A campsite in Painter Basin, below 13,538-foot Kings Peak (right) in Utah's High Uintas Wilderness.

Backpacking Utah’s High Uintas Wilderness—A Photo Gallery

by

By Michael Lanza

Early on the third morning of a six-day hike through Utah’s High Uintas Wilderness, I walked to the shore of the Fourth Chain Lake at 10,900 feet, where we had camped. Its waters sat absolutely still, offering up a perfect, inverted reflection of the mountains. By that afternoon, we reached 11,700-foot Trail Rider Pass, our second high pass of the day, with a view that took the edge off our weariness. Behind us, the valley of Lake Atwood, which we had hiked up, stretched for miles; ahead lay our destination, Painter Basin (photo above), an expansive, almost barren plateau at 11,000 feet below the highest peak in Utah, Kings Peak.

In those first three days of hiking, we encountered a grand total of two other people—and a whole lot of majestic scenery.

Read on

A backpacker above Overland Lake on the Ruby Crest Trail, Ruby Mountains, Nevada.

Backpacking the Ruby Crest Trail—A Photo Gallery

by

By Michael Lanza

Under a hot sun, but with a nice breeze keeping us cool, on our second day backpacking the Ruby Crest Trail in Nevada’s Ruby Mountains, we made the slow, 1,700-foot climb from the North Fork of Smith Creek to a pass at over 10,000 feet. It was a grind and my family spread out along the trail. But reaching the pass, we all stopped and smiled, mesmerized by a breathtaking view of the small basin that cradles Overland Lake and the mountains extending for miles beyond it (photo above).

Read on

The Outdoor Research Shadow Wind Hoodie.

Review: Outdoor Research Shadow Wind Hoodie

by

Ultralight Wind Shell
Outdoor Research Shadow Wind Hoodie
$129, 5.8 oz./164.4g (men’s medium)
Sizes: men’s S-XXL, women’s XS-XXL
outdoorresearch.com

We ask a lot of ultralight wind shells, these wispy jackets that often weigh no more (and sometimes less) than your hiking shorts. We want them to breathe well when we’re hiking or running uphill while, of course, blocking the wind effectively—and not feel like a kitchen trash bag with sleeves and a hood. On trail runs, dayhikes, and a backpacking trip from the desert Southwest in spring to the mountains of Southwest Idaho, in a wide range of fall and spring weather that challenges any outer layer to keep you comfortable, I found that OR’s Shadow Wind Hoodie did just that, quite well.

Read on

A hiker fording Pettit Lake Creek on Trail 95 to Alice Lake in Idaho's Sawtooth Mountains.

How to Safely Cross a Stream When Hiking or Backpacking

by

In the ink-black darkness long before dawn on a morning in May, seven of us panned our headlamp beams over La Verkin Creek, deep in the Kolob Canyons of Utah’s Zion National Park, contemplating where—and whether—to cross it. Bloated and bellowing with spring snowmelt and brown with the silt of dirt torn violently from its banks, the creek charged past us with a force and noise level that could make any reasonable person question the wisdom of stepping into its path.

Read on

Backpackers hiking below Nevills Arch in lower Owl Canyon, Bears Ears National Monument, Utah.

Backpacking Southern Utah’s Owl and Fish Canyons

by

By Michael Lanza

The wind blows a steady warning blast heralding the meaner gusts forecast for tonight as we begin backpacking down the rugged “trail,” such as it is, into Owl Canyon, in the Cedar Mesa area of southern Utah’s Bears Ears National Monument. In the first week of May, the four of us wear pants and shell jackets over a couple of top layers—it feels that chilly.

Read on