It's high time I get caught up on posting some of my recent Utah summertime outings.
Back on Aug. 2-3 Skidog, buddy Todd and I ventured into the western Uinta High Peaks for a weekend backpack to Ibantik Lake. Ibantik Lake sits at about 10,200 feet just north of Notch Mountain, most easily accessed from the Crystal Lake trailhead off UT-150, the Mirror Lake Highway. Our plan was to follow the trail past Cliff Lake and Watson Lake to Clyde Lake, where I camped in 2006, and the bushwhack our way to The Notch in Notch Mountain, then descend to Ibantik. We would return by climbing back to The Notch and then following the trail past Wall Lake and west of Trial Lake back to the truck. Each way would be about 4.5 miles.
We stuck to plan. We headed up past Cliff Lake and Watson Lake:
Wind howled out of the south by the time we got to Clyde Lake:
We paused by my 2006 campsite for a bite to eat at noon before striking out cross-country off trail for The Notch:
"Bushwhacking" takes on a whole new meaning than it did back East:
We nonetheless found ourselves a bit above The Notch and had to scramble down some rock ledges to reach the regular trail. Some of the views from up there, though, were nothing short of stunning:
Skidog and I grabbed snowballs from a remaining drift to pelt Todd, but he ended up taking a different route down the cliff bands. Once on the trail we steadily descended from The Notch past scree fields from hell...:
...to Ibantik Lake:
As we set up camp Todd surprised us with two keg cans each of Heineken that he had squirreled away in his pack. What a bud! We stuck them in the lake to chill, and then set about fishing.
It was obvious that the water had dropped quickly as the shoreline near the water's edge was still wet mud. Todd brought along a complete fly fishing kit, and was looking mighty pro except for a notable lack of caught fish. I, with a cheesy spinning rig caught two nice cutthroat for dinner, and lost a third right as I was landing him:
Their flesh was oh-so-sweet from such cold water.
We awakened in the morning...:
...and after breaking camp we began the steady climb back to The Notch. Just below Lovenia Lake I came around a bend in the trail and came to an abrupt stop, as a massive moose cow stood in the trail no more than 20 yards ahead. I prayed there was no calf on the other side of us as she began to amble off into the brush and disappeared into the trees more quickly than I could get my camera out of my pack. #-o
We encountered another large snow drift at The Notch...:
...and looked back at Lovenia Lake...:
...before heading back past Wall Lake...:
...and back to the parking lot.
Back on Aug. 2-3 Skidog, buddy Todd and I ventured into the western Uinta High Peaks for a weekend backpack to Ibantik Lake. Ibantik Lake sits at about 10,200 feet just north of Notch Mountain, most easily accessed from the Crystal Lake trailhead off UT-150, the Mirror Lake Highway. Our plan was to follow the trail past Cliff Lake and Watson Lake to Clyde Lake, where I camped in 2006, and the bushwhack our way to The Notch in Notch Mountain, then descend to Ibantik. We would return by climbing back to The Notch and then following the trail past Wall Lake and west of Trial Lake back to the truck. Each way would be about 4.5 miles.
We stuck to plan. We headed up past Cliff Lake and Watson Lake:
Wind howled out of the south by the time we got to Clyde Lake:
We paused by my 2006 campsite for a bite to eat at noon before striking out cross-country off trail for The Notch:
"Bushwhacking" takes on a whole new meaning than it did back East:
We nonetheless found ourselves a bit above The Notch and had to scramble down some rock ledges to reach the regular trail. Some of the views from up there, though, were nothing short of stunning:
Skidog and I grabbed snowballs from a remaining drift to pelt Todd, but he ended up taking a different route down the cliff bands. Once on the trail we steadily descended from The Notch past scree fields from hell...:
...to Ibantik Lake:
As we set up camp Todd surprised us with two keg cans each of Heineken that he had squirreled away in his pack. What a bud! We stuck them in the lake to chill, and then set about fishing.
It was obvious that the water had dropped quickly as the shoreline near the water's edge was still wet mud. Todd brought along a complete fly fishing kit, and was looking mighty pro except for a notable lack of caught fish. I, with a cheesy spinning rig caught two nice cutthroat for dinner, and lost a third right as I was landing him:
Their flesh was oh-so-sweet from such cold water.
We awakened in the morning...:
...and after breaking camp we began the steady climb back to The Notch. Just below Lovenia Lake I came around a bend in the trail and came to an abrupt stop, as a massive moose cow stood in the trail no more than 20 yards ahead. I prayed there was no calf on the other side of us as she began to amble off into the brush and disappeared into the trees more quickly than I could get my camera out of my pack. #-o
We encountered another large snow drift at The Notch...:
...and looked back at Lovenia Lake...:
...before heading back past Wall Lake...:
...and back to the parking lot.
