Trail Pictures

Tracy @ Leidy Peak

Leidy Peak

Leidy Peak

Leidy Peak

Tracy @ Leidy Peak

Leidy Peak

Leidy Peak

Leidy Peak

Leidy Peak

Leidy Peak

Tracy

Tracy

Tracy

The snow field

The snow field

Leidy Peak

Tracy climbing above

the snow

Tracy climbing above

the snow

Leidy Peak

        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 July 29, 2011, Tracy and I stayed at the Carter Military Trail Yurt in the

eastern Uintas.  We stayed in Vernal on Friday night, and then we headed up into the

mountains on Saturday.  The weather was great, so we decided to hike on the Highline Trail

around Leidy Peak (Yahoo Map).  We've hiked here a couple of times, but I had gotten it into

my head that you could access the trails behind the mountain faster by going cross country

around the east side of the mountain rather than taking the trail around the west side.  The last

time we tried to hike the trails behind the mountain we were stopped by a steep snow field that

dropped over a cliff...remember that...it'll come back up.

But this time we started cross country on the east side of the mountain.  That was really nice.

The first part of the hike was through some sparse trees, but after an hour or so we climbed up

on a shoulder of the mountain and got above treeline.  We were up on a grassy plateau behind

the mountain, and it was just really pretty.  It was also easy hiking, so we just worked our way

around the mountain.  While it was really nice, I was wrong about it being closer to the trails on

the back side.  But that was okay, because the hiking was easy.  Eventually, we made it to the

trails, and I had to spend a few minutes hunched over the map trying to get my bearings...for

some reason, the trails just really confused me.  I eventually got my bearings, and we hiked a

little towards Gabbro Pass, where we had tried to hike the year before.  It was really nice out

there, but it started to get late, and we still had quite a way to hike back on the trail back to the

car, so we started back.

We started back down the trail, and I was reminded how long the hike really was...Leidy Peak

is really a pretty big mountain.  Well, after a while we made it to where we were stopped by the

snow field the year before.  The bad news: the snow field was still there this year at the end of

July.  The worse news: because of our cross-country adventure, this time the snow field was

between us and the car.  We may have been able to cross the snow, but it led straight down to

the edge of a huge cliff, so any mistake would have bad consequences, so I just didn't have

the guts.  But rather than turn around for a four hike back around the mountain, we just

climbed the steep slope to get above and around the snow field.  It wasn't easy, but we made it

up and over, and then cut cross-country to cut off a loop in the trail, and then finished the hike

back to the car.

We spent that night at the yurt, and then hiked around a little on Sunday before heading back

home.  I really like the Leidy Peak area...the grassy plateaus are crazy pretty.