Saturday – September 5, 2020
- Start Point: McKee Draw Trailhead (Mile 0)
- End Point: Hacking Lake (Mile 24.7)
- Distance Hiked: 24.7 miles
Let me tell you, I’ve been looking forward to the Uinta Highline Trail (or UHT) ever since I got off the North Umpqua Trail back in mid-July. Not only is it going to have plenty of high altitude and alpine lakes, but I know there lots of navigation challenges too. Yet, before this adventure even got out the gate, I was being forced to reconsider all my plans.
My original goal for this 100+ mile trail was to split it into a 6-day adventure. I was tossing my standard 20+ mile days out the window and dialing it back a bit. Why you ask? Mostly because this trail is going to throw a lot of elevation gain/loss at me and the majority of the hike is above 10,000 feet. So why kill myself trying to achieve an arbitrary distance (like 20 miles), just because it’s how far I’d hike at lower elevation or on easier trails?
My second big goal for this thru-hike is to climb Kings Peak. At 13,528 feet, Kings Peak is the highest point in the state of Utah and I’ll literally hike right past it on the UHT. So you better believe I want to make the short off-trail detour get to the summit and make it to the top of my 23rd state high point. But, I don’t intend to approach Kings Peak from the north like more highpointers. Nope, this summit isn’t coming until 60 miles into my UHT thru-hike.
Plan B for the UHT
But, as is often the case, I had to completely revise my plans before I hit the trail…All because of the weather. I planned my thru-hike for the first week of September. And unsurprisingly, Utah was experiencing record warm temperatures and the occasional fire. No biggie. I’ve hiked in those types of conditions many times in the past.
No, the real issue was the cold front heading down from Canada that would coincide with my middle of my hike. This wasn’t just any old cold front either. It was a rare winter weather advisory that was expected to force the temperatures in northeast Utah to plummet up to 60 degrees in a matter of hours! And it might even drop a little snow!
I would go from hiking in scorching 90+ degree weather on the first three days of my hike to freezing my tail off as the highs only got up into the 30-40s. That radical swing in weather also meant my original plan to summit of the Kings Peak on day four of my hike could be off the table. That day would potentially have freezing weather, bitter winds, or ice. Nope! That did NOT sound appealing.
Unfortunately, I didn’t have the luxury to push my hike a week or two. I’d deliberately saved the UHT until the end of the hiking season. Yet, I never expected to bumping up against winter weather in early September. Heck, this was going to be over Labor Day for crying out loud!
But then I had to acknowledge it’s 2020. The official year of the shit sandwich.
So, I made the only logical decision left. I decided to condense my UHT thru-hike down to 5 days. It meant bumping myself back up to 20+ mile days, despite the altitude and difficulty of the hike. I’d just have to put my big girl panties on and make it happen.
If all goes according to the new plan, I should make it up to Kings Peak by day three now (Monday) and summit it on the afternoon before the cold weather descends. Fingers crossed.
I’m not entirely sure if this “plan B” is going to be a fool’s errand though. Given the altitude in the Uinta Mountains, I may fall well short of my goal. But, I’m going to try my darnedest to hike 60+ miles over the next three days to give it my best shot. And if I don’t get to summit Kings Peak on Monday? Well, I guess I’ll just have to come back and tag it later.
The Outlaw Trail
Keith and Finn dropped me off that the eastern end of the UHT at the McKee Draw Trailhead early this Saturday morning. And when we arrived, there were about a dozen RVs doing some Labor Day weekend boondocking near the trailhead.
Overall, today looked like a fantastic day to start a thru-hike. The sun was shining and the sky was clear. As I looked around, I was super happy to see a pit toilet nearby. It’s becoming almost like a good luck ritual to use the pit toilet at the trailhead right before I set out on my treks. And once that chore was done, I said goodbye to my guys and set off down the trail.
