Buck Pasture, High Uinta Wilderness, August 2007

Pictures | Map

• trip date: 8/15 thru 8/19/07
• distance: 35 Miles
• starting point: Highline Trailhead on the Mirror Lake Highway (Map)
• ending point: West Fork Black's Fork Trailhead (Map)
• peak elevation: 11,581' on top of Dead Horse Pass
• the group: Nick, Audra, Nikita, Taylor and Robyn

This was the big trip for 2007. It brought our backpacking odometer for the season to 122 miles. Not too bad considering how lazy I've been lately and very good considering this was Audra's first season backpacking. As you can expect I took a TON of pictures.

Enjoy!

What a way to start a trip! This is Taylor in his new truck driving through West Fork of Black’s Fork. We’ll just call it WFBF for the rest of this trip report. The first night of the trip we car camped near the trailhead and spent a couple hours dropping off a car at our destination... WFBF.

The obligatory departing group shot at the Highline Trailhead. From Left: Nikita, Nick, Audra, Taylor and Robyn.

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. The first big highlight of the trip was the climb to Rocky Sea Pass to access the Rock Creek Drainage.

They don’t call it Rocky Sea for nothing.

Seconds earlier I nearly ate it scrambling over the rocks to get into the frame.

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.

The descent down Rocky Sea Pass. You really have to watch your step through here.

And this of course is a squirrel.

After a long 13-miles on the trail we reached our destination for the night, Black Lake. I camped here two years ago when I did this trip solo.

Black Lake with Spread Eagle Peak in the background

Taylor and I having a swim in Black Lake on Day #2

On Day #2 we left Black Lake for a hike into upper Rock Creek. It was typical Uinta weather. It would rain hard for 10 minutes followed by sunshine and then followed by another storm. Ironically we waited out one of the harder storms at Lightning Lake. The picture below is of the lake just after the storm broke.

What a fine illustration of how the weather changes in the Uintas. This picture is from the opposite side of Lightning Lake about 15 minutes after the picture above. Yes, it is raining.

Cows grazing at 10,800’, don’t get me started...

We decided to spend our second night at a place called Jodie Lake in the north eastern area of Rock Creek. There is no trail to Jodie so we spent some time hiking overland with the GPS as our guide. It was BEAUTIFUL!

Nikita loved the open grass. When she gets happy she rolls over and rubs her back on the ground.

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. This is Robyn running across it.

Due to Jodie Lake’s absence we decided to hike a few extra miles to Ledge Lake to spend the night

Ledge Lake was 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.

The next day we hiked above Ledge Lake. The plan was to spend some time at Continent Lake fishing followed by a hike over Dead Horse Pass over to Dead Horse Lake. It was a dark overcast day with the occasional but light ran storm.

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.

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’

Explorer Peak on the left and Squaw Peak on the right as seen from Upper Rock Creek.

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.

An ultra-wide, nearly 360 degree pano with Rock Creek on the left and West Fork Black's Fork on the right. Dead Horse Peak and Dead Horse Lake towards the center.

Self-portrait from the top of Dead Horse Pass with Dead Horse Peak in the background. This was by far the highlight of the trip for me. No picture can describe standing on this ridge.

Dead Horse Lake in the foreground and Lake Ejod in the back. DHL is one of the most beautiful lakes I've ever visited in this area, unfortunately the fishing stinks.

Looking north to West Fork Black’s Fork. My 4-Runner is parked about 10 miles up there. This will be our hike the next day.

So I took a slightly wrong turn coming down Dead Horse pass. The drop to the left would be at least a thousand feet and the rocks were insanely loose. Scary.

Just as we were about a half mile from tree line the storm came. It was incredible, the trail literally turned into a stream almost instantly. The lighting was hitting all of the surrounding peaks. We made a run right past Dead Horse Lake to an area where we could have a fire. This picture is actually as the rain was letting up.

Think dry.

The next day we were dry, the skies were blue and we were ready for the 10 mile hike out to the car.

West Fork Black's Fork is a non-stop, jaw-dropping hike. Every where you look is picture perfect.

Reminiscent of something from Brokeback Mountain. In reality the sheep here are the only real problem. There are thousands of them and they destroy the vegitation on the valley floor.

This pano is in an area of WFBF called Buck Pasture. This could be a nice trip in itself. One of my favorites.

Nikita taking a nap in Buck Pasture. Just 3 more miles to the car.