Not Long Now

So we have less than a week left until we head into the Uinta Mountains again. I am not only excited to fish but to hike and just be lazy camping as well. I seem to be the only one that is excited about it.

There are several dilemmas that we are still facing though.

First: There is still snow as low as Trial Lake which is just shy of 10,000 feet. Although the snow melt rate is around 3 - 4 inches per day. As of noon today the Snotel Report shows that at Trial Lake the snow depth was 12" Here is a link to the hourly (last seven days) report: http://www.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/nwcc/sntl-datarpt.jsp?site=828&days=7&state=ut

Second: The Mirror Lake Highway was just opened recently (only a few days ago) so there is bound to be lots of traffic right now. As soon as people hear word that the road is open they start jumping on their bikes to do some pristine rides through the mountains. Not to mention people want to start camping and fishing being so close to the holidays.

Third: Mirror and Trial Lake Campgrounds are not scheduled to be open until the 13th of this month so everyone who is up there will be camping at the lower campgrounds that don't have any snow on them. Which will cause there to be lots of congestion.
          - We are hoping to get lucky and go earlier in the week and hopefully avoid the rush to get a spot.
          - And we are also hoping to avoid the "big" holiday rush as most people get the holiday weekend off and not the week after.

Fourth: going along with the third dilemma none of the campsites that are above the Mirror Lake Campground will be available at all either since they will most likely still have a good amount of snow on them. And some of the highest lakes will most likely still have ice on them.

As you can see we are in for a surprise in more ways than one. Hopefully we will get lucky but I guess there is no way to really tell how things will go until we get there. You can ask people all you want about the fishing and the hiking and all that but it all boils down to your skill, your methods, and your tools.... Oh and don't forget luck.