Naturalist Basin

[TreeHugger]

Has anyone backpacked to the Basin in October? I know it's going to be cold (we're planning the 8/9th), I'm guessing 20s-30s overnight?

[Mtnbiker]

Hey there, that should be a lot of fun! We went in July and it is beautiful back there! Have you been there before?

[tuffchuck2000]

I know that people do go in there that late, but have not been in there that late myself. We did go in to Duck Lake this last weekend, and when we stopped to pay our fee at the booth, the Ranger told us it had snowed up high the night before. Sure enough, at the crystal lake trailhead there was enough big hail pellets to see piles on the ground, and it had dusted up higher enough to see it sticking to the ground. I bet it got down to 35-40 while we were there, but yeah in October it would be below frezzing at night. I remember growing up and going deer hunting the first half of October sometime and a couple of times it snowed on us up to about 6 inches. I think that would be your challenge, if it snowed a ton. Sounds like fun though, wish I was going, the Swell has started its fall call to me though, so that is where I will be for the next couple of months on the weekend.

[TreeHugger]

No, havent been there before, Ian.

Snow would be cool! :-) Cold weather isnt an issue, and I bet it would be beautiful with some snow! We have gear for winter camping, I just dont want it to be "dangerous".... you know, all those people getting lost in the Uintas and all! :-) Trails covered with snow, not easy to follow... I'm not at all familiar with the area, really, so I dont know what to expect.

[Wasatch Rebel]

Near the trail head, the trail should be easy to pick out, even if it snows. I'd say that's probably the case for the first four miles or so. Where it might be possible to get a little turned around is where all the lakes are, with no real trails between them. Still, I think you'd be fine--unless it's a white out, then all bets are off.
I've camped in the Uintahs near Mirror Lake in October and I think it got down into the teens--but that was around the latter part of October. I've camped up above Wall Lake (near Trial) right after Christmas. Talk about cold. That was the year I graduated from high school, and I didn't know what I was doing. I had an old flannel sleeping bag, took eggs in tupperware, tried to blow holes in the ice with a shotgun to get water, and a whole slew of other stupid things. One of my friends who went with me was coughing up blood on the trail out and ended up spending a couple of days in the hospital with pneumonia. Now that I know what I'm doing, I have no real desire to camp in weather that cold.

Shane

[TreeHugger]

Wow, that's quite a story!!

Thanks for the info, we'll definately take it to heart. I've camped when it was literally zero over night and 15 in the morning when we awoke... brrrrrrrr!! The worst part was putting on cold boots to break down camp - I've learned a few things since then, as well. :-)

Hopefully, it wont be too awfully bad, I really was mostly worried about getting "lost". You know how the Uintas seem to lose people! We do have a GPS to plot our way in and we can follow that on the way out and such, so it should be fine. I cant wait to check it out!