On Saturday, August 20, I made my annual climb up Bald Mountain from the summit of the Mirror Lake Highway. The trail is only about a mile and a half to the top, but it climbs from 10,700 feet to about 11,900 feet, and there isn't a lot of extra oxygen at those altitudes.
It's really just spring up here. And it will probably be winter before summer arrives.
This is a pair of hikers nearing the summit of Bald Mountain. From here it's just one last climb, a narrow crossing, and up some tall rock steps to the top.
This is my favorite picture of the day. Five Utah Rocky Mountain goats were hanging out on the east-side ledges almost directly above Moosehorn Lake, which you can't see in this picture. What you can see in the background is Mirror Lake, and with good binoculars the goats could probably be seen from there. I assume this is the big-daddy goat, who gets first pick of ledges for his afternoon nap.
Looking west from near the top of Bald Mountain. The Uintas have 1,000 lakes and ponds, according to Wikipedia.
A bag of chips swells pretty big at almost 12,000 feet.
On the way down the trail, I see the goats are still lazying around the ledges.
A few thunderclouds were hanging around and blocking the sun from time to time (the only lightning I saw was on Hayden Peak, across the canyon). I waited until the sun poked out on the daddy goat while the Mirror Lake campground stayed in the shaded background to get this picture.
It's really just spring up here. And it will probably be winter before summer arrives. 
This is a pair of hikers nearing the summit of Bald Mountain. From here it's just one last climb, a narrow crossing, and up some tall rock steps to the top. 
This is my favorite picture of the day. Five Utah Rocky Mountain goats were hanging out on the east-side ledges almost directly above Moosehorn Lake, which you can't see in this picture. What you can see in the background is Mirror Lake, and with good binoculars the goats could probably be seen from there. I assume this is the big-daddy goat, who gets first pick of ledges for his afternoon nap. 
Looking west from near the top of Bald Mountain. The Uintas have 1,000 lakes and ponds, according to Wikipedia. 
A bag of chips swells pretty big at almost 12,000 feet. 
On the way down the trail, I see the goats are still lazying around the ledges. 
A few thunderclouds were hanging around and blocking the sun from time to time (the only lightning I saw was on Hayden Peak, across the canyon). I waited until the sun poked out on the daddy goat while the Mirror Lake campground stayed in the shaded background to get this picture. 
1 comment:
that looks awesome. Last time I was in the Uintas I tried to convince my nephew I could see some mountain goats on the side of a nearby peak but after borrowing K.C's binoculars we figured out it was just some snow.
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