"After the first glass, you see things as you wish they were. After the second, you see things as they are not. Finally, you see things as they really are, which is the most horrible thing in the world."
--Oscar Wilde on Absinthe
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peakbagger1971 - Jul 22, 2008 7:58 pm - Hasn't voted
Woo HooI'm headed here soon with emmons in mind and I'm looking forward to it. Thanks
Dmitry Pruss - Oct 30, 2008 3:34 pm - Hasn't voted
Mileage could be an underestimateIt's almost 12 miles just to 4th Chain Lake, and up to 3 more from there. Using Smokey Spring day use parking (which seems to be the lot you describe, except it's before U Bar rather than after it) would cut it a bit, but just by 0.7 miles one way. There is no overnight parking at Smokey Spring anyway, and when I visited, the road was closed past the official TH anyway... not sure of it was a temporary closure.
And elevation gain tops 6,000 too. All in all it's a strenuous day hike even in ideal conditions, and likely more difficult than Swift Creek.
Directions to the TH appeared obvious, but it was a challenge in the dark, because one need to make poorly marked turns 3 times past White Rocks junction, right, right, and left. Every time the "wrong" road would continue straight.
Scott - Oct 30, 2008 10:11 pm - Hasn't voted
Re: Mileage could be an underestimateIt's almost 12 miles just to 4th Chain Lake, and up to 3 more from there.
Thanks for the info. My old notes say it was 9.6 miles to 4th Chain. If I remember right (I don’t have the book anymore), Veranth says it is 12 miles to Atwood, but Mel Davis said it was 20. I came up with 14-15 to Atwood and 9.6 to 4th Chain (measured on paper rather than field). David Rose says 11.0 to Roberts Pass just beyond 4th Chain Lake.
Anyway, 12 might be right. How did you come up with the 12 by chance? I’ll change the route description with the new distance.
Anyway, if you have any more updates to my Uinta pages, feel free to post them or even share pages if you wish. I used to know the Uintas very well, but some of my information is becoming quite dated. For example last time I was at the Uinta River Trailhead was July (?) 1992 and last time on Mount Emmons at all was August 9 1997 from Dry Gulch. Since moving to Colorado I've only visited the Uintas (excluding Dinosaur area) once when I did Leidy and Marsh Peaks in 2005. I used to go all over that Range and miss it sometimes!
All in all it's a strenuous day hike even in ideal conditions, and likely more difficult than Swift Creek.
I thought Swift Creek was harder because it seemed to be looser, at least via the routes we used. On the other hand, a look at David Rose’s book (that only book I know of that covers Mount Emmons) describes a few routes from both Swift Creek and Uinta River, but the routes are actually quite different from the ones I used or describe on the page. Which routes did you happen to use?
Directions to the TH appeared obvious, but it was a challenge in the dark, because one need to make poorly marked turns 3 times past White Rocks junction, right, right, and left.
Thanks; I’ll update the driving directions. Any other updates are appreciated.
Dmitry Pruss - Oct 30, 2008 10:41 pm - Hasn't voted
Re: Mileage could be an underestimateI was using GPS (part way only, batteries last only so long), timed other sections, and took notes of FS signs with mileage. I checked the Mel-Veranth book just now and just like you found, everybody says something different.
Sheep Bridge is 4 miles from the TH both per GPS and FS; M-V says 3.
Wilderness Boundary is 6.3 miles per GPS, MV says 3.
First Chain Lake is 9.7 miles per GPS, M-V says 7 on page 136 and 11 miles on page 141, go figure (there must be a lot of switchbacks making the trail longer than the map would have it).
Yet the same book says it's 12 miles to Lake Atwood. FS says 16. I have a feeling that it may even be a bit more judging by the time it took me to get from Allen Lake to 4th Chain (almost 2 hours). Even straight map distance there is close to 4 miles, and it has switchbacks galore.