A Hiking We Will Go...

Our last hurrah of the summer was to go backpacking in Naturalist Basin in the Uintahs. Krysta had to stay home and work, but the rest of us put on a pack and hiked 5 miles into our camp by a little lake called Gatman. We had a great secluded campsite off the trail and back in the trees by a meadow.

Of course, every time we saw a meadow, like the one in the background, someone had to recall the sad tale of Bambi. "There's hunters in the forest!...Run, Bambi! Run!" Way to ruin a bunch of beautiful meadows. We only saw Bambi once however.

The next day we hiked another 5 miles and visited a bunch of lakes. Here we are at Everman Lake.

Beautiful blue Jordan Lake.

Looking down at some unnamed pond. I don't think it's possible to visit all the many ponds and lakes in the Uintas.

This water flows out of Blue Lake,

which is at the top of this steep hill. I am looking down at one of the Mordt Lakes. This mountain is much steeper than it looks in the picture, and I am not a happy camper. Have I ever mentioned I hate heights and crumbly rocks that move? Here we have both.
But Curt held my hand (quite literally) and we all made it up to Blue Lake where we celebrated by throwing rocks into the water!

This is what you do after a long day of hiking.

Kevin packed this piece of equipment in. Yes, we were packbacking and not car camping. It doesn't make much difference to Kevin.

I have to admit, it was nice to sit in a real chair! Kevin wanted to balance it out by taking our blow up rowboat on the other side of his pack. He had some type of foot pump he was going to use to blow it up. However, it would have taken quite a while just to get the boat pumped up. Curt and I vetoed the idea. I wouldn't have cared it he brought it, but there was no way I was letting him row out on a lake without a lifejacket and bringing along 2-3 lifejackets for him and the girls along with the boat and a pump seemed a bit much. We would have looked all kinds of ridiculous going up the trail with lifejackets hanging off our packs. (Remember the deer cart on King's Peak? If you haven't heard that one kids, ask your parents.)

We did let Rachel bring her horse. Possibly the only stuffed horse to ever go backpacking. When we got to the trailhead, Rachel asked what she should do with her horse. I told her to leave it in the vehicle and it would be there when we got back. Her face crumpled and she started to cry. "I always sleep with a horse!" she wailed. It was then I realized she wanted to take it with her! If I had known that a few hours earlier, I would have helped her choose a smaller horse. Sherpa Kevin stuffed it in his pack and all was well.
Here we say good by to our temporary home. We did about 15 miles in all. Camille carried her own real pack and Rachel walked the whole distance.
Now you may think we backpack because we like the outdoors (we do) or we like to see things that not many people get to see (also true) or that it makes our kids appreciate their home much more (very true), but the real reason is...by the time we get around to planning a camping trip there are no reservations to be had anywhere! We don't need reservations to backpack. So there you have it, procrastination is our real motivation!