Uintas: Highline Trailhead to Naturalist Basin May 12-13, 2012

[reverse_dyno]

I had been getting conflicting reports on the snow conditions in the Uintas so I decided to go check it out myself. The lakes are indeed iced over, so there was no fishing. The snow is melting fast and the lakes along the Mirror lake highway may have open water in them in a week. The lakes in the Naturalist basin will take a while longer. There is still +3 inches of ice on them, and many have an inch of snow on top of that.

South slopes are mostly snow free at all elevations. Flat areas in the Naturalist Basin still have continuous snow. Below that elevation the snow cover ranges between 20-70% of the ground depending on slope aspect. To give you an idea, we were able to follow the highline tail all the way back to the trailhead from Naturalist Basin without using our snowshoes. We just walked through or around the snow drifts that were still on the trail.

The snow gets really soft around noon, but morning travel is easy as the snow is still firm.


Highline Trail


Highline Trail

The following pictures were taken in the Naturalist Basin:








Lake to the right of the picture

[accadacca]

Very cool! Thanks for the report!

[Scott Card]

Very nice. Still too slopy for me though.

[brookiekiller]

Nice report and pics. It is amazing how much snow there is not up there this time of year.