Uintas Conditions

14ers in California and Washington state or any other peak in the USA
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The Android
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Re: Uintas Conditions

Post by The Android »

I hiked King's Labor Day weekend in 2014 from Henry's Fork.

No mosquitoes, and was actually rather cold as there had been a recent dusting of snow above 12,000' or so. Just like in CO the weather can vary greatly during that time of year at those upper elevations.

A fair amount of crowds were present despite the cool temperatures, but it is a large drainage and you can disperse your camping to several of the other lakes besides Dollar Lake (Grass, Island, Henry's Fork and others).
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Scott P
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Re: Uintas Conditions

Post by Scott P »

I'm curious to hear estimates on time from the SLC airport to trailhead for WFBF, EFBF, EFBR.
It should be less than two hours to the EFBR trailhead, but more to the other trailheads you mention.

Of the above, I'd combine EFBR and WFBF into a loop hike. Those are the two most scenic drainages in the Uintas. EFBF is nice too, but the west is more scenic.

Here's the suggestion if you don't mind some route finding and a rugged pass crossing:

Go up EFBR to Allsop Lake and cross the pass to Deadhorse Lake (do the loop in this direction since finding your way down the Allsop Lake side is harder). There is a lot of boulderhopping, but the route isn't that bad if you stay north of the cliff bands above Allsop Lake. From Deadhorse Lake, you can hike down WFBF to the Bear River Smiths Fork Trail and hike that back to the trailhead. You could climb any number of peaks along the way.

Although much of the Uintas look similar to much of the Sawatch, the peaks in the two drainages mentioned rival anything in the Gore, Elk, or San Juan ranges of Colorado and are much more rugged than most of the rest of the Uintas.

Anyway, I have climbs all the alpine peaks in that region except for Yard. They are seldom climbed. Several of the peaks I climbed back in 1990 and 1991 had no signs at all that anyone else had ever climbed them. The register I placed on the summit of Priord Peak went unsigned for 14 years and the pencil was still perfectly sharpened after all that time! Back then, The Cathedral, North Cathedral, and the Allsop Peaks had no signs what-so-ever of previous ascents and the register on Beulah would go years or decades between signatures.

(PS, I used to be a hiking guide at the EFBR).
Those are sort of my top 3, but I'm open to the thought of Christmas Meadows and China Meadows. I haven't even looked at any of the trailheads from Duchesne area because they look so much further. Are they, and should I?
Christmas Meadows is nice, and the peaks there are also quite rugged, but it's hard to make a loop hike from there. Rather than China Meadows, if you want to see Red Castle, come in the the trail across the ridge from East Fork Blacks Fork instead. There's a bit more elevation gain, but the views are much better and you can make a loop hike with the Little East Fork. In my opinion, this would be the 2nd most scenic hike in the Uintas (the most scenic being the East Fork Bear River/West Fork Blacks Fork loop).

As far as Duchene, those trails are nice, but not as scenic as the above.
I'm old, slow and fat. Unfortunately, those are my good qualities.
cschmidt1023
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Re: Uintas Conditions

Post by cschmidt1023 »

Wow that is perfect Scott, thanks I was really struggling to make a loop out of the things I wanted to do!
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