'Kings Castle' Loop

Red Castle.  This iconic landmark in the High Uintas Wilderness has certainly become one of the most sought after destinations in all the Uinta range over recent years.  Like so many others, it too, quickly found a place on my bucket list.  But for years, I kept putting it off in favor of other trips or when plans with others fell through.  I finally checked it off when my wife, Jessica, proposed a trip to celebrate my 37th birthday.

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A Night at Notch Lake

Another short hike I'd yet to do off of the popular Mirror Lake Highway that cuts through the western end of the Uinta Range is a trail that wraps around Bald Mountain instead of up Bald Mountain.  This trail takes you by a number of other nice lakes, namely Clegg, Notch and Bench Lakes.  I opted to make it another overnight trip.  I had actually intended to hike the full length of this trail the prior year, but was stopped short by a wildfire I was uncertain of out beyond.

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Through the Notch and Back

One of my first experiences with the Uintas involved hiking up to the well-known Notch over two decades ago when I was a teenager.  I had hiked up it a few times since, but had not yet taken the time to hike down the other side of it and check out the trail all the way down to Ibantik Lake.  Ibantik Lake in particular is a very popular lake I had been wanting to visit myself for a number of years now.  I was finally able to make that happen as a spur hike while yet again, doing an overnight trip along the short but scenic Clyde Lake Loop.

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2019 Summer Vacation: Yellowstone National Park

After my first visit to Yellowstone National Park two years ago as a leader for our local scout trip, I couldn't wait to bring my family back.  Rather than push for it the next year, we opted to wait an additional year, making it happen this year.

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To the Boulder Top

With all the visits I make down to Torrey, Utah, including several drives along Highway 12 over the big behemoth of a plateau called Boulder Mountain, I've often gazed upon it wondering what it would be like to take a backpacking trip there, but then always put it off in exchange for trips down into neighboring Capitol Reef, or the Escalanate area, and so on. 

That changed this summer when my friend Devin reached out wanting to do a early season trip up into the Uintas.  The snowmelt and high run-off factor as a result of the big winter we had ultimately scared us off from that idea though and so he came up with an idea to go backpacking down on Boulder Mountain.  And what an idea that turned out to be! We made it happen and I was utterly blown away with how how much more awesome that mountain was than I could have ever imagined.  Devin's friend, Dane, would join up with us, and thus, plans were finalized.

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A Provo Paradise

This past winter and spring was good to the Wasatch Mountains, as well as much of the West, piling up the snow then bringing lots of rain which gave way to a lot of early summer greenery.  This was experienced first hand when I was able to take my son Lennox out for a night to enjoy a slice of green mountain paradise right above our town of Provo.

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A Night on Y Mountain: Another Daddy-Daughter Backpacking Trip

Having successfully completed a trip out with Ellory the night before, it was Willow's turn to get up into the mountains.  She's a fan of hiking the 'Y' above our neighborhood.  I offered her the opportunity to go higher above it and she bit.  She'd get another big choice to make along the way...

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