You’ve probably noticed that my young child joins me on most backpacking trips. Even though he was only 4 years old when we did Naturalist he had no issues with the mileage to Jordan Lake. He usually hikes around 2 mph, but I never count on him doing this mileage every hour. I’ve come to realize being on trail so often with him that this is a best case scenario and that terrain, obstacles, weather and the time of day we start can influence the time it takes us to get from point A to point B. I prefer to do an in depth investigation of any new trail we backpack together so I can manage expectations, time and plan accordingly. Backpacking with kids is more involved and requires thoughtfulness when packing and during prep stages. We planned for mosquitoes and off trail route finding in the upper basin. What we didn’t plan for was 45 blowdowns and our Puggle to call it quits. Here’s an in depth look at our trip to Naturalist Basin. Did I mention I fell in a lake filtering water with my backpack on? Mmmm, yeah. So, maybe there are a few lessons in here as well.
Mosquito season hit early with unusually warm temps and rapid snow melt. We soaked our clothes in permethrin before the trip and brought headnets. I also bought a cheap mesh enclosure that could fit multiple people in. You simply hang it from a tree and you can enjoy being outside your tent watching the sunset without being bombarded by bugs. It didn’t even weigh half a pound. We had originally planned to spend 4 days in the basin, but cut it to 3. I highly recommend not camping at Jordan lake unless your sole purpose is fishing. Jordan has great fishing and one huge campsite where we set up. It’s windier and more exposed once you climb into the upper basin, but the areas in the Uintas that are known to be windier are also your best bet in the thick of mosquito season. I think it’s prettier too in the upper basin. I am a fan of vast areas with sweeping views and the upper basin provides just that.
The trailhead to Naturalist starts at the Western Terminus of the Highline Trail. It’s located just off Mirror Lake Highway. There is a six dollar fee per day for parking or you can use your National Park Pass. The parking lot is huge and has a bathroom. I tracked 6.7 miles w 850 feet of vertical climb to Jordan Lake. It took us 6 hours and 11 minutes. I’d planned for 4, but a lot of the blowdowns required us to lift our children and animals over several large trees. This was a major time suck. I remember when completing the Highline trail last year that this final leg had a lot of blowdowns, but assumed they had been removed by this point. I assumed wrong.
Starting out on Highline you’ll descend the first mile. This is a hot, dusty portion of trail. You’ll also pass through a burn scar area as the trail gently rollercoasters. The burn scar area is neat to see. You have juxtaposition of the chared trees set against a green forest floor. Life and death collide.
Around mile 4.5 be on the lookout for a sign that’s not well placed to catch your eye on the left hand side of the trail for Naturalist Basin. Better yet have the route downloaded and keep an eye on how close you are to the turn off. Nothing is worse than backtracking with a child. The water sources to the basin I feel aren’t quite enough to get away with carrying my Katadyn soft flask filter vs my bladder. The carnage of blowdowns continue once you take the trail split. It was 45 total from the TH to Jordan. I know, I counted.
Once you hit the split the trail gets steep and climbs for a short distance and then levels out. Rinse, repeat, rinse, repeat. You do this until the trail split that leads to either Jordan lake or Morat Lakes. At the split you’ll see what looks like a stepping stone path across a river going to Jordan lake or you’ll begin another climb if you go left to Morat Lakes. It had taken us tremendously more time than we had planned for so we opted to head to Jordan so the kids could have a break and play vs climbing to Morat.
The next morning we woke up and decided to day trip around the basin and hit all the lakes. If I would’ve known I would’ve packed us up and relocated in the upper basin to get away from the mosquitos. The trail to the upper basin wraps around Jordan Lake to the East where you’ll find a steep, loose AF, short climb. This is where you’ll need GPS. There aren’t trails in the majority of the upper basin. Everything from here on out is route finding. To make a loop I tracked 4.98 miles w just under 700 feet vertical gain. The trail isn’t hard because it’s steep. It’s hard because of navigating, bushwhacking and boulder field crossings.
