The Uintas

Last week a co-worker, Toni Carlson, her daughter and I were going to head to Wyoming to hike. I was SOOOOOOO excited to hike in the Wind River Range. Well then a cold front came in and it was supposed to snow. Seriously. . . . . the mountains can be the worst! So we had to change our plans. We decided to go to the Uintas instead. I had never been there and it was a lot closer so it seemed like a great plan. It turned out to be AWESOME! The Uintas are amazing. I can't wait to go again someday.

 The first day we hiked a six mile loop. We passed a number of named lakes: Cliff, Petit, Linear, Watson, Clyde, Wall, Lily and Ponds, we also passed some unnamed lakes as well. It was a pretty easy and beautiful hike.

Moki was in heaven

It was chilly when the clouds covered thesun and very hot when the sun was out. Made it hard to know what to wear but all the lakes were so pretty.

Jaycee, Toni's 10 year old daughter, did amazing on all the hikes.

 I was in awe at the beauty and the fact that I had never been before.

 After we finished hiking we went to the campground for dinner. Amber joined us while we were eating. After dinner we strolled around Washington Lake before dark. We were able to have a fun little campfire and make smores before bed. It was a pretty chilly night. It gets cold at 9,000 ft above sea level.

Friday we woke up and took our time in the morning. We were waiting for the sun to warm us up a little bit. I slept great but everyone else was cold during the night, not fun. On a whim I brought my warmest sleeping bag so that helped me stay warm.

We decided to hike out of Crystal lake again because there was another loop we hadn't hiked. This time we hiked to Island Lake and then hiked a different way, around Duck Lake to get back to the trailhead.

This hike did not have as many hikes as the previous day but there were still lots of lakes. The first Lake we passed was Long Lake. It had a beautiful wildflower meadow in front of it as well

 The lake looks small back there but it was actually a good size lake.

Trying to get Moki to pose for me

Then we headed to Island Lake. This lake was pretty big and seemed to be a popular backpacking spot. We got a little cardio in because the lake is on top of a ridge. Moki and Jaycee taking in the view. We were pretty high up at this point.

 It says it is only 3 miles from the trailhead but out GPS watched said it was four miles. This is where we stopped for snacks.

Moki actually sat down for a little bit which means she was tired.

 The view was amazing

 MJaycee was great to throw sticks in the water for Moki so she swam a ton too.

After lunch we headed off the ridge towards Duck Lake. Then we also passed Weir Lake. The trail was mostly flat with some intermittent up and downs.

 Perfect weather for hiking.

 We were all pretty tired by the time we finished. It ended up being 10 miles and we were kind of expecting between 6 and 8. We didn't bring enough food so we headed back to camp for lunch and rest. I took a nap and Moki got a massage from Jaycee.

We wanted to head to Mirror Lake and check it out as well. It is a beautiful lake. We enjoyed the very flat path that goes around the entire lake.

 This trail was a lot more crowded. Still really pretty and great for small kids.

 This was a great group to camp hike with. We all got along great and had a nice time. I am so thankful for people that are willing to adventure in my life.

After Mirror Lake we headed back to camp so Amber could head home for the night. After she left Toni and I convinced Jaycee that we should head home too. We needed to be back earlier Saturday and so it didn't seem worth it to just sleep in the tent to wake up and go home the next morning. It took a little convincing but once we got her on board we quickly packed up.

We did stop at Provo Falls on the way home though. I have been wanting to see the falls for a while and they were amazing!

Such a beautiful night.

On the way home we stopped in Heber for some dinner. Real food always tastes so good after hiking all day! This was a super fun trip even though it was different than what we had originally planned.