Uintas Four Lake Basin

[neveronsunday]

[font "Verdana"][#ff0000]I'm not much into the "hard deck" so here is a "late" Uintas report for the rest of the fair weather fishers out there. [/#ff0000][/font]

[font "Verdana"][#ff0000]I backpacked the Highline Trail from Butterfly Lake into the Four Lake Basin last August. [/#ff0000][/font]
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[font "Verdana"][#ff0000]The first lake two miles in, Scudder Lake, didn't show any sign of fish. [/#ff0000][/font]
[font "Verdana"][#ff0000]A little in-and-out detour to the south about a mile farther leads to three other lakes, [/#ff0000][/font]

[font "Verdana"][#ff0000]Wilder Lake [/#ff0000][/font]

[font "Verdana"][#ff0000][/#ff0000][/font][font "Verdana"][#ff0000]Wyman Lake [/#ff0000][/font]
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[font "Verdana"][#ff0000]and Packard Lake. These lakes all had small populations of Brooke Trout in them, fair catching, small size, nothing spectacular.[/#ff0000][/font]

[font "Verdana"][#ff0000]Just below these lakes are the upper reaches of the Duchesne River. The trail actually crosses the top end of this valley in a few miles.[/#ff0000][/font]
[font "Verdana"][#ff0000]Four miles down the trail a left branch will take you to the Naturalists Basin. I opted to save this area for another trip. At six miles in, Carolyn and Olga Lakes and about eight miles you reach the Four Lake Basin. [/#ff0000][/font]

[font "Verdana"][#ff0000]The higher two lakes are Jean and Dean Lakes. I set up a base camp nine miles in at the far edge of Dean Lake by a little spring at the base of the ridge in the far distance. [/#ff0000][/font]
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[font "Verdana"][#ff0000]Here's a Brooke trout from Jean [/#ff0000][/font]
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[font "Verdana"][#ff0000]and a Cutthroat from Dean. The best fishing was along the north talus slopes of these two lakes. [/#ff0000][/font]
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[font "Verdana"][#ff0000]Here's a little fishing buddy I had. Besides my little Pica friend there were Mountain Goats in the cliffs above me, saw several deer and an elk herd was hanging around Olga Lake.[/#ff0000][/font]

[font "Verdana"][#ff0000]Dale and Daynes Lakes are the two lower lakes in the basin. This is Dale and Daynes can just barely be seen in the far end of this picture. Fishing action was slower at the two lower lakes.[/#ff0000][/font]

[font "Verdana"][#ff0000]I spent a day by myself at Allen Lake chasing Artic Grayling. [/#ff0000][/font]
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[font "Verdana"][#ff0000]I punctured my backpacking air mattress earlier in the year at the Gorge and decided to try sleeping on something I could float the lake on as well. I put out a cry for help on BFT and got tons of great ideas but ultimately picked a little Coleman toy that only weighed a few pounds and was good to float two hundred pounds with three air chambers for ten bucks. I would let half the air out of it and sleep on it at night. Not the best sleeping mat I ever used but survivable for my old bones. I have always wanted to put a boat on some of those remote ponds. [/#ff0000][/font]
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[font "Verdana"][#ff0000]It was worth the extra weight and lumpier sleep.[/#ff0000][/font]
[font "Verdana"][#ff0000]I wandered over to Bedground Lake but it was a bust. I wanted to hit Thompson and Sea Lion Lakes but I ended up going solo and promised the wife I wouldn't do any too crazy boulder hopping by myself so I left them on the check off list of things still to do next year. There were some Scouts camped in the area that went over Cyclone Pass to Thompson for an afternoon and did well on some nice Brook Trout. [/#ff0000][/font]

[font "Verdana"][#ff0000]I saved Olga and Carolyn Lakes for the last night out, [/#ff0000][/font]
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[font "Verdana"][#ff0000]after a quick side trip to Pigeon Milk Springs, at the base of Rocky Sea Pass, for a water break. [/#ff0000][/font]

[font "Verdana"][#ff0000]No sign of fish in Olga but Carolyn was teeming with little rambunctious Grayling. I'll put up a little video of skimming a fly from the end of my pole across the water with the little buggers flying two feet into air after it. [/#ff0000][/font]
[font "Verdana"][#ff0000]A little storm went through the last night (you say what else is new in the Uintas) and colored up the sky. [/#ff0000][/font]
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[font "Verdana"][#ff0000]Here is a picture relaxing on my "front porch" at Carolyn Lake. [/#ff0000][/font]
[font "Verdana"][#ff0000]Total hiking was about twenty five miles, with a "relatively flat" trail with only about 1300 feet elevation change but most of it is over the 10,000 foot mark. Total fish caught, sheesh, who knows, best lure - flies. We're currently planning some Uinta trips for next year, if you're interested in getting out with us drop me a pm. We've got some extra gear if you need so don't let that slow you down if you want to try it out. Cheers.[/#ff0000][/font]
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