If you’re thinking about hiking the UHT, it’s worth noting that it’s known by a number of names. Some of the signs I’d see today would simply say “Highline Trail” (omitting the Uinta part). Others would just be marked with the number 025 – which refers to U.S. Forest Service (USFS) Trail #025. And then I’d see a few other miscellaneous names whenever the UHT doubled up with another trail. For example, at the start of my hike, some of the signs would be for the Outlaw ATV Trail. I was really digging their stickers too (not sure if they’re outlaws or vigilant hikers observing face mask and 6-feet of social distancing rules.)
As I started out on the the trail, I was surprised at the lack of crowds given that it was a Saturday and a long holiday weekend.
I’d read that this part of the trail is supposed to much more lightly trafficked than the final 60-80 miles. And rumor has it the western end is much more scenic than this eastern section of the trail. So, I suppose many thru-hikers just skip over this bit and jump on the UHT when the trail starts to gets interesting.
Plus, the eastern side is less-favored by section and day hikers due to the poor water situation. In fact, there’s just one lake (East Park Reservoir) about five miles into the trail. Then there’s no more water sources for the next 15 or so miles.
Plenty of hikers simply aren’t interested in hiking long, dry stretches of trail. But I don’t mind. I’d just need to tank up with lots of water at the reservoir and keep on hiking until I got to the next water source.
HUNTERS
About 15 minutes into my morning, I still hadn’t seen any hikers. But, I did notice four hunters decked out from head-to-toe in camouflage walking stealthily along the treeline.
Utah’s deer season was already over (at least for the bow hunters), but I was out there right in the middle of their prime elk season. One more reason I’m glad my backpack is bright blue and I’m wearing some color. I don’t want to look too covert out here and end up with an arrow in my backside.
Once I hit the trees where the hunters had been, the trail began to quickly ascend. The trailhead had begun at 8,200 feet, and I’d be steadily climbing up to 11,000 feet before the end of the day. The tread here was pretty decent, but there were also a bunch of small boulders to navigate around.
I could feel my breathing becoming more labored as a result of the altitude. So I focused on just taking it slow and easy. My pack was far too heavy – with five days of food – to be racing up these hills.
About an hour later, I saw three more bow hunters. This time they were quietly walking on the trail ahead of me. As I got a bit closer, I was bit surprised to see one of the hunters was a young woman. I guess my default assumption about hunting is that is a male pastime.
I realize that’s probably unfair opinion though. I shouldn’t be surprised l to see ladies bow hunting. There were plenty of stranger sights to behold out here in the backcountry. Heck, they probably thought a middle-aged female hiker attempting a solo thru-hike of the UHT was equally odd!
The UHT isn’t so hard
Although the trail was continuing to take my breath away from the constant climbing, I was feeling pretty good.
I’d heard and read that the UHT was pretty difficult to follow. First off, it’s very lightly trafficked. So there’s no deep rut worn into the ground from thousands upon thousands of hikers trodding over it like the PCT or AT. Plus, much of the trail is above treeline – making it more difficult for the trail maintainer to mark the route with blazes or signs.
Yet so far, I was finding the trail to quite easy to follow. The ATV trail surely helped at the beginning. And there were quite a few signs those first few miles.
Even when there wasn’t a sign, there tended to be rock cairns stacked along the route to mark the way. So, I was beginning to wonder if people were making too big of a deal about how difficult this trail would be. Or perhaps the local trail club had put in a lot of additional effort during the past few years to up their game.
Last call for water
As I approached the five-mile mark, I knew I’d be passing by the East Lake Reservoir and several streams that drained into it. After that, I’d need to walk a minimum of 15 more miles before I came across another water source.
In reality, it might actual be even farther than that because I was hiking pretty late it was in the season. The smaller streams and rivers could be completely dried up. But, I also knew the Hacking Lake was 20 miles further up the trail. So worst case scenario, I could push all the way there if I really, really needed water.
Hacking Lake wasn’t going to dry up anytime soon, but it sure didn’t sound like a fun option to hike 25 miles on my first day of the trail. The temperature was supposed to warm up into the 90s this afternoon. And I was hiking elevation, which always requires more water to stay hydrated. Nope. I’d much rather prefer to stop sooner, if possible.
