East to West – Uinta Highline Trail

Nice report Mags. Basically the first report I've seen of that area. I knew it had to be special in some way because Ryan had lots of pictures of the Uintas in his book and early BPL articles. I figured it must be a nice place if someone would leave Montana to go hike down there.

Don't complain if it's crowded next time, Mr. Mags ;)

Good thing you had some options along your route.

"Don't complain if it's crowded next time, Mr. Mags ;)"

Haha Ken that jokes kinda on me. The great thing about this area is its far from Colorado, Yellowstone and Yosemite and it does not have wolves or grizzlies. So I imagine it will always be off the beaten path no matter how many trip reports bloggers do.

Ha! I smell toast. ;)

Being serious, I'd be very surprised it if gets crowded. Too far off the beaten path for most peak baggers and most CO Front Rangers and the logistics are rather difficult in terms of shuttling. No easy loops, either.

re: Good thing you had some options along your route.

All three of us are very experienced outdoors people so luckily we know how to read a map. :) Between the three of us, we figured we could have stretched out our food an additional two days if need be (7 days vs 5).

Another plan was hiking back to Chepeta Damn if crap really hit the fan.

A last ditch plan was for Andy to hike out, take the car, buy food and then hike back in as Mark cut down to 10 MPD.

Overall Mark could have hiked out if need be. Luckily! :)

But, there are usually options for prepared outdoors people…eh? ;)

Seriously though, I don't mind sharing some places, even most places. Partly because most places I go aren't super secret. Normally there are already guide books and articles discussing them so I'm not really adding anything new beyond my own personal story.
I've got a guide to Grayson highlands coming up at some point (yes that one is my fault Ken). I gave enough people advice on where to go I finally decided if I kept posting maps and pictures I might as well be organized and make an article about it.

Actually, Ken is aiming that at me. :)

On a recent trip to the Indian Peaks, I noticed at an unusually high amount of backpackers on a favorite loop of mine.

Mind you, it is a loop that is very obvious if you look at a map and can piece together trails. But most people, esp if starting out, rather have an A-B-C-D-E approach to their hiking with the steps laid out nicely.

So here we are in the IPW. I am kvetching to d-low about all the people back here vs previous summers.

D-low being d-low, decided to have some fun/put my annoying kvetching to rest.

We asked 4 groups how they found about this loop.

Three of the four said my website. :O

And apparently a local outdoor group we encountered also used my website for info.

I ate a lot of crow that weekend. And still do. ;) Our latest trailshow podcast had some fun with that one. Let-me-tell-you!

Apparently more people read my little website than I thought. :O

Haha, well I thought Ken was poking fun at me for keeping my Teton Wilderness route a secret and then praising your TR.

Your blog is great fun and I really liked your CO Trail Guide.

That was a great trip report Paul. Too bad you guys had to cut it short but I enjoyed reading Andy's portion of the report. His account of Dead Horse Pass was exciting. Did he get any pictures of it or was it too foggy?

Actually, Ken is aiming that at me. :)

LOL. I threw a friendly dig at you on another thread and I think you were the only one who caught it.

I generally don't give details on trips for areas that are not heavily used, unless I feel it is pretty unlikely others will try it.

for my databook. the GPX files can also be uploaded into google maps and layed over their terrain feature for planning, so they're not just for people who use GPS.