1 MILE
Location: 40.7150572, -110.8606328
10 CAMP
Location: 40.6705035, -110.7659117
9.18 MILES
2 MILES
Location: 40.7046229, -110.8510893
3 MILES
Location: 40.6951027, -110.8421118
4 MILES
Location: 40.6909015, -110.825376
5 MILES
Location: 40.6875325, -110.810007
6 MILES
Location: 40.6867396, -110.7944795
7 MILES
Location: 40.6820694, -110.7828246
8 MILES
Location: 40.6746832, -110.7770891
9 MILES
Location: 40.6713191, -110.7674273
OLGA LAKE
Location: 40.6801557, -110.7799221
PARK
Location: 40.7221384, -110.864044
01 Clouds.JPG
Location: 40.6935246, -110.834713
Sunday was mostly sunny, with a few of these clouds in the morning. By the time I reached the car, the skies were heavy with the threat of more rain.
02 Near Rocky Sea Pass.jpg
Location: 40.6793362, -110.7777214
Looking north, with the boulder-strewn slope to the east, this is the view of Spread Eagle Peak, which oversees Naturalist Basin.
04 Jean and Dean Lakes.jpg
Location: 40.6747797, -110.7722282
Looking down from the pass into the northern extreme of the basin.
05 Daynes Lake and Lion Mountain.jpg
Location: 40.6696369, -110.7649326
A good place to cook dinner and take a look around. And yes, the mountain is named "Lion Mountain," which isn't the same as moutain lion, which you won't see in this photo. Thank goodness!
06 Fretful bird.jpg
Location: 40.6707436, -110.7651901
This little guy seemed bothered by my presence. So I took his photo and then moved on.
08 Elephant head flowers.jpg
Location: 40.6660562, -110.7627869
I have always been intrigued by these flowers. They're pretty and comical at the same time.
09 Dale Lake.jpg
Location: 40.673673, -110.7635593
The wind was beginning to pick up, which kept the bugs away! :)
09 Dale Lake under ominous skies.jpg
Location: 40.6730871, -110.7645893
This was a portent of things to come: 30 minutes of hail and an hour or two of rain. I love the sound of thunder in the high basins.
10 Mosquito netting and homemade tent.jpg
Location: 40.6701577, -110.7660484
This is the tent that I made. I had some leftover netting from the project and, just for this trip, glued Velcro to it so that I could wrap it around my head for protection from biting critters (like grizzlies). I was so glad I did. Whenever the air was still, the bugs were voracious.
11 Red Riding Hood.jpg
Location: 40.6817445, -110.778923
With my bandana on the back of my neck, I looked...fetching.
12 Mount Hayden.jpg
Location: 40.7062786, -110.8530807
This is one of my favorite views of the entire route.
It is about 9 miles from parking lot to campsite. The terrain is mostly flat, with a significant uphill section before Carolyn Lake. The ground in the basin is rocky, so camping sites were hard to find until I moved down from the pass. There were several excellent sites in a stand of trees between Dale and Daynes Lake. My favorite moment of the trip was July 26, Sunday morning. I was playing my flute while boiling water for breakfast. Immediately upon stopping, first one coyote and then several gave me a chorus. It was beautiful. By the way, July 24th is a state holiday in Utah. So the mountains--especially Naturalist Basin--were crowded with hordes of people. But once I angled south from the trail to Rocky Sea Pass, I didn't see another soul.
One more note about hordes: mosquitoes. I made a little net from no-see-um netting (leftovers from my homemade bivy project), hot-glued two pieces of Velcro, and just slipped this under my hat. It worked great. Whenever there was no breeze, I would slip it on and be at peace.
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