Uinta Mountains — I've developed a healthy skepticism of trail signs. I've come across too many that misstated the distance to my destination.
But I've not seen one so wrong as the sign that was suppose to direct me in the Uinta Mountains on Sunday. The only good news is we aren't the only ones who have been fooled.
My fiance and I set out to hike to Hoover Lake in the Uinta Mountains. At the trail head, the sign was very clear about our landmarks and distances.
— Fehr Lake .5 miles
— Shepard Lake 1 mile
— Hoover Lake 1.5 miles
No problem, right? The trip to Fehr Lake was just as the sign described. So far so good.
We continued along the path. The 1-mile mark came and went with no second lake.
Then we passed something that looked more like a big puddle than a lake. Since we were due to see some body of water, we assumed it must be Shepard Lake.
We continued further, following the trail down hill. The 1.5-mile mark passed with no lake. Then at 1.69 miles, the trees opened up to a big lake. This, we said, must be Hoover Lake. We sat on a log, ate lunch and enjoyed the view.
Then I drew the map from my back pocket and unfolded it. The map showed the second lake was suppose to be on our right, yet we passed it on our left. I suspected we were only at Shepard Lake. But since we had conflicting information, and we hiked as far as we cared to that day, anyway, we turned around and hiked uphill back to the car.
When we got home I put our GPS coordinates into a map. Sure enough, we finished only at Shepard Lake; not Hoover Lake.
In trying to figure out how this happened, I found href="http://wewentwest.blogspot.com/2012/07/high-uintas-camping-pt-1.html" target="_blank">a blog from a couple who had the same experience.
I guess the U.S. Forest Service needs a new yard stick.
— Nate Carlisle
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