We finally made it up to the mountains this weekend, after waiting for spring to give way to summer this year. Many of the lower campgrounds were closed due to flood warnings, but we found a great spot in the "dispersed" campsites above the Lower Provo Campground. These "dispersed" campsites are great!! They are improved sites with a flat area for the trailer and a fire pit, but no water or restrooms. Best part is that they are free!
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| North Fork of the Provo River |
We had to keep our hiking to the lower trails as the snow levels above 9,000' were prohibitive. On Friday evening, we hiked a couple miles in on the North Fork Trail. Usually this trail can be done as a loop, but you can see from the picture above that a river crossing was impossible. I have never seen this river so high. It was incredible.
On Saturday we did the Yellow Pine Creek Trail. This was a pretty nice hike up a drainage following the creek. The dogs loved all the water. We didn't make it all the way to the Yellow Pine Lakes due to snow at the top and some difficult route finding, but it was a great day in the mountains.
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| The turn-around point, somewhere below Castle Peak |
For the final wrap up on Sunday we did another new hike to Sunset Ponds. We had three different maps of the area (as I like to be well prepared and do comparison research). Sunset was only shown on one of the three maps, and it was NOT on the official map of the Kamas Ranger District. Needless to say, it was a bit "primitive" from years of disuse. But it was great for us, as NO ONE was on the trail. We also got to practice our climbing and ducking abilities with the packs to get over all the tree falls across the trail. We thought with the name "Sunset" that we would get to an overlook that was nice to see the sunset. Instead, we were pleasantly surprised to get to the top and have a little lake. So, now we call this one "Sunset Ponds."
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| This is the start of the Sunset Trail (a little wet this year) |
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| Mary taking a break with the dogs |
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| Nice views before the top |
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| Sunset Ponds |
