06/07/01:
Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me... 57 year young today.
I've been in the Strawberry Reservoir area of the Uinta National Forest for the past couple of days just loafing around waiting for the doctor's appointment today. I gotta go back in another month. Now they're talking about biopsies, the risk of stomach cancer, etc. Hey, no stress here!
This part of the Uninta National Forest isn't so hot, or rather it is. Drive in camping has little forest and little shade. I drove towards the Strawberry Reservoir hoping for some elevation, some shade, some cooler temperatures. Didn't get any of those things. I did see another Golden Eagle munching on some road kill. By the time I stopped and found the camera, it was gone.
The Mount Nebo area off US 15 has much more elevation which means more moisture which means more trees which more means more shade from the sun. It also goes up to almost 12000 feet so its a lot cooler there too. I'll be going back there some day. The only good thing about the US 6 part of the forest is its midway between Price, where my doctor is and Springville where the Wal-Mart Super Center is. I'll be going up there tomorrow for an oil & lube job and new tires.
From there I expect to move into the Upper Uintas for the weekend, come down on Monday to grab a motel room in Provo to update the website and then head back up into the Upper Uintas again.
06/09/01 Hiking South Fork Deer Creek Trail:
I'm up near the Mount Timpanogos Wilderness area in the Uinta National Forest. They charge $3 to get onto the Alpine Scenic Drive (UT 92). The drive is about 35 miles up into the mountains with steep rock faces and deep valleys. My Golden Eagle card covered the cost.
Little green humming birds have been everywhere in the Uintas. They sound like a 200 pound bumblebee until you realize what they are. I've had them fly into the truck, look at me and then fly away. A little while ago one got right up in my face, not two feet away.
This morning there were people camped all over the place. People just parked their cars along the side of the road and walked up into the woods to a flat place and set up camp. As I set off on my hike, I saw lots of bikers but no hikers. As it turns out, the trail I chose was just a narrow bike path as are many of the other trails I checked out. I picked up the trailhead just past UT 92 & NF 114 and it was downhill for the next 1+ miles. At a large camping area it crossed NF 114 and rose 1+ miles up to a ridge.
This was the first hike I've had for a while and I've only had a couple for the past month or two. So when the trail started back down, I decided that was enough for today. It's a good thing I did too. The legs are exceptionally strong but the heart and lungs need a little work to get back to speed.
06/10/01:
Last night was probably the worst night in my two years on the road. I was asleep at 10pm when half a dozen cars and trucks came into the area where I was camped. Yup, the typical beer drinking, boom box blasting, screaming kids straight out of a nightmare. And they didn't shut down to 4am.
I was too tired to do any hiking so I just drove along the Alpine Scenic Drive and then found a nice shady spot to relax and take a nap.
06/12/01:
Last night was spent in a motel as I finally updated the website and sent out the newsletter. I'm now in the Mt. Nebo part of the Uinta National Forest at 8300 feet... and its raining. The news was saying there had been 26 straight days with no measurable rain. It's making up for it now and has been doing so for the past 15 minutes or so. I watched as hail began bouncing off the hood of my truck and thought, uh oh! there goes my windshield... but so far so good.
06/13/01:
The weather deteriorated pretty rapidly yesterday. Rain, mixed with sleet came down for an hour or so. I had a nice nature show as clouds and mist swirled around nearby mountain tops. Then the wind picked up to 30-40 mph rocking the truck quite a bit. The wind pushed a fog bank right at me and it was like watching a flash flood coming at me and didn't take long to completely surround the entire area. Temperatures dropped last night. I left the sun shower out on top of the water jugs and this morning it was frozen almost solid.
The sun seemed as though it was trying to come out as I went off for a walk up the steep road. I passed a couple of mid-size aspens that had blown down on the road from last night's wind. Shortly after returning from the walk, it clouded over and the snow started. The very fine stuff that can last for days. 1.5 hours later it was still coming down and finally starting to stick to the ground.
Looks like they've had some pretty serious paintball wars up here. Lot of orange paint all over the trees and rocks.
06/14/01:
More snow last night. Saw two large female elk thismorning.
06/15/01:
Did laundry & some other chores early this morning. Then headed up past Heber City on UT 150 in the general direction of Flaming Gorge, thinking I would stop off at Mirror Lake for a day or two. They are charging fees $3/day, $6/week for access to the area. For the first time my Golden Eagle card wasn't acceptable so I told them forget it and returned to the Mt. Nebo area.
06/16/01 Hiking Rock Springs Trail:
A lot of people moved into the Uinta National Forest last night (Friday). This morning was in the 60's and not a cloud in the sky. It's supposed to be close to 90 today down below but still nice at 8000 feet. Although I did have a tough time breathing last night when lying down.
I didn't know the name of the trail I was on until I saw a sign a couple hundred yards on the way. The trail made a steady, but moderate incline for the first .5 miles or so and then started down at the same grade. 1.5 miles along the way I came to a trail junction and turned left to stay on Rock Springs Trail. The trail went up and down through aspen forests and fields of a cabbage like plant without gaining any elevation.
I went 1.15 hours towards Lizard Lake, mindful of all the hills I had gone down and would have to climb back up. I finally came to a small meadow .5 miles or so from Lizard Lake and it was all down hill from there. That was enough for me.
On the way back I saw or passed a lot of bikers, hikers, horses, backpackers and 3 dirt bikes which are verboten on this trail.
06/17/01:
The dorks moved in while I was out hiking. Music as loud as it would go, bass as high as it would go so you just couldn't get away from the throbbing vibration. Then of course the screaming and howling until after 2am. Too tired to hike today.