Trail Pictures

Flowers

Flowers

Flowers

Flowers

Burnt Fork

Burnt Fork

Uintas

Uintas

Uintas

Island Lake

Island Lake

Island Lake

Moose

Uintas

Uintas

Burnt Fork Trail

        Utah Area Trails S. Utah with Cory Lake Powell 2011 The Needles The Maze E Fork Burnt Fork Leidy Peak Burnt Fork Granite Highline Causey May 11 Green River Buck Canyon Antelope Apr 11 Smith Fork Grizzly Ridge Yurt Moab Arches Bear River Moab Flight Snowbasin Art Nord Moab Rim Zion Dry Fork Naturalist Basin Timpanogos Cave Meteor Shower Yellowstone Creek McCoy Park Ostler Creek Granddaddy Causey Southern Utah Coyote Gulch White Canyon - Moqui Canyon Tetons - Cabin Southern Utah Wildhorse Canyon Snowbasin Great Salt Lake Snowbasin Robber's Roost Deep Creeks Farmington Canyon Nine Mile Canyon Fish Lake - McCoy Park Harris Wash Antelope Island Moab Southern Utah Log Hollow Moab Lake Powell Wasatch Buckskin Gulch Deseret Peak Pine Valley Logan Canyon Causey Reservoir China Meadows Haystack Lake Cow Park Highline Grandaddy Lakes Amethyst Basin Uintas Cat Canyon Southern Utah Southern Utah Glen Canyon Swett Canyon Antelope Island Uintas - Yurt Pebble Creek Robbers Roost Antelope/ Lost Creek N Fork Provo River Capitol Reef Pine Valley Wilderness Uintas Stillwater Reservoir Grandaddy Mountain Logan Canyon Canyonlands Arches Twin Lakes Kabell Lake Amethyst Basin South Cedar Ridge Canyon Hurricane Wash Middle Fork of the Ogden River Moab Cat Canyon Crack Canyon Causey Reservoir St George Log Hollow Canyonlands Steam Mill Canyon Row Bench Rubies Highline Causey Reservoir Flat Tops Grand Daddy Lake Antelope Island White Pine Lake Brown Duck Flaming Gorge Snowbasin Swasey Lakes Spooky Gulch White Rock Bay Grand Gulch Cat Canyon Moon Lake Antelope Island Antelope Island Long Park Grand Daddy Lake Hades Pass Tom's Canyon Just arrived

The weekend of 16 July 11 I took a solo backpacking trip into the Uintas.  The snow was finally

mostly gone up there, so I thought I would give it a shot.  Initially, I wanted to hike out to

Garfield Basin, but the Weather Service snow models still showed 30 inches of snow in that

basin...for some reason.  So I decided to finally reach Island Lake via the Burnt Fork Trail

(Yahoo Map).  I have tried to make it to Island Lake three other times from two other

trailheads, but every other time I just found other things to do on the hike out to the lake.  So,

this time I decided to try a shorter hike and finally make it to the lake.  Well, I made it to the

lake, and it really wasn't worth all the effort.  The Burnt Fork Trail was easy, with a very gradual

gain up to the lake.  But it was very wet and swampy with the recent late-season snow melt.

The river crossings were easy, and I avoided getting wet with a little scouting.  I didn't run into

mosquitoes until reaching the intersection of the Highline Trail...but, after I found the

mosquitoes, they were relentless.  Island Lake wasn't really all that pretty.  The peaks around it

were fairly low, and the shoreline was completely wooded.  The wind up there was crazy that

day, also, so I basically spent 10 minutes at the lake and then retreated back down the trail to

find a campsite.  I found a nice site, and saw a cow moose and her calf later in the evening.

The night was uneventful, except for the crazy wind keeping me up half the night.  The hike

back the next day was also uneventful except for being dive-bombed by a hawk five times for

about a quarter of a mile.  It kept diving within a couple of feet from my head.  I thought I was

going to have to shoot it!  But it eventually stopped, and I soon finished the hike.  The Burnt

Fork Trail was aptly named, and the first part of the trail had a lot of burned out trees.  I'm glad

I finally made it to Island Lake, but I don't think I'll be going out of my way to go back.  And I'm

also starting to think that I may not do the Uintas in the early summer anymore...the

mosquitoes just always seem to be horrible.