Blue Lake Drainage

This photo is from a hike I took in the High Uinta Mountains of Utah, into a remote wilderness area known as Naturalist Basin. The High Uintas are famous for their gorgeous alpine basins, but arguably one of the most beautiful areas in the Uintas is Naturalist Basin – a small collection of lakes and meadows, nestled together against the southern slopes of Mount Agassiz (12,428 feet) and Spread Eagle Peak (12,457 feet). Getting to the Basin itself is an 8-mile hike (one way), starting at the Highline Trailhead east of Mirror Lake. It’s a long, rocky jaunt, but like most hikes in the High Uintas there is not a ridiculous amount of elevation gain-loss (because most of the trailheads start so high, at about 10,300 feet). Autumn colors have really peaked in the Uinta Mountains, so the hike through Aspen, pine, oak, and fir is truly spectacular (and this is REAL wilderness, and bear country!). As you climb higher into the backcountry, the deciduous vegetation gives way to evergreen, and eventually you climb above the treeline once you reach the upper plateau of Naturalist Basin, where 2.5 miles of this hike are located. Five icy lakes cling tenaciously to the talus slopes in the top of the basin, just below the 11,000-foot contour line. Hiking across this starkly beautiful, sparsely vegetated terrain that separates the small lakes is somewhat of a surreal experience. Summer is a VERY short season at this altitude, lasting only two or three months, and when you’re up here it’s hard to believe that most of this beauty will be buried under ice and snow for 8 or 9 months of the year. I’m always amazed that ANYTHING can survive the winters here, but I guess life always finds a way.
The other cool thing about hiking the Uintas is that there is water everywhere. The area has over a thousand (mostly small) lakes (some perennial, some snow-created), and countless streams, creeks, and rivers that sprawl through the backcountry like some vast web. You are never very far from water on any hike up here, which definitely adds to the enjoyment. This photo was taken beside a perennial stream that flows out of Blue Lake and the upper plateau lakes. Although by this point I had left the deciduous trees behind, the smaller shrubs and underbrush were still adding their glory to Autumn’s pageantry, and I thought the variety of colors and afternoon sunlight made for a surreal, serene, and awe-inspiring moment. I hope you agree.
This hike is also the first time in seven years of hiking the Intermountain West that I took a fall (as in falling down, not autumn-fall). I was following the trail to the upper plateau across the top of a 25 foot cliff, when a portion of the ledge simply gave way beneath my feet! I fell about 4 feet to another ledge below and landed rather hard on my side. I wasn’t injured badly (scrapes and bruises), but my camera skittered across the ledge and plunged right over the cliff. I thought it was surely a goner, but once I got back down to the bottom of the cliff it was hanging from a tree branch, and had only very minor damage that did not affect functionality. I guess somebody was looking out for both me AND my camera that day! Anyway, after it was all said and done it only added to the adventure (although I’m sure my Mom would disagree), and I chalked this one up to another incredibly gorgeous, spiritually renewing wilderness excursion!!
http:--www.americansouthwest.net-utah-uinta-mountains-naturalist-basin.html
http:--www.utah.com-playgrounds-uinta_mountains.htm
http:--www.everytrail.com-destination-high-uintas-wilderness

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