About a mile before East Lake Reservoir, I saw the only other backpacker that I’d see on trail today. He was hiking solo, but also had a dog with him. They were heading east back toward the McKee Draw Trailhead, and I never got the chance to ask about the water options up ahead. That’s because he barely even looked up at me when I said hi. He just grunted and kept on moving. Not very social, I guess!
At East Lake reservoir, I broke out my phone to take a photo of the lake, I could see why so many UHT thru-hkers opt to make this their initial overnight stop. Hiking a mere 5 miles on that first day on the trail allows for an easy introduction to the altitude.
Plus, you get to camp right next to a water source before attacking the 15-mile dry stretch first thing in the morning. That’s a much better plan than trying to push big miles like I’m doing.
Where’s the Trail??
After the reservoir, the trail suddenly became much more challenging to follow. There were far fewer signs and rock cairns. As I crossed over one random ATV trail and saw a cairn on the opposite side, I assumed this meant the trail continued straight ahead. So I plowed ahead onto a faint trail without much thought.
It wasn’t long before I realized the error of my ways though. About 200 yards ahead of me was an abatis of fallen trees criss-crossing each other and forming an impenetrable wall.
This small game trail I was on most definitely wasn’t the UHT. That much was clear. So I backtracked to the last rock cairn at the ATV trail and looked around. Sure enough, I was supposed to bear left at the rock cairn and take a slightly more defined trail instead. Maybe I spoke too soon about this trail being super easy-to-follow.
The terrain around me was starting to look like I was in the middle of a Christmas tree farm, with 4-8 foot tall evergreens surrounding me in every direction. I’ll admit the smell was awesome, but the scenery was pretty limited. And so I kept my eyes down and peeled for more cairns and trail markers.
I continued to get off track several more times that morning, and even had to pull my phone out twice to look at my GPS track and figure out where the trail disappeared to. Sometimes I’d be walking on pretty distinct trail, and other times I felt like I was forging cross-country making my own path. The cairns and signs were growing further and further apart. And this was especially true each time I encountered a meadow where there simply weren’t rocks around to build any cairns.
The flat open spaces weren’t the only places where the trail was becoming more difficult to find either. The areas that had lots of small rocks were equally problematic. That’s because two or three boulders lumped together were often difficult to readily distinguish from the rock cairns unless you were paying constant attention.
There was no room to zone out or just walk with your thoughts. I was finding that I needed to be in a constant state of vigilance. Otherwise, I’d be whipping my phone back out and discovering that I’d drifted 50-100 meters to the left or right of the trail once again.
LUNCHTIME
By the time lunchtime rolled around, I was really starting to feel the effects of the elevation. My breathing was just a bit moe labored than it should be while hiking. My mouth was constantly feeling parched from the dry mountain air. And my appetite was waning. I just didn’t feel hungry. But, I know you can’t rely on your body to tell you it needs fuel up in the high mountains. You need to carefully monitor your caloric intake and feed the beast.
And so, I found a nice shady area near one of the dwindling number of trail signs and stopped for rest break. As I forced myself to eat something, I pulled my phone back out to check my progress on the trail.
I was using a route I’d created on Gaia, and so I couldn’t tell my exact distance from the trailhead like you might be able to with a more comprehensive trail guide like Guthook. But, I knew one thing was for sure. My pace sucked.
Whether it was because of the effects of the elevation, my game of hide-and-seek with route markers, or the climbing – I wasn’t going very fast. I’d expected to be at least another few miles further down the trail by now.
Today was going to be a long, long day if I didn’t make some changes quick. I needed to hike at least 20 miles today if I intended to camp near a water source. So it was time to stop making these small absent-minded navigation errors that kept sucking up daylight. Time to get real!
Game trails
I hit the trail after lunch with a renewed sense of purpose and focus. I could do this. It wasn’t that hard. It wasn’t going to be a cakewalk like so many other trails I’d hiked. But the UHT wasn’t that difficult. Other hikers had certainly come out here earlier this summer and walked the same route. I just needed to start paying attention the subtle details like crushed vegetation, faint footprints, rock cairns, and natural ruts. It didn’t need to look like a highway to be a backcountry trail.