The first lake we visited was Shaler. Shaler was my favorite Lake. There were some great campsites too. We didn’t rush this day hike. We made it a point to stop and enjoy every single lake. We also were avoiding our problems back at camp. Those problems being the swarm of bloodthirsty mosquitos.
After Shaler we visited Faxon. Faxon is a smaller lake than Shaler. The Jack Russell enjoyed a dip in the lake. The Puggle enjoyed sun bathing and the kids loved looking at all the delicate yellow flowers that freckled the grassy areas.
From there we popped over to Leconte. This is where I feel the majority of the boulder fields and bushwhacking were. Everything short lived. Nothing too hard. The boulder fields do require balance to cross. I wouldn’t say that anything was too difficult. I just made a mental note if I bring the kid back up to allot for more time with the terrain.
LeConte was rather large. We didn’t see a soul from Jordan until Blue Lake. Most people prefer to camp in less exposed areas. Which if storms were forecasted to roll through regularly on a trip I’d probably prefer not to be as exposed either. Since there isn’t a trail this could cut down on crowds as well. Our next stop was Walcott Lake. More pond status than lake, but man was it different. I highly recommend stopping by vs bypassing it on your way to Blue Lake. It just has a unique feel.
Finally on to Blue Lake. Jordan and Blue Lake are the most talked about lakes in the Basin. Blue lake was indeed blue and it was fairly large. We ran into a few people fishing in the area. It does have tree cover in areas so if you want to be higher up in the basin, but have some tree coverage Blue Lake is your best best. The fishing from what we heard was better at Jordan.
A trail pics up from Blue Lake and descends down a steep, loose, dirt, screeville track. You pass a beautiful waterfall and have the contrasting colors of Morat Lakes pop into view. You have to traverse a gross area that I had no intention doing w a child to get the best picture of the falls. Sorry, no pic. Morat Lakes are another popular campsite destination in the basin. So Jordan, Blue and Morat is where most people are going to set up camp. I’d camp at Blue over Jordan or Morat.
Once you leave Morat you’ll descend to the stream with the stepping stones. We then made our way back to camp and were driven mad by the bugs. I could 100 % spend the rest of the night relaxing and playing a game w my Husband or friend inside a tent, but a 4 year old needs a little more. Sometimes I do bring games for us to play or I have been known to preload my phone with games for him. Situations like this it comes in clutch. As for the dogs they were happy to spend the rest of the night relaxing. There was also a small waterfall on the North side of the lake you can hike up to. That was our night.
In case you’re wondering the dogs are showcasing their homemade sleeping bags. For their sleep set up I have an accordion style Z lite pad that they sleep on. Then I bought some cheap down kids coats from a thrift store and cut the arms out and made the holes big enough to comfortably fit their legs. I then bought an Eddie Bauer packable down blanket and cut it to size. It should be long enough on both sides to cover the majority of their legs, but not hit the ground. Then I cut it off before their tail. I put Velcro on two places and have it so the blanket portion can be taken on and off of them with the velcro attachments. When they lay down the blanket covers their body.
The next day the Puggle decided not only would she refuse to maneuver blow downs, cross rivers or boulder fields she would also refuse to walk the last two miles back to the car. My Husband fireman carried her home. She is an old girl and we lost her to cancer 4 months later. This was the last trip we took her on and I’m grateful for the memories I had with this sweet girl. RIP my beautiful soul puppy.
One last thing. About me falling in the lake. When you filter water and have to reach down from a rock to do so remove your pack. Especially if your sisters dog’s trail name is freight train and has a habit of plowing into people. Freight Train came barreling up to me curious as to what was going on and knocked me right into the lake. Pack and all. My Katadyn filter was never the same. Another pro tip if using the Katadyn Be Free is to take a coffe filter and wrap it around the filter. Secure filter with a rubber band or pony tail. Katadyn IMO gets clogged easily. Once clogged it’s worthless. No matter how hard you try to shake that bad boy or how long you soak it in distilled water it’s done. After I switched to the Sawyer Squeeze with a smartwater bottle. Much harder to legitimately clog and cleans more efficiently. I do however miss the soft flask that attaches to the Katadyn.
Happy trails everyone!
Exploring the Wasatch and Beyond 