9/1 - Day 1: McKee Draw to East Park Reservoir (4.48 miles, +1150' / -340')
9/2 - Day 2: East Park Reservoir to Manila Park (7.94 miles, +1385' / -539')
9/3 - Day 3: Manila Park to Leidy Peak TH (14.05 miles, +2420' / -1244')
9/4 - Day 4: Leidy Peak TH to Sharlee Lake (14.13 miles, +2122' / -2450')
9/5 - Day 5: Sharlee Lake to Painter Basin (19.2 miles, +3186' / -2775')
9/6 - Day 6: Painter Basin to Paradise Lake (17.65 miles, +3291' / -3285')
9/7 - Day 7: Paradise Lake to Ledge Lake (11.96 miles, +2804' / -3110')
9/8 - Day 8: Ledge Lake to Hayden Pass TH (14.49 miles, +2657' / -3138')
Day 6: Painter Basin to Paradise Lake
(17.65 miles, +3291' / -3285')
Tired from the day before, we had another late start at 7:30 AM. The next pass was Anderson, the highest point of the Highline (12,640’), and what I expected to be the hardest climb. A snow-powdered Painter’s Peak rose to our South, and we began the ascent west.
False peak. And another false peak. One more. The climbing was slow and my headache was pounding. Within an hour I got dropped & gapped a good half-mile as Julian crushed the climb ahead, followed by Barney, then Cromwell.
One last look at the basin before starting.
Cromwell dropping me on the climb.
The plateau above Painter’s Basin - my last photo of the climb as I focused on catching up.
Finally seeing the actual pass, the steepness ramped up as snow blanketed the basketball-sized boulders. Foot placement became critical: a mindless step would be a rolled ankle or cut up shin. Without knowing if my foot would fall through a thin snow layer into a hole, I focused on hopping from exposed rock to exposed rock.
Cresting Anderson Pass, we took a rest and looked on at Kings Peak. Knowing we had two more passes, and knowing the following valleys were going to be exposed & unideal for camping, we opted not to summit.
A brief moment of cell service, and I turn on my phone to read a text: “Chris’s boss told us it was snowing in the Uintas. You guys doing good?” We were good.
King’s Peak? Or South Kings Peak. One of the most famous landscapes on the UHT.
By the bottom of this descent, I had a full-fledged heel blister.
During the approach to Tungsten, I was probably at my lowest morale of the trip. I was wanting to slowdown, but the group, especially Julian and Cromwell, was down to push on for the fully planned mileage. As we stopped at Yellowstone Creek Basin, we ran into a group of 4 teenagers, backpacking towards Smiths Fork Pass. They were the only hikers we had seen on-trail since Leidy Peak. A quick exchange of pleasantries, and we were off towards Tungsten.
From a scenery perspective, this area reminded me greatly of Bighorn Plateau in the Sierra Nevada, trading the hues of gray for orange and yellow. In some ways, it felt slightly Martian, with no tree cover and the vast rolling hills disappearing into peaks.
The Tungsten Pass climb was gentle, hardly a pass, but I was definitely feeling it. I had lost a bit of my appetite and I was hangry - I hadn’t eaten anything but my bars and Slim Jims, but I didn’t feel I could stomach a PackIt Gourmet meal. We stopped at Tungsten Lake as I forced some food down, then we tackled Porcupine Pass.
Unnamed lake prior to Tungsten Pass.
Tungsten was one of my favorite lakes from the entire trip.
Dropping into the Oweep Creek drainage below Porcupine Pass, we hit my personal favorite part of the trail: rocks turned into gentle grass as the trail disappeared from us. Porcupine Mountain and Oweep Creek rose to our left and right.
Julian, atop Porcupine Pass. I was feeling better by this point.
My favorite part of the UHT: descending from Porcuipine Pass into a grass valley of meandering streams. Occasional cairns stacks led the way.
The tiny black speck in the center is Cromwell.
We had planned to make it to Lambert Meadows, but by the time we hit Paradise Lake, the sun had already set. Tired and slightly beat-up, we pitched our tents on a nice little shelf above the water. I failed to take pictures of it, but you’ll have to take my word: it’s aptly named Paradise Lake. The crystal surface reflected blue hour as I completely skipped dinner. Cromwell, Julian, and Barney stargazed SpaceX satellites and I slept.