Of course, my fellow hikers and I weren’t the only ones out there though. Plenty of animals were making their own game trails through the forest, meadows, and hillsides. Although these animals sometimes use the path of least resistance (like a worn trail), they also tend to follow their own routes too. And that was one of the issues making the UHT so difficult to navigate here. Deer and elk weaved across the trail, often using it for a stretch then diverging from it on a whim. And if their numbers were high enough, their path would be more dominant in the earth than the trail I was trying to find.
I knew there was plenty of game out here among me too. I hadn’t actually see any of them, but they’d left plenty of evidence behind. There was deer and elk scat dotting the landscape – both on and off the trail. Plus, they left footprints to reveal their identity and direction or travel. I guess that’s part of the reason I’d seen all those bow hunters out here earlier in the day.
More OHVs
Even though I was long past the easy-to-follow Outlaw ATV Trail, I could hear the occasional rumbling sounds of OHVs in the distance. Of course, their engines were loud enough that the sounds carried for miles – so I never really knew how far or close they might be. The only time I actually got a glimpse of them is when the trail crossed paths with a wide dirt road and I could see the dirt and dust of an OHV in the distance.
At one of these road junctions, I actually spied three groups of hunters out riding their OHVs. Most of them just ignored me, but one guy stared at me as he drove by with an weird expression on his face like I was a three-headed unicorn. I guess this isn’t a popular time of year for hikers to be out in the woods. Or maybe he was just worried that I was scaring off his precious game.
After this OHV encounter, I was back in the woods and the quiet again, gradually climbing even higher. The temperature had to be at least in the mid-90s this afternoon, and the sun was beating down like a heat lamp. If you don’t continually live somewhere with high elevation, you tend to forget how intense the sun feels. Heck, I even broke out my sun gloves to protect my hands and wrists from getting sunburned as the afternoon wore on.
By mid-afternoon, I was high enough up that I could see Leahy Peak off to my west. I wouldn’t get there until tomorrow morning, but I could tell there was still a bit of snow up on its slopes! The mountain had a reddish-purple hue from its rocks, and it simply towered above the tree-lined green of the lower peaks and valleys.
Hot & Dry
Lucky for me, the trail became a bit more distinct in the late afternoon as the forest began to change. There were still plenty of trees nearby, but they were now taller and thinner than the throngs of Christmas trees this morning. This meant there was also more room for more fauna along the forest floor. One particular area even looked as if it was lined with 1970’s lime green shag carpet that would have made the Brady Bunch jealous.
Shortly after these trees though, the trail followed a super steep descent. Not only was this downhill slope hard on the knees, but the surface made it a challenge to step without slipping. That’s because there were a bunch of thin flat red rocks strewn everywhere that reminded me a broken terra-cotta tiles. Imagine what it would be like to descend a 10% slope with broken tiles strewn across the trail. Luckily, I didn’t slip and fall on any – though I may have kicked a few by accident.
NO WATER?
Around 5 pm, the fatigue of the day was really starting to set in. I found myself back in a giant field/meadow again and was wondering when I’d make it to the next water source. I’d been walking since 10 am with just the bottles I’d filled up back at East Lake. So I had to be getting close, right?
As I walked across the field, I saw what looked like an apparent stream bed, but it was bone dry. This was super discouraging, I’ll admit. I guess the water source dried up! Darn it. I might be walking all the way to Hacking Lake after all tonight. But first, I needed a break. The sun was still beating down, so I made my way to the edge of the trees for some shade and a snack.
After 15 minutes of rest, it was time to get up and moving again, and I continued to cross the meadow. That’s when I saw something green out in the center of the field. Everything else was a gold-yellow and brittle looking. But, about 150 meters to my right, there was a patch of greenish grass. Was it possible there was a spring or stream over there??
