Mtnman1830
08-13-2008, 12:57 PM
Rite of Passage an event, achievement, etc. in a person's life regarded as having great significance
On sunday, August 10, my son and I went with a friend and his son on the boy's first backpack trip.
We headed out to Roosevelt and the eastern flank of the Uinta mountains to bag the highpoint of both Dagget and Uinta Counties, Eccentric Peak (aka Chepeta Peak).
Just outside of Roosevelt, the 50 mile dirt road took us to Chepeta Lake. The road is pretty washboardy going up, but gets significantly better the higher you go.
It started raining before we got on the road, as is common in these mountains, but it really wasn't a downpour. Just enough to make things pretty wet.
When we arrived at the trailhead, thet water had quit falling from the sky, but as usually happens. It was now on the ground.
We unloaded the truck and headed the mile to where we thought we would camp. We didn't want to tire the kids out, and we were going to be out for four days. We were planning on doing a bit of hiking, and lots of fishing.
We set up camp between Papoose and Mocassain Lakes, and had dinner. We did a bit of fishing, enough to satisfy my 8 year olds yearning for the day and went to bed fairly early.
That night, I starte not feeling right, a bit of a stomach ache. I didn't feel like eating nothing for breakfast, but I forced down a cup of fruit. Not long after, I started to heave it up.
Not wanting to spoil the trip, I still wanted to bag the peak, and possibly Dagget Peak, which was only a mile further.
We hiked up to the dam between the two lakes, and climbed up the talus slope. The peak was only less than two miles away, and me not feeling good, I was hoping to make it. There is no trail to the peak so we just started going up until we couldn't go up any more.
My son didn't want to stick to the grassy parts of the mountain, he wanted to climb on the rocks - I was glad because my pace was gradually starting to slow. When he wanted to rest, it wasn't long enough.
I had expelled more fruit than I thought I had eaten, and was now dry heaving and was getting really tired (I don't suggest vomiting as a means of propulsion) about 3/4 of a mile from the peak, I layed down, fevered.
Thoughts running through my head of ruining the trip for the other three and disapointing my son urged me on.
I couldn't think of what my problem was. I had altitude sickness when I bagged Ibapah Peak - this wasn't the same. This should be an easy ascent.
There isn't a peak so to speak, but a large, flat plateau. Kinda anti climatic - but it is afterall, a highpoint.
Long story short, I buckled in and we came down after the peak, just doing an overnighter, with maybe 1/2 hour of fishing.
Sorry about the lack of pictures, I didn't feel like doing much but putting one foot in front of the other and finding the geocache at the top. At least my son said he had a good time.
On sunday, August 10, my son and I went with a friend and his son on the boy's first backpack trip.
We headed out to Roosevelt and the eastern flank of the Uinta mountains to bag the highpoint of both Dagget and Uinta Counties, Eccentric Peak (aka Chepeta Peak).
Just outside of Roosevelt, the 50 mile dirt road took us to Chepeta Lake. The road is pretty washboardy going up, but gets significantly better the higher you go.
It started raining before we got on the road, as is common in these mountains, but it really wasn't a downpour. Just enough to make things pretty wet.
When we arrived at the trailhead, thet water had quit falling from the sky, but as usually happens. It was now on the ground.
We unloaded the truck and headed the mile to where we thought we would camp. We didn't want to tire the kids out, and we were going to be out for four days. We were planning on doing a bit of hiking, and lots of fishing.
We set up camp between Papoose and Mocassain Lakes, and had dinner. We did a bit of fishing, enough to satisfy my 8 year olds yearning for the day and went to bed fairly early.
That night, I starte not feeling right, a bit of a stomach ache. I didn't feel like eating nothing for breakfast, but I forced down a cup of fruit. Not long after, I started to heave it up.
Not wanting to spoil the trip, I still wanted to bag the peak, and possibly Dagget Peak, which was only a mile further.
We hiked up to the dam between the two lakes, and climbed up the talus slope. The peak was only less than two miles away, and me not feeling good, I was hoping to make it. There is no trail to the peak so we just started going up until we couldn't go up any more.
My son didn't want to stick to the grassy parts of the mountain, he wanted to climb on the rocks - I was glad because my pace was gradually starting to slow. When he wanted to rest, it wasn't long enough.
I had expelled more fruit than I thought I had eaten, and was now dry heaving and was getting really tired (I don't suggest vomiting as a means of propulsion) about 3/4 of a mile from the peak, I layed down, fevered.
Thoughts running through my head of ruining the trip for the other three and disapointing my son urged me on.
I couldn't think of what my problem was. I had altitude sickness when I bagged Ibapah Peak - this wasn't the same. This should be an easy ascent.
There isn't a peak so to speak, but a large, flat plateau. Kinda anti climatic - but it is afterall, a highpoint.
Long story short, I buckled in and we came down after the peak, just doing an overnighter, with maybe 1/2 hour of fishing.
Sorry about the lack of pictures, I didn't feel like doing much but putting one foot in front of the other and finding the geocache at the top. At least my son said he had a good time.