I've gotta know--is the snow going to melt on the Kings trail by July 11th?

[Wasatch Rebel]

My friend just got back from a flight in which he flew along the north slope of the Uintas. He said he specifically looked along the Henrys Fork trail up to Kings, the chute, everywhere was covered in snow. No lakes showing. Nothing. Same with the Red Castle area. I'm wondering just how much snow is up there and if most of it will be gone supposing we continue to have temps down here in the 90s. That's only about 18 days away. My friend says he doesn't want to do the trip if he's going to have to wear snowshoes. So, any suggestions for a nice backpacking trip around July 11th that won't have much snow along the route? Maybe Great Basin National Park?

[jman]

July for Uintas this year? Yeah right. More like late august and even then you'll still be in snow on Kings.

Uintas is a tough call this year.

[Wasatch Rebel]

I know. Too much snow, and too cold of spring.

[Scott Card]

No lakes showing.... crazy. This is the weirdest year that I remember weather/snow wise.

[Wasatch Rebel]

So, any suggestions for alternatives? Where it won't be too hot?

[ibenick]

I think you'll have no trouble finding a good destination in the Uintas by July 11th. Sure, maybe no peak bagging or crossing high passes but we have two and a half weeks of hot temps between now and then that is melting snow like crazy. Just since 7am this morning the Trial Lake snotel has shown 4" of snow melt, now down to 36". I'd say shoot for something that stays below 10,600 or so and completely avoid anything upwards of 11k. You'll probably run into a few snow patches but nothing that should stop you. And sure, it will be wet and muddy but that's just the Uintas. You could also look towards the far east side like the Chepeta and Spirit Lake areas. They have received less precipitation this year and their 10k+ snotels were reporting no snow more than a week and a half ago. I'm heading up this weekend and next and will of course report back.

[Wasatch Rebel]

I think you'll have no trouble finding a good destination in the Uintas by July 11th. Sure, maybe no peak bagging or crossing high passes but we have two and a half weeks of hot temps between now and then that is melting snow like crazy. Just since 7am this morning the Trial Lake snotel has shown 4" of snow melt, now down to 36". I'd say shoot for something that stays below 10,600 or so and completely avoid anything upwards of 11k. You'll probably run into a few snow patches but nothing that should stop you. And sure, it will be wet and muddy but that's just the Uintas. You could also look towards the far east side like the Chepeta and Spirit Lake areas. They have received less precipitation this year and their 10k+ snotels were reporting no snow more than a week and a half ago. I'm heading up this weekend and next and will of course report back.

Yeah, let me know what you find. My buddy was talking about Goblin Valley, Capitol Reef, or the San Raphael, but that's going to be might hot in mid-July. Like you say, there should be some places in the Uintas where we can go. I think a good ballpark judge of snow levels is our own Wasatch peaks. Looking up at Twin and Lone Peaks, it looks like there's still a lot of snow down to 9000', but that can change a lot in a couple of weeks.

[spaljeff]

I was just reading the posts about King's Peak. I know there is a ton of snow up there, and I have never been there. I'm a Montanan who hasn't done a ton of hiking in Utah. Nevertheless, my 2 sons and I are headed up into that area tomorrow (July 11)- we shall see how far we make it, and report back later in the week.

[spaljeff]

Yeah, my 2 sons (11 and 13) and I just returned. We went up Henry's Fork towards King's Peak. We planned to go to Dollar Lake, but the bridge was washed out, it was raining a lot we didn't want to get any more wet by finding a spot to ford the river, so we opted for the other direction - turning right at Henry's fork. We went to Bear Lake and stayed, but with constant rain and a broken water purifier, we came back out. There were some fellows that went that way and did make it to the top of King's Peak. They did some serious river fording and were soaking wet, but they did bag the peak on July 11, 2011.

[ibenick]

Thanks for the report. Did the guys who bagged King's happen to say anything about snow conditions up there? Ice axe and crampons kind of thing?