I packed my stuff up and went to work on Thursday, then zipped up to the Uintas - Mirror Lake Highway area for a one night stay. The forecast called for strong winds, and rain turning into snow for the night, but not too cold only getting down to the high 20sF.
It was an hour drive to the trail parking, and I needed to stop and get a recreation pass for the area, and I wanted to hike in at least 2-3 miles. As I was driving , the clouds were getting darker and darker, and the winds stronger. I decided I had better just go as far as the weather would allow me, or as far as I dared considering the darkening clouds.
The hike in turned out to be fairly uneventful. Initially not mush snow left on the road/trail, but farther in I ended up post-holing through some fairly deep snow drifts at times.
Some tracks in the snow on the way in. Coyote?
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A pile of poop: Elk? Maybe deer.
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Another pile of poop. Not sure what animal made this:
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I ended up hiking about 1.5 miles before I decided I had better get things setup. My campsite for the night:
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After my mediocre Mountain House beef stew dinner (not bad, but not great), I hung/placed everything under the tarp, and wet to bed. I expected wind, and rain turning to snow. The wind came through with a vengeance, but neither the rain or snow came. About 3am, I woke up to what sounded like a dog barking, but then it turned into howling. It took a moment to realize it was a coyote, and sounded like it was down the road from me in a clearing. Soon after there were 4-5 coyotes howling at each other, all up and down the valley. Kind of unnerving, but beautiful in it's own way, echoing up and down the valley.
Morning came, and while I was packing up, an elk call came ringing out, sounding like it was in the same clearing down the road from me. Beautiful sound in the morning. The woodpeckers came out soon after. Part of my love for getting outdoors, even if just for a night, is to be there to experience the mornings. For me, it's what makes it all worth it.
Some pictures during my hike out:
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These tracks were fresh, not there on my hike in. I think these are from one of my coyote friends:
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