Backpacking Adventure

Ben, Andrew, and I went backpacking for the Labor Day weekend in the Uintahs. Ben has been trying to get me to come with him for years, but it's never worked out. He planned this trip last minute, Ben's mom watched our girls, and we decided to go out just the three of us. Here are some pictures of us at the Queant Trail head, which is near White Rocks.

Snack Break. We took many of these on the way up there. Notice we are still smiling... that changed shortly after this break. Andrew was taking our picture and kept saying, "Make funny faces!" "Now kiss!"

Ben told me that it was going to be a 2 mile hike to the lake. As the hours passed and we were still walking, it became apparent that this was no 2 mile hike! I don't know who complained more, me or Andrew. At one point I walked ahead of Ben and Andrew in silence for a good 30 minutes when I looked ahead and saw a sign. Right next to the sign was a big black thing and my first thought was, "How did a cow get up here?" Then it stood up and I realized that it was definitely NOT a cow. It was a giant moose with huge antlers! I froze immediately and then turned the other way and ran back down the trail. As I got about half way back to Ben, I looked up and 15 feet to my right was another female moose! She stared right at me, I walked backwards slowly and when I got down the trail a bit, I went running while whispering/yelling, "Ben! There's moose!" His first response was, "Did you get a picture?" Uhh no I didn't get a picture! I was a little worried about my life at the moment. We hiked clear up the mountain and Ben and Andrew were able to get a good look at both of them before they walked off. Unfortunately I didn't get a picture, I was a little sad about that after the fact. After almost five hours of hiking, we finally reached the lake and I almost cried with relief.

It had drizzled rain throughout the hike but by the time we reached camp, it was pouring and we were soaked. I spent the next several hours trying to dry our clothes over the fire. Ben started our dinner and I walked around getting pictures of the area. It really was beautiful.

Ben and I both slept horribly that night. We were so happy to see daylight! There was a fine mist on the lake and I tried to get pictures, but they don't really do it justice. Ben made pancakes and we decided to go fishing.

Ben caught about ten fish and we kept two. Andrew cried when it came time to kill them. He had grown pretty attached to those fish. He kept saying things like, "Do you like to eat fish that are friends?" Then he sat and held them for quite awhile and when I asked him what he was doing, he said, "I'm just holding them a little longer before they have to be cooked." It broke our hearts.

We practically ran home in pouring rain after lunch, only took 3 breaks, and got there in just over 3 hours. We also saw another moose on the way home in almost the exact same area as before, but his antlers were much smaller. We got it on video camera. It was much easier going home now that we knew what was ahead of us... and Ben took more of the load. We found out later that the Queant Trail is over 5 miles. I was pretty proud of Andrew for walking 10 miles in two days. He's a trooper. When we got home, everyone asked him what his favorite part was and he replied, "When we got back to the van!" :)

On the way home, we stopped near White Rocks and posed in front of this haunted woods sign. Ben and I went to this haunted woods on our first date almost 11 years ago!

I am still undecided on whether or not I ever want to go backpacking again. JK, sorta. It was a little too much roughing it for me. The whole drinking filtered lake water, eating half cooked food, sleeping on the hard ground with no pillow, digging a hole to go to the bathroom, hiking ten miles with a crappy pack and no upper body strength, getting a little too close for comfort to wildlife, being so sore I could barely walk afterward. Yeah that was not so fun... But it's an experience I wouldn't trade and probably would do again with better preparation. There's something awesome about being in the middle of nowhere without a million people all around you. Ben had the time of his life and that was worth the effort to see him so happy.