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The Flat Tops: Mandall Lakes to Ptarmigan Flat TopThe Flat Tops: Mandall Lakes to Ptarmigan Flat Top

The Flat Tops: Mandall Lakes to Ptarmigan Flat Top

Independence Day | Thursday – Friday, July 4-5, 2024

This year Diane was off from work over the Forth of July and following weekend, but since she was having a friend from out of town visit over the weekend she had to be home by Friday afternoon. Still, we wanted to at least get out on a short backpacking trip and decided to go on an overnight hike up into the Mandall Lakes Basin at the eastern end of the Flat Tops Wilderness. We left from home early on Thursday morning and followed the Colorado River up and over to the headwaters of the Yampa River where we followed the Bear River to the trailhead located next to the Bear Lake Reservoir. After double-checking to make sure we had everything we needed, we shouldered our packs and started hiking up the Mandall Creek Trail just after 10:00am.

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High Mesas and Plateaus of Western ColoradoHigh Mesas and Plateaus of Western Colorado

High Mesas and Plateaus of Western Colorado

Flat Top Mountain, Blair Mountain and the Roan Plateau
Friday – Sunday, June 24-26, 2022

This weekend I planned to spend my time hiking and driving to a couple highpoints of the high mesas and plateaus of Western Colorado, starting with a hike I’ve been looking forward to for a while into the Flat Tops Wilderness on Saturday morning. I left after work on Friday afternoon, grabbed a quick dinner in Glenwood Springs and then followed the Colorado River to Dotsero and McCoy and then took Highway 131 north to Yampa. There were storms in the area this afternoon and I was a little worried that Glenwood Canyon might get closed by Flash Flood Warnings, which has been common lately, but thankfully that did not happen. Once I reached Yampa I started following the Bear River on my way to the Stillwater Reservoir, and turned off to take a side road up to Gardner Park to find a spot to camp for the night. I watched the sunset from the edge of the Gardner Park Reservoir and then went to bed early so I could get an early start on Saturday.

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Top of Utah: Kings Peak via Henrys ForkTop of Utah: Kings Peak via Henrys Fork

Top of Utah: Kings Peak via Henrys Fork

Labor Day Weekend | Thursday – Sunday, August 30 – September 2, 2018

Last August when Diane and I were driving home through the eastern edge of the Uinta Mountains from our first backpacking trip in the Wind River Range in Wyoming, I mentioned that we needed to go on a backpacking trip into the High Uintas Wilderness in 2018, so I put it on our calendar for Labor Day weekend when I got back home. Fast forward a few months and it was time to start figuring out more specific plans for the trip. After looking at maps and our options, I figured that we might as well go all out and hike to the summit of Kings Peak which is the highest point in Utah. There are a couple of ways to get there, but Henrys Fork looked like the easiest and most popular way to go, so we thought it would be a good introduction to hiking in the High Uintas. Since I knew this was going to be a popular spot, especially during a holiday weekend, we took off Friday from work in hopes of getting a little bit of a head start. We left right after work on Thursday and drove over Douglas Pass and through the Book Cliffs to Vernal, where we stopped for a quick dinner. We almost hit a deer as we were driving through Manila, but other than that the drive was pretty uneventful. We arrived at the Henrys Fork Trailhead in the dark around 10:00pm and found a great spot to camp nearby. We quickly setup our tent and went right to bed. The sky was very clear and the stars and milky way were bright tonight!

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