OUT N BACK BLOG

One of the most difficult things about being passionate in the outdoors is finding people who share your interests.  One of the new trends is for people to find like-minded individuals on Meetup, a social networking site that allows people to join activity based groups. While browsing Meetup, I was pleased to find that Out-N-Back had its own meetup group which I promptly joined.

It didn’t take long before I decided to attend a rendezvous of sorts sponsored by Out-N-Back in Moab. It was a loosely organized activity allowing people to do the activity of their choice.  Numerous people were present and we all stayed at the Gold Bar Campground.  Out-N-Back even provided us with a BBQ on Friday night.

Clear skies ushered in Saturday morning.  After breakfast, the group fractured. Some went biking, some went climbing and some went hiking to a nearby waterfall.  My friends and I decided to do a canyoneering route inside of Arches called U-Turn.  After that we headed to Hittle Bottom to run the Daily on the Colorado River.

U-Turn is a short route that takes you up on top of one of the buttes that tower high above the valley floor.  There are a couple assisted-downclimbs and one mandatory rappel along the route. At the very top there are opportunites for some great photos.  I think I will come here to watch the sunrise.  The only downside was the “no dogs on the trail” policy. We had to leave Disco, my red heeler, in the car.

Our next adventure was a float down the Daily on the Colorado River. The Daily is a stretch of 13 miles that carries you close to some of the redrock buttes.  With several stretchs of class 3 rapids, this is a pretty amazing trip.  Several miles of flat water separate the rapids.  The flat stretchs allow for a lot of social interaction.  This was a great trip for a dog and a 3 year old.

It was a great adventure and opportunity that was put together by the staff of Out-N-Back and the administrators of the Out-N-Back Meet-up group. I had such a good time on both of the trips that I will add them to the Rockrunner website.

The Moab Daily

Tuesday August 30th sitting at my desk and staring at the paperwork I had to do, I glanced out the window and thought that life is just too short and I should go for a hike. I called my buddy Kelly and 2 hours later we were in the Uinta mountains looking for a new adventure. We ended up at the highline trailhead, pulled out the map, and decided that this looked as good as any. We were right.

On the mirror lake highway just past mirror lake itself is the highline trailhead. The highline trail eventually follows the ridgeline of some of Utahs great peaks and eventually will dump you out somewhere over by Vernal. From the mirror lake side to the Vernal side it is about 1oo mile trip. But for the less ambitious there are many short versions and destinations along the way.

Our destination for the day was Blue lake in the Naturalist Basin area. Roughly somewhere between 10-12 miles round trip from the parking lot. Following a snaking trail down through the pines we passed Scudder lake off to our right, and finally found the fork in the trail to Natural Basin. From the fork the trail winds up the mountain into a great little basin. The streams is about 4 feet wide and crystal clear. We saw little minnows enjoying the slow flowing water. Meadows with tons of wildflowers, and knee high grass that is still green, green, green. At Blue lake you sit in a pine forest with the lake backed up against Mount Agassiz and know that this is definitely worth skipping work for. At this point I was wishing that I had planned for an overnight trip.

We had left the truck at 3:30 and were back in the truck and headed home that night by 8:30. Had a nice little down pour on the way home to clean the windshield and almost ran over a biker in the dark with no reflectors and no lights during the rain. I have no idea what he was thinking. Scared the crap out of me and my heart still hurts. Probably him too.

Saturday August 27th my wife and I went up the mirror lake highway and took a hike. Our intention was to summit Bald mountain but the clouds were moving in and there was thunder in the background and standing on top of a peak in a storm was not my idea of a good way to die. So we pulled out the map and found a fun hike. Notch lake is accessed from the same trailhead as Bald mountain. It is well marked on the highway and is right at the summit before you descend towards mirror lake. The trail is roughly 2.5 miles to Notch lake and passes Clegg lake on its way. A very nice trail that just meanders through the trees and has some great scenery along the way. Not alot of elevation change, just seems to roll up and down through the countryside.

Well the snow has finally receded and the road and trail have been put back together by the forest service. GREEN everywhere you look. Mosquitoes are healthy and abundant, and the fishing is good.

As part of our weekly “Meetup” hikes, http://www.meetup.com/Out-N-Back-Events/, we took a few new friends, some old ugly ones, and my boy Jesse on an overnight trip to the basin. We camped just off of Betsy lake, and then explored the trail on over to Mohawk lake. People were catching fish and the weather was perfect. Once the sun went down we had deer running all over the place and had a good time spotlighting them with our headlamps.

Grand Daddy basin is part of the southern high Uinta’s. It is accessed by traveling up to Francis, up past Woodland, on your way to Tabiona. You are looking for the Grand view basin trailhead and going towards Hades pass. The main trail to Grand Daddy lake is about 4 miles in with an elevation gain of about 1000 feet. A great day hike or overnighter. Once into the basin there are numerous lakes and trails that will keep you entertained for a few days. You can even keep going and intersect with the highline trail and either end up on the mirror lake highway or in Vernal.

Saturday July 30th for our weekly “Meetup” hike we went up to the Grotto. This is up Payson canyon past the boy scout camp. A very short hike following the stream up to a carved out waterfall. I would guess about 1/4 mile hike up through the trees and accessible to anyone who can walk. Well worth the time to go.