Highline Trail UT

[Anonymous]

Has anyone hiked on this? I've hiked several long distance trails, so have experience there, but am not seeing very much info on this trail that seems official. If anyone has some advise, experience or can direct me that way, it would be much appreciated.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highline_Trail_%28Utah%29

Planning on hiking in the middle of June and doing the entire trail, so specifically wondering about water and campsites.

[Anonymous]

No one on here has hiked on this trail? That's pretty crazy, might be time to do a TR after completion.

[Ken Thompson]

http://www.crockettclan.org/running/highline2.html

[David Ure]

"might be time to do a TR after completion."

Well now that would be a change of pace for you.

[Ken Thompson]

true.

[Paul Magnanti]

Funny. I was thinking of doing this trail in early September.

I was in Dinosaur NM this past weekend with Mrs Mags and those mountains kept on calling.

Relatively unused, something I have not done before and I find out there is a trail that traverses 80 miles across the high country of the mountains. Tied with the San Juans, the largest contiguous extent of above-treeline hiking in the lower 48. Except I picture this range to be more remote-feeling than the San Juans.

Getting to the TH outside of Vernal, UT would be relatively easy. Getting BACK is the sticky widget. :)

re: Middle of June

Dunno about that. Looks to be a fair amount of snow up there..at least when I was looking at them from Dinosaur. Even if the snow melted by June 15th, with all the lakes in this wilderness area, looks to be Mosquito Hell in the early season. :O

Also, for campsites, I think looking at this map should help:
http://www.amazon.com/High-Uintas-Wilderness-National-Geographic/dp/1566953715

A side trip to Kings Peak (the roof of Utah) looks doable, too:
http://www.summitpost.org/kings-peak/150376

[Sara Marchetti]

I have read a lot of trip reports on this trail and from what I've read it is a very strenuous haul. The typical route is to hike east to west from Chepeta Lake to Mirror Lake which means you need 2 cars. The nasty thing about the Uintas are the thunder/lighting storms that appear out of no-where and a LOT of mosquitos!

Most of the trail is above the tree line so you are a walking lighting rod most of the time. I read an article about a few girls that hiked it a few years back. They were seasoned backpackers but the trail scared them shitless because of the lightning and thunder. You are almost at 10k elevation or above, and there are approximately 8 summits, King's Peak (13.5k elev.), being the highest (which is a must-do side trail that is quick to do). You can hike the first half of the trail and not see a soul before you reach King's Peak. It is very lonely albeit beautiful (I've hiked sections of this trail in the past). This trail has claimed the life of numerous people, some of which have still never been found, so a PLB is advised.

Even in the summer, it can get very cold at night. Combined with the volatile weather, this is NOT an area for tarps, bivys and quilts!

If you don't mind doing it over a week there are plenty of places to fish without significant detours.

Be careful about getting advice from Davy Crockett's blog listed above. That guy is a ultrarunning monster. He seriously downplays the intensity of this trip (he runs this trail in 30 hours where most take 7 days to hike it).

I was planning on packing it solo in August. I'm not sure if I will. If not this summer, definitely next.

[Paul Magnanti]

I now have plans to to hike it the week before Labor Day. Early fall in the high country..and among the best time to hike IMO (Fall in general, actually)

The plan is to do a high route and hike the ridge off-trail to Kings Peak (more or less) and then follow from Kings Peak on the "official" trail.

If my plans to have a buddy meet me down there falls through, I plan on doing a modified yo-yo. That's how badly I want to do it.

Living in CO, with my experience, ability level and pace, think a yo-yo is possible in the time frame. We'll see. :D

re: Bivy, tarps and quilts

They work well in the San Juans, the Winds, Utah in November and other places for me. Perhaps it is hubris, but I am going to use my more minimalist kit. We'll see as well. :D

[David Chenault]

September is a good call. The t-storms in high summer can be pretty ferocious. Still potentially bad in Sept, but what can ya do?

I believe it was my friends Meghan and Danni alluded to above. If I may be so bold, they're pretty risk-averse when it comes to lightening, but also very accomplished ultrarunners, so take that into account: http://montanacoffman.blogspot.com/2011/09/four-days-in-high-uintas-wilderness.html

[Paul Magnanti]

I actually stumbled upon their blog in my research.

Though I am not a runner by any means (I look more like I belong on a dock somewhere unloading a barge ;) ), the pace Meghan and Danni did is about what I have planned if I go solo. That's about my normal pace…

If my buddy joins me, probably take 5 or even 6 days depending on when start on the first day.

[Ted E]

I hiked the Highline a few weeks ago during the July 4th holiday. The trail is fairly well marked at trail intersections, but there are many places where there is no trail, just cairns or almost nothing at all. I made a databook and i posted it on my blog here that i think will be helpful for anyone wanting to hike it –

http://mtnnut.wordpress.com/trail-databooks/

I will also be posting gpx and kml files soon for the entire route.

I did it in 4 days at 20 miles per day. I was originally shooting for 25 miles per day so i could hike the section from leidy peak to highway 191, however my hiking partner wasn't able to keep up a pace that would have allowed that, so we settled for the 80 mile version. Its an awesome trail, and i will be writing a trip report / article for Trailgroove magazine that will probably be published in mid september.

Feel free to email me at [email protected] or pm me if you need more info. As of july 4th, almost the entire trail is snow free, and the only real snow detour was a small one over gabbro pass, the eastern most pass.

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