Naturalist Basin, Uinta Mountains, Utah

Location: Naturalist Basin, Uinta Mountains, Utah
USGS Quad(s): Hayden Pk
Trip date(s): October 6th to 8th
Why go?: Spectacular scenery, access to Spread Eagle Peak, fishing
Water: All over the place
Human Traffic: Between June and September, high. During an October snow storm and freezing temperatures, nobody
Difficulty: Going all the way into the basin, following the Highline trail from either Mirror or Butterfly lakes, is a moderate up and down 7ish mile pack
GPS Coordinates: All in UTM

Introduction
(NOTE: We had a lot of fun on this trip, but this blogg does not read as such. Oh well. Maybe it’s because I’m writing it late at night.)



K.C, Ryan, and I decided to go on this trip as a somewhat last minute thing. We weren’t even sure if we’d go, watching the weather closely. As we hiked to the basin, it rained, sleeted, and snowed. We were fairly fluid as to our ultimate destination for the day but were aiming for Jordan Lake. We made it, barely. I learned a number of things on this trip (see Things I Learned below).

Things I Learned
It was COLD. As I like to say (and my grandfather before me), it was colder than a mother-in-law’s kiss. I had been watching the weather reports closely and did not think the temperature would go below freezing at night and would climb to the 50s or 60s during the day. I was WRONG. Also, while I thought I knew my limits, I think I met them, or at least one, on this trip. While in the wilderness, especially during a stressful trip, we learn to recognize our limits and understand how to center on healthy instincts. Below is a list of things I learned:

1. Importance of conscientious gear maintenance. By 6 pm it had started to snow and the wind was blowing. I left my stove out – did not put it away. That could have been a huge mistake. It was under 4 inches of snow by the next morning, encased in ice. Luckily, both K.C and Ryan had packed stoves as well. I also left some food wrappers out, near where we eat. That, besides just being sloppy and lazy, could have lured bear into camp.

2. Also, while covering the backpacks with a tarp, I noticed some of K.C’s gear lying near his pack. While I put some away and zipped the pack, I left some out. Why? I was tired, wet, and cold and had had enough. I just wanted to get into my sleeping bag to warm up. Luckily, all I left out was his cooking pot. But what if it had been his stove as well?

3. My father used to tell me that if I could just stay dry, I’d stay warm. While hiking in, it started to snow and rain but for some reason, I did not use my poncho. As a result, I was soaked by the time we made camp. This created a lot of discomfort and thus I felt a strong desire to be dry and warm – causing me to make so many silly mistakes.

4. 2 pairs of gloves. I only packed one pair. This was a problem because after the 1st day, my gloves were soaked. This meant that the next morning, when it was below 20 degrees, I only had pockets for my hands. I’m going to invest in either a second pair of gloves or some Gore-Tex gloves, or something. We’ll see how rich I’m feeling.

Trip Log
I’m waiting for K.C to e-mail the log to me – he kept it this time.

Notes
Our camp site was great, probably one of the first times we picked such a great spot. It was on the East side of the lake, near a tight copse of trees and right below a small ridge, offering shelter from the wind (GPS coordinates: 12 T 0517217, 4505828)