Happy Accident in the Uintas

[FishHunterSmoot]

This last weekend I planned a three day two night backpacking/Fishing trip in the Uintas. I decided to go by myself but Planned on going to granddaddy Basin which is almost always busy enough that someone is usually in earshot in case I got hurt. After work around 3:30 I made my way to Grandview Trail head only to find 6 miles before the trail head there was a closed gate with no signage or reasoning why. Having heard of this happening in years past I decided to park and hike the extra 6 miles to get to the trailhead. It wasn’t until I got to granddaddy lake 9 miles later that it dawned on me I would be the only one in the entire Basin. I cooked a small dinner on my butane stove and went to sleep. I woke up the next morning to nothing but silence and a gorgeous sunrise across granddaddy lake
   

I had high hopes for good fishing in lakes farther out so After fishing for only a few minutes at granddaddy lake I headed towards Betsy lake. The best advice I have received for fishing in the Uintas is if you don’t catch anything in the lake you’re fishing at pack up and move the next lake. After fishing for about an hour at Betsy lake, I found a small unnamed pond that I started catching surprisingly large cutthroat just on a worm. This is a photo of the largest. The small ponds of the Uintas will surprise you. 

  

I made my way up to fish hatchery lake still having seen no one since work the day before and I felt like I had struck Gold up there. A fishing buddy always said catching a fish on your first cast is terrible because you can only go downhill from there. I tend to disagree because for an hour I either caught a fish or had one on and lost it with every cast. These brook trout I caught were no record sizes but they for sure were some of the biggest I have caught and fought really hard. The colors on some of them left me speechless. For some reason the photos are cutting off the ends and the photos so click into them to see the full picture
  

 


As I made my way back to my main camp and came to the decision to hike out early. Still having seen not one person not only made me nervous of twisting an ankle but I had a feeling that the whole basin might have been restricted and I was breaking the law. I had made sure to search for any signs at the trailhead that said anything about the basin being closed off and I didn’t see anything. The only signs said we were in a fire restriction 1 and only fuel based stoves were permitted. It was a long day hiking the whole way back and I calculated that over a one day period I had hike over 24 miles. My body ached as I made it back to my truck and drove home. 

Doing research that night I discovered on an obscure page of the forest service that indeed the whole basin was closed to the public for wildfire hazards. It was definitely on me for not being more diligent in looking for the online notice. I am surprised though they nothing was posted at the gate or at the trailhead. There wasn’t even a notice on the main alerts page of the Uintas National forest page. 

In the end I feel bad about hiking through a restricted area (I am usually am very good to look and obey at any alerts or restrictions) but I also can’t help feel really lucky to hike through Grandaddy Basin all on my own. It definitely not something I will ever be able to do again.

[Kent]

Glad you made it in and out safely. Some beautiful fish that you caught.

[doitall5000]

Very nice report. No open fires is a good thing now. I seen this behavior before they make a ruling but don't really tell anyone.

[Bovineowner]

Great Trip. Glad you were safe and enjoyed the pics

Another fine example of the USFS and their continuing ineptitude! Bless their hearts.

[JArner]

Beautiful pictures, sounds like heaven to me. Glad you were able to make it in and out unscathed.

[lovetofish]

Those Brookies look on the fat size. They are such a beautiful colored fish. Ya can't beat the Uintas for the beauty of the landscape. Glad you made it in and out safely. I don't mind fishing alone (but would rather have company) but I don't think I could make a trip like that by myself, I'm getting too old, maybe in my younger days.

[fishinfool]

Wow, The pictures and the story was awesome. Thanks for sharing.

fnf

[Cowboypirate]

Sept in the High Mts - can't get much better than that

[SkunkedAgain]

Great report, and man i wish I could hike that many miles in a day, that's about 3X what I can handle... Glad you got a great experience.. I hadn't heard of any area closures either, so I'd think they would have a tough time giving you any grief about it... especially without any signs posted... We sure need some rain so the hills can open back up... got a deer hunt next week, don't want to find all that area closed up too.. Thanks for the report.. J

[chuckbigflies]

Great job on finding some heavier Brooks and for your ambition to keep trying new spots. Just curious, how heavy was your pack? The most I’ve gone with a pack on is 14 miles in a day with lots of vertical and it just about did me in. My pack is usually around 55 lbs.

[FishHunterSmoot]

Great job on finding some heavier Brooks and for your ambition to keep trying new spots. Just curious, how heavy was your pack? The most I’ve gone with a pack on is 14 miles in a day with lots of vertical and it just about did me in. My pack is usually around 55 lbs.

thanks chuck big flies. I didn’t weigh my pack this time around but I usually get my pack down to about 30-35 pounds. to break it down I didn’t do much more then that in a day. Friday night I did 8 miles in, Saturday morning I did 8 miles to the different lakes but that was with a day pack, and then I did 8 miles that afternoon back out.

[wiperhunter2]

Just so you know, when you click on your pics they show the entire fish on most of the ones you posted. Good looking brookies, especially love the color and spots on that lighter colored fish.