really looking for a good place for him to cut his teeth on a longer multi-day trip that’s not too taxing (Like I said, he’s only 9 years old) I’d appreciate any advice you or anyone else could give me. Thanks!
 
Hey Colin, welcome to backcountrypost. :)

The actual trail over Dead Horse shouldn't be a problem, so long as there is no snow. Any remaining drifts could complicate things quite a bit for someone afraid of heights though. My wife is also quite uncomfortable with exposure and the only issue she had was the off-course section we did which was definitely very scary. The rest of it is WAY easier than Cyclone Pass.
 
Thanks! I don't remember Cyclone being too bad and I was dumb enough to go to Thompson Lake twice! I love the idea of taking him up Buck Pasture because we don't have a real schedule or agenda. We can fish the river or press on at his pace. I think he'll love it and that's all that really matters on this trip. If I make it to Continent Lake to fish great, if not, oh well, he'll be bigger and stronger next year. Great site, BTW. Glad I found it.
 
I was stoked to fish Continent after reading the Probst book too. But if I recall correctly, we didn't catch a thing and we didn't see any signs they were in there. The lake was drained way down so they may have winter killed. Or perhaps we just hit it at a bad time, who knows.

Wow, Thompson Lake twice? I'd love to hear about that, or better yet see a trip report! How was the fishing? Was the boulder pile on the way in as bad as the Probst book leads on? What about camping opportunities nearby? I've always thought they wrote that description just to scare people away from a lake that might actually be quite awesome.
 
The description for Thompson Lake was definitely not written just to scare people away. I'd do a trip report, but I have very few pics and would have to scan in most of them, but here's the basics. Both times, we started out at Grandview Trailhead and went up and over Hades Pass into Grandaddy Basin and made the 9 mile trip into Allen Lake. On a side note, the fishing at Allen Lake was phenomenal both times with a fly rod from shore. We used Allen as a base camp and day hiked into Thompson from there. It's a real easy trip to the top of Cyclone Pass, then it gets really bad, really quick. The boulders, as the book describes, are absolutely relentless. You can go high and follow a game trail, but it's even worse as the trail crumbles beneath your feet and causes some pretty hairy rock slides--not cool! Eventually, you'll get to the lake. It took us about 2.5 hours to get from Cyclone Pass to the Lake and even longer to get back out! The scariest part of either trip was when I jumped from one boulder to another (about the size of a bus) and it tilted about 20 degrees. I literally thought it was going to keep rolling and crush me. Fishing is good, but not good enough for me to go back--ever! The first trip the big brookies (16-17 inchers were the biggest and 12-14 in were average) would "savagely attack a fly or lure" which is why I went back the following year. That year we caught 8 or 10 total and they were all around 12 inches--certainice for brook trout for sure, but not worth the risk IMO.
As far as camping opportunities, Four Lakes Basin is about as close as you could get on the west side and you'd have to go pretty far to the southeast to find anything decent. I'm sure there is a place you could find to set up a tent somewhere closer, but you'd have be insane to try to get into the area with much more than a small daypack. Personally, the more I read the description of the hike, the more I think it sounds easier than it really is! I've done plenty of difficult trips, but this one is brutal! All that being said, both of them go down as two of my favorites, just because I can show people the description in the book and say "Yeah, I've done that--twice!"
 
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