Backpacking The Uinta Highline Trail

One week on trail featuring the best mountain views in the United States! The Uinta Highline Trail is a remote wilderness trail in Utah that winds through the passes of the high Uinta mountains. This video picks up on the morning of day five on trail. We camped down in a basin a few miles from Anderson Pass and hunkered down from thunderstorms the night prior. The weather forecast on the Garmin showed that day five had a risk of severe lightning the entire day. We began our hike towards Tungsten Pass to start the trek. From atop Tungsten, our next pass came into view, Porcupine pass. This is where the trail really became magical, showing off the beauty of the High Uintas. Alpine lakes, sprawling basins, exposed rock strata on the cliffs, sheep, cattle, horses. This trail features the best that the American west has to offer. The views culminated from atop Red Knob pass, which in my opinion is the best spot on trail. The basin in between Red Knob and Dead Horse pass is honestly a magical experience that everyone should witness. Upon our approach to Dead Horse pass, we got caught in a huge lightning storm with relentless hail. I don't want to give any spoilers, so I'll leave you there! This backpacking adventure posed some unique challenges. We decided to spend a full week on trail to complete the hike due to not being acclimated to the elevation. The UHT is a remote wilderness trail with no opportunity for resupply, so we carried a full week of food with us, pushing the capacity of our backpacks. Bryon and Sara carried the Outdoor Vitals CS40 pack and I used my veteran Zpacks Arc Air 50. For shelter systems, we all used versions of the Durston X-Mid backpacking tent. Sara and I used Nemo Tensor sleep pads, while Bryon tried out his Zenbivy quilt system. As someone who usually sleeps on trail in a hammock, this was going to be a unique trip for me. With so much of the UHT being above tree line, a hammock wasn't feasible for this adventure. It didn't take long for the reality of alpine backpacking to set in. Weather was a constant concern. Despite being August, snow pack still clung to many of the high peaks. Air temps were between 30-50 degrees F, but persistent high winds drove the felt air temperature down significantly. We experienced daily thunderstorms, rain and hail. We were constantly wet while hiking, if not from the rain, your feet would be wet walking through soggy meadows or from doing water crossings. Prior to this trip, I had made the decision to switch from Altra Lone Peaks to Altra Experience Wild trail runners and I couldn't be more happy with that decision. The 4mm drop and moderate cushion was a life saver on the steep inclines littered with rocks. Trekking poles saved me more than once on this trail and really helped navigate the goat paths coming down from the high passes. I don't know what else to say about this trail. It checks all of the boxes for what backpacking in the wilderness should be. The trail is very remote, where the only people you encounter are the occasional day hiker, sheep herder and that's about it. You get constant scenic views of basins, mountain peaks, lakes, ponds, conifers and SO much more. If you've never done a long backpacking trip in the western United States, I would definitely put this one on your bucket list! Want to see what gear I brought on this trip? Check out my Pack Wizard! https://www.packwizard.com/s/Y_rxgAW Download our trip data below! https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YCFk...