Breathing heavy at Naturalist Basin

Trip dates: July 30-31, 2022

It only took me 10 months of living in northern Utah to FINALLY make it out backpacking in my local mountains, the Uintas. I’d planned on going a few weeks prior, but realized that donating blood and high elevation backpacking were probably not the best combination. So I waited for what I thought was long enough for my red blood cells to regenerate, then headed out for a quick overnight to Naturalist Basin with Field Trip, who I’d met on the PCT.

We left Salt Lake City late morning Saturday, stopped for lunch the Moose Cafe (hello breakfast burritos!), and were parked at the Highline Trailhead by about 2:00. There was plenty of parking in the lot. But one annoying thing we failed to realize was that we couldn’t pay the Mirror Lake Highway fee at the trailhead. The closest place to pay the fee was at Mirror Lake, just a few minutes back up the road.

Rainy hiking is happy hiking (if you’re me)

We sorted out our fee situation, then thunder made an appearance as we were getting ready to head out. Luckily there’s good tree cover for the first part of the trail. That is until we hit the burn area that got hit by what I think was the Murdock Fire in 2018. We stayed cool even through the burn area thanks to the rain that had picked up by the time we reached it. Plus, few things bring me as much joy as hiking in the (not freezing) rain!

A group we’d met in the parking lot mentioned that Jordan Lake (our original destination) was packed and recommended that we stay at Evermann Lake. So we stopped just short of Jordan and followed a faint trail out to Evermann. The rain stopped, the mosquitos started biting, and there wasn’t much flat ground to set up on. The lake had the being pretty thing down pat, though.

Reaching Jordan Lake

We finished the hike up to Jordan Lake early the next morning. Turns out it wasn’t especially crowded, but we wouldn’t have had the lake to ourselves if we’d stayed there. Still, I was glad to have stayed at Evermann. We only saw one other group there.

The hike out was mostly downhill, but the elevation was still getting to me! I felt like I was constantly stopping for breathing breaks even though the trail was supposedly relatively easy, at least on the way out. Were my limited red blood cells screaming at me? Or was I just more out of shape than I thought? I guess I’ll have to go hike it again to find out.

I would love to go back to spend more than 24 hours exploring the area. And also complete the loop around Naturalist Basin. Maybe next year…