A Night in the Shadows of Bald Mountain – High Uinta’s, Utah

As I have said before Utah, our home state, is full of world-class scenery.  One of my favorite areas in the state is the High Uinta’s Wilderness with its majestic peaks and hundreds of lakes.  When I was a kid we used to camp up there at least a couple of times a year and I was excited to do this with my own little family (Lindsay and Sundance).  It was an exceptionally mild fall and Lindsay and I decided we had one more weekend when we could go camping in the high Uinta’s before the snow would come.  It was the last week of October and if we didn’t get up there we would have to wait until the next summer.  So we packed up the jeep with our tent, sleeping bags and cooler and set off for an adventure.  We didn’t know exactly where we would stay as most of the camp grounds had closed for the season.  However, it was late enough in the year that the Uinta’s were virtually empty so we decided just to pull off the road to find a spot.  We took the mirror lake highway all the way to Bald Mountain and pulled off on a dirt road to find a place.  Eventually we settled on a nice little spot in the shadows of Bald Mountain and set up camp.  We still had plenty of sunlight left in the day so we decided to take a quick hike up Bald Mt.  Neither of us had done this hike but we knew it could easily be done in a couple of hours.  The hike to the top was spectacular as the sun was just getting low in the sky and the surrounding peaks looked majestic and beautiful.  Furthermore, it was fall so there were still patches of trees with beautiful yellow/red colors surrounding the hundreds of lakes you could see in the distance.  When we made it to the top we just sat there for probably 30 minutes just taking in the complete solitude that surrounded us.  We literally felt like we were the only people in the world and it truly was an amazing feeling.  It is experiences like this that continue to draw me to the High Uinta’s.  After the hike we simply made our way back down to camp and sat by the fire eating hotdogs and talking, laughing and reminiscing. Sometimes some of the best travel experiences you can have are the closest to home…especially if a place as spectacular as the High Uinta’s is nearby. :)