Amethyst Lake Overnighter

“Well first of all this was my first backpack trip, I'm a dayhiker mostly on weekends. Let me first tell you a little about Amethyst Lake. Its about 100 miles from SLC in the High Unitas. It is an alpine lake settle in at about 10,740 elevation. Well Friday night I packed all the new gear I've been buying since Jan. Saturday morning I drove down to SLC to meet the organizer of the trip (I belong to the Wasatch Mountain Club) I was the only person to go on the trip. We started off at about 8:15 AM. We finally arrived at the Ranger Station about 10:00 for your permit. About 30 minutes later we arrived at the trailhead. I started feeling a little weird putting on this backpack which weighed in about 30 lbs. considering