Queant Lake

Still water, water everywhere. I packed in two gallons of Ice cream and 5-2 liters of Rootbeer for a bunch of hungry scouts and leaders last evening. They have been at Queant Lake all week. I only stayed overnight last night with them. OK, I only carried the ice cream and 2 of the rootbeers. My friend carried the other three. I must say my Osprey Argon 85 was an awesome pack. Held everything and most of the makings of a lot of rootbeer floats. We all hiked out this morning. We had a light frost on the ground, tents and tarps so mosquitos weren't bad today. Still looks like early June with all the water flowing and wild flowers. Simply beautiful in the Uintas. Group members saw a bear and two cubs on the way up, several moose, coyotes, and of course deer. Fishing was fair in Queant Lake.

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Originally Posted by Scott Card

Still water, water everywhere. I packed in two gallons of Ice cream and 5-2 liters of Rootbeer for a bunch of hungry scouts and leaders last evening. They have been at Queant Lake all week. I only stayed overnight last night with them. OK, I only carried the ice cream and 2 of the rootbeers. My friend carried the other three. I must say my Osprey Argon 85 was an awesome pack. Held everything and most of the makings of a lot of rootbeer floats. We all hiked out this morning. We had a light frost on the ground, tents and tarps so mosquitos weren't bad today. Still looks like early June with all the water flowing and wild flowers. Simply beautiful in the Uintas. Group members saw a bear and two cubs on the way up, several moose, coyotes, and of course deer. Fishing was fair in Queant Lake.

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Timely update for me. We're taking Scouts up there this week. When you say water everywhere, do you mean swampy standing water? Did they complain about bad mosquitoes other than the 'frosty' night? Wanna bring us some ice cream and root beer for our last night? Say yes!:nod:

Thanks!

I you go left when you approach the lake, you will avoid a large marshy place. From those who had been before, the preferred place to camp on on the left of the lake as you approach it not the right. Unfortunately, they were bringing up the rear. There was quite a bit of water, but avoidable standing water on the trial. Our troop camped in the big open area on the right-rear side of the lake (looking at the lake as you approach it) past the large flowing marshy place. The marsh is apparently there all the time at least it shows up on my topo maps. I am told that many have seen much worse mosquitos before than they had last week. I was actually expecting worse. It wasn't too bad for them or me. I had just about 100% deet and wasn't really bothered at all. Of course I try to eat garlic laced food the day before I hike and pack in garlic salt for fish and meat of any kind. It ain't just people that don't like garlic. :haha:

I would love to pack in ice cream and root beer to anyone. Just about nothing makes one a hero more than providing a root beer float in the wilderness. It was almost like magic to the scouts that I had ice cream for them. One word of caution. As ice cream thaws at altitude, it expands. Makes we wonder what is in the ice cream.... I had to wipe out my soft cooler from one gallon blowing the lid off overnight. When I got to camp on Friday night, the ice cream was rock solid and I still had a bit of dry ice left. The boys had just finished dinner so I decided to wait until just before the hike out to surprise them. The ice cream softened over night and was a perfect consistency in the morning. Unfortunately, it also expanded to about an inch over the top of the container and started to melt just a bit in my cooler. No harm though. They loved it.

Good deal, I think we usually bear left as we approach the lake. Sounds like we'll avoid the marshy area to the right. Good to hear the trail is in good condition and it sounds like the mosquitoes are NOT (edit) out-of-control-crazy. Even so, maybe I'll try your garlic method the day before we leave! =) That's pretty cool that you were able to treat them to the root beer floats. A pretty luxurious item indeed (for the backcountry). Thanks for the update and reply. I'm excited to get up there and backpack!

Have a great time! :2thumbs:

Our group just got back today. We had a great time. Sunny days, no rain. Skeeters were out, but we managed with DEET. Fishing was ok. Slow out of most of the lakes we tried. Good for small fish in the streams. Saw a chopper near Fox Lake. Someone said they had dropped off some guys who were searching for the missing backpacker. Hope they find/found him. No bear sightings. Saw some moose throughout the trip. Many swampy areas, but manageable. Quite a few people out and about in the area. Good times!