Sure enough, as I made my way over, I could there was a bit of water flowing. I’d found the water source near mile 20 after all. I’m not sure where it came from, but I wasn’t complaining. It was cool, clear, and wet. After guzzling close to a liter of water on the spot, I filled my bottle up and decided I was ready to push on. Time to find a good spot for the evening.
THE SOUND OF MISERY
Although finding the water was good for my morale, the next few miles felt like a complete slog. I wanted to try to push for another hour before stopping for camp, and hopefully even find another water source. But my fatigue wasn’t the only thing causing me misery.
I could hear elk bugling in the distance as the sun started to drop in the sky and we got closer to dusk. Let me tell you, if you’ve never heard the noise that elk make when their feeling randy, it’s absolutely awful. It’s this high-pitched screeching sound and makes you wonder if they’re in pain (click HERE, for a good example of elk bugling). And this horrible noise just kept repeating and startling me as I wound my way through the hills as the early evening wind started to pick up.
I finally got to a small, but robust river around 6:15 pm and seriously considered making camp there for the night. But, the bugling elk nearby and the musky animal scent near the river gave me pause. I didn’t want to be near a major watering hole for large game. Nor did I want to be anywhere near where they might be rutting. Nope I’m good. I’ll keep walking.
Lakeside Camping on the UHT
Choosing to bypass the river meant I was now definitely headed to Hacking Lake for the evening. Luckily it was it was less than a mile more to get to the trailhead. Then another 0.5 mile down a wide dirt road to the lake.
As I made my way down the road, I could see plenty more folks tent camping and boondocking in their trailers. The most intriguing of these campers seemed to be the folks who had those tents you can place on a platform mounted to the top of your car or truck. I’d be worried I’d fall off somehow, or trip going down the ladder to pee in the middle of the night. But, I guess not everyone feels the same way.
Hacking Lake was buried at the end of the road, and nestled up a giant hillside of rock. I was the only one tent camping along the lake, and I had my pick of the many spots that had clearly been used in the past. So, I decided to set up between the rock wall and the lake so there was less likelihood of animals needing access through my campsite for the water.
After setting up camp, and washing my legs in the lake, it was time to fix dinner. I still didn’t have any appetite, despite hiking nearly 25 miles today. But, I know that’s the altitude playing tricks on my stomach. Regardless of whether I was hungry or not, I was going to eat. If for no reason than to whittle down the weight of all the food in my pack.
As I ate in the waning sun, I was treated to some wildlife sightings (no elk thank goodness). I watched as several deer emerged from the trees to drink from the lake. And the squeaks of pika in the rocks kept me company.
Today was a hard day, but I’m pleased with myself. I feel like I’m finding my groove with the UHT. It’s certainly a bit more difficult to navigate that I’d expected, but not impossible by any stretch.
Plus, I made nearly 25 miles today! That’s an awesome start to this thru-hike given the elevation change and high altitude. I’m right on track to hit Kings Peak on Monday. But, I can’t get ahead of myself. There’s still a lot of trail to come before then. So, as the sun finally dropped from the sky, I retreated to my tent to stretch out my legs and let the sleep come for me.
UHT DAY 1 SUMMARY
HIGHLIGHTS
- Woohoo. I’m finally on the UHT!! I’ve been looking forward to this trail all summer!
- Despite the fact that I was hiking at a pretty slow pace today, I’m impressed that I was able to hike nearly 25 miles and handle climbing from 8,200 feet elevation up to 11,000.
- Although some hikers feelings that this eastern section of the trail is less scenic, it wasn’t devoid of beauty. It was actually an interesting mix of forests, fields, and mountains.
CHALLENGES
- Navigation was definitely difficult during much of the trail, but I feel like I’m starting to get used to the rock cairns.
- The dry, dry section of trail today meant I had to carry a bit of extra water weight that I didn’t enjoy given that I also packed five days of food. But, at least I found water in all the places I’d been expecting it, so I never went thirsty.
- Oh, the horrid noise of those bugling elk. I don’t want to camp anywhere near that ruckus.