The weekend of 13 Sep 08, Tracy and I backpacked at China Meadows (Google Map) in the Uintas.

I've read that this trail can get pretty crowded in the summer, so I hoped it would be late enough in the

season to avoid the people.  It was.  We only saw two groups the whole weekend, and that was great.

The trail was really flat, running alongside the river, and there were lots of open meadows.  We hiked in

to Broadbent Meadow, which had a great view of Red Castle.  We saw quite a bit of wildlife on this trail,

too.  We had a big owl flying around the meadow and "hooting" for a while.  Then we had a bull elk

bugling near our camp.  Then we had what I assume was a coyote howling on the ridge beside us.  And

then when we woke up in the morning we had a couple of moose out in the meadow.  We laid out under

the full moon for a while at night until my sleeping bag started frosting over...it was already definitely

late fall up there.  The meadows and the wildlife made this a really good late season hike.