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With Kendall still in town we made a quick overnight trip on Wednesday to the Uintas without the kids.  April and I set up camp just south of Trial lake and hiked the Clyde Lake loop while Kendall went swimming in Jordanelle.

Our hike started at the Crystal Lake trailhead where there were plenty of mosquitoes, dark clouds, and rolling thunder. The first lake we passed on the loop was Cliff Lake followed by Petite and Watson Lakes.

Cliff Lake

Petite lake

Watson Lake

Once April and I made it Clyde lake we took a break and watched the lightning off in the distance over Murdock Basin.  We took our time taking photos around Clyde and Twin lakes  before we headed down to Wall Lake and back to the trailhead.

Clyde Lake

Back on the trail

Twin lakes

Just before we made it back to the Crystal Lake trailhead the sky blew up.  I worked my way around the Lily lakes in ankle deep mud and water taking photos of one of the most colorful and dramatic sunsets I have ever witnessed.  I could not think of a better way to end such a perfect hike in the Uintas.

We made it back to camp and Kendall showed up just a few moments later.  We made some dinner and spent the night hanging out around the campfire. The clouds faded away and I was finally able to shoot my first star trails and a few long exposures with my 7D.

This past weekend April, the boys, and I made our first trip to the Uintas where the last of the snow was melting and the mosquitoes had yet to come out.  We headed out late Friday afternoon and set up camp just south of Trial Lake, we  made a short hike around Haystack Lake then drove along the Mirror Lake highway making various stops and shooting photos.
Haystack Lake

Lots of snow melt at the Bald Mountain Pass

Mini Pond near Lost Lake

Friday the moon was nearly full and there were plenty of clouds in the sky so I was unable to shoot any start trails but did shoot a few long exposures around camp.

Saturday morning the skies were clear and we were ready to hike. We left camp and arrived at the Pass Lake trail head and began our clockwise hike of the Lofty Lake loop at 10am. The trail to Reid’s Meadow was very wet with more than a few snow drifts that made it quite interesting for the kids.

Reid’s Meadow

The trail between Reid’s and Kamas Lake had a few steep loose sections but the kids did great. Once we arrived at Kamas lake we let the kids throw some rocks and wade into the ice cold water.

After our break we made our way up to Cutthroat pass where we encountered a large amount of snow.  We did a bit of route finding and scrambled our way around the deep snow up to Lofty lake.

We took a long break at Lofty Lake to eat snacks, filter water, take photos, and soak in the spectacular views.  With all the ice and snow Lofty lake was definitely the highlight of the hike.

Not much trail was exposed from under the snow as we made our way up to the pass so we scrambled across the rocks.  Little Bowen (3yo)  had a hard time hiking on the rocks and was a bit tuckered out and done hiking uphill.  We hiked back down to Scout lake and made it back to the  Pass Lake trail head at 2pm . The kids did an awesome job hiking  the loop and had a great time.

Scout Lake

After Lofty we drove up the Mirror Lake highway to Christmas Meadows where we wandered around the area for about an hour shooting photos.

Next was a quick stop at the Provo River Falls for a short walk along the trail before heading out of the Uintas.

Short fun trip.. I cant wait to go back.