Backpacking in the High Uintas

Jason, Derek and I headed into the High Uintas last weekend. We originally planned for Back country Yellowstone, but I since Derek had been backpacking there the weekend before and there wasn't a suitable lake for cliff jumping, I convinced them that we could have an equally exciting experience on a little hike I did five years ago to Hidden Lake. We started at Trial Lake and packed in to the perfect campsite at Wall Lake. Jason grabbed his fishing pole but didn't catch anything. Probably because Derek and I were cliff jumping only 20 feet away. The next day we packed a couple miles further to Hidden Lake. Jason grabbed his fishing pole again and started fishing, I grabbed my camera and started taking pictures, and Derek grabbed his ridiculously large knife and started practicing for his own episode of Man vs. Wild. "I wonder," Jason said as he cast his line into the water, "if we could cut that tree down." He motioned to a tall dead tree waiting to fall into the lake. Derek was all over that one. The two boys dedicated hours to that project. They sawed it halfway through before the little saw wouldn't reach anymore. The tied the rope around it and swung it back and forth. That's when Derek noticed the whole roots system shaking. He started excavating the roots and sawing them off. Still the tree got the better of him. We finally convinced him to leave reassuring him that if he had had more time, "Wild" would not have won that episode.

18mm 1/320 F/8

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