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View Full Version : Trip Report TR: Round, Sand, Fish Lake (Uinta's)



Glockguy
08-02-2005, 05:06 PM
This trip took place on July 16 2005 with my father in law Gordon and 11 year old brother in law Colton

We left the car at 7 a.m and got back at 6 p.m. The trail to the lakes has some steep sections and is mostly uphill on the way to Round Lake. It is well used and easy to follow. I am abif fan of trekking poles and was happy to have mine with me. They helped me keep my speed and balance up especially durinf those creek crossings using just a 4 inch wide old tree.

We got to Round Lake after abou 2 hrs 45 minutes. We had lunch and a fishing break here. Gordon and I didn't expect much in the way of monster fish from this small lake but we took the break in order to not make the whole trip hiking so it would be more enjoyable for Colton.

Although Round Lake was not good fishing it was the best for camping if we had decided to do so. It had lots of open areas of green grass and trees for shade.

After 30 fish-less minutes we headed to Sand Lake. It was another .5 mile up the trail. We found the greyling to be hungy for our renegades here. After catching a fish after every 3-4 casts for an hour we headed up to Fish Lake.

Fish Lake is another .5 mile up the trail. The trail was a little faint but if we lost it we would just take a minute to get our bearings and get back on track. Fish Lake is much bigger then the other 2 lakes. It is L-shaped and has a dam built by the CCC.

The guys got set up to fish and I headed off into the bush in hopes of finding a geocache that no one has ever found. In geocaching it is kind of a coveted prize to get a "FTF" ( First To Find) It is really cool iof the cache has gone along time without being found. I still could not find this elusive cache due to faulty coords. The hiders are not very experienced cachers and i wish they would contact me with the right coords. You can read my log on the cache page here: http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=153e8879-7c52-44ef-96c9-7386aff31c18

I was happy to have the GPS with me and would have been screwed (lost) without it. I got back to find the guys tearing it up on the fish. The fish were a lot bigger at Fish Lake. We caught greylings and brookies here. I got set up on ahalf submerged log for fishing and a few zzz's.

The brookies were under nourished here. They had huge heads that didn't match up with the skinny bodies.

We were happy to get back to the car after the haul back. We made it back about 30 minutes faster because we were headed downhill. This made for along day trip but gave us that awesome feeling of escaping the world in the mountains. It would make a greta trip for a few nights camping. I would suggest going ALAP ( As Light As Possible) because the trail would be nasty with a 50 LB+ pack.

We were able to be back in SLC in time to take the ladies out for Saturday night, (ensuring any future excursions for us guys).

rockgremlin
08-02-2005, 07:06 PM
Wow, great TR! I've been up to these lakes several times in the past, and the Greyling have always been hungry.

A lot of legend surrounds Fish Lake. Apparently, there are legends of a lost Spanish Mine in that area. I went up there looking for it years ago, and I believe I found what USED TO be that mine. The legend said that the mine "only went back about 30-40 feet, and looked very unsafe. At the mouth of the mine there is a tree with a large cross and a dot etched deeply into it." Well, I found that tree with the cross, and I found a large blasted out trench going back into the mountain. I also found a spent blasting cap near the blasted out trench. I theorize that there probably used to be a mine there, but the forest service went up there and blasted it out (to avoid someone going back in there and getting hurt). The location of the mine and tree is on the northwest side of the lake - right there in the elbow of the lake going back into the cliffs.

accadacca
08-02-2005, 08:48 PM
Ignore the apple and funny glasses.
:lol8: Nice!

Hey great report, those graying are cool. :2thumbs:

Glockguy
08-02-2005, 10:53 PM
Thats's cool about the mine. I have done some reading about them. It wasn't the Rhoads mine was it? Here is alink to some of the books out there on them.

http://www.geocities.com/Baja/Outback/5018/books.html


*Not pimping the site just sharing.

Sombeech
08-03-2005, 07:24 AM
*Not pimping the site just sharing.

Hey, I know what that's all about. Check out my work on the UMB forum :lol8:

rockgremlin
08-03-2005, 11:04 AM
It wasn't the Rhoads mine was it?

Nope. The "Infamous Lost Rhoad's Mine" is supposedly up around Rock Creek or Yellowstone Creek on the East end of the Uintahs, and it's on indian lands too. If they see ya, they'll :rifle: ya. Treasure seeker beware!!

icthys
08-03-2005, 04:02 PM
I was actually just on one of the Treasure Hunting forums, I've been reading the stories over there for about a year. As I understand there is more than one Rhodes mine. One post I just barely read had a guy post directions to one of the Rhodes mines up in the area around these lakes. Several others hinted that it was one of the mines. True or not it'd be fun to go up and check it out.