Eric's Hikes: Uinta Highline Trail Day 6: Yellowstone Creek to Lake Fork River

August 30, 2017
Daily Distance: 14.28
Cumulative Distance: 83.78
Passes: Tungsten and Porcupine

We awoke after a restful night.

There was some morning light on the mountains to the west.

We began hiking to our first of two passes for the day, Tungsten Pass. We had considered an alternate route going over Smith's Fork Pass into the Red Castle area and then crossing back to the Highline Trail via an unnamed pass instead of Porcupine Pass but decided to stay on the main Highline Trail.

Looking back to Kings Peak and Anderson Pass.

Tungsten Pass is the easiest pass on the Highline Trail.

We passed a small pond with a nice reflection.

We reached the top of Tungsten Pass and could see Tungsten Lake and Porcupine Pass in the distance.

Tungsten Lake

The trail went down a little to the lake and then we started the climb to Porcupine Pass.

Looking down on some high unnamed lakes near Porcupine Pass

Porcupine Pass

Looking East from Porcupine Pass

The view from the top of Porcupine Pass was excellent.

The basin on the other side was quite large!

We took a break at the top for awhile and then decided to start our way down.

Descending switchbacks from Porcupine Pass

The ridgeline was dramatic.

The west side of Porcupine Pass was steep. Note the trail going under the cliffs in the middle of the photo below.

We reached the basin. It was so open and a pleasant walk.

Looking back to Porcupine Pass

The clouds started to come in.

We found a herd of sheep on the trail. They were scared of us.

It began to rain as we entered the forest.

We decided to try to get as close to Red Knob Pass as we could.

There was a nice view of an unnamed lake.

Looking back to Porcupine Pass

The trail came to a rocky overlook.

There was a rocky spire on the mountain.

It continued to rain off and on during the afternoon.

This peak was one of my favorites for the day.

We began the descent to Lake Fork River.

We reached the Lake Fork River and it was still raining so we decided to find a place to camp. There weren't many level spots so I crossed the river and began searching on the other side while Andrew searched on the same side as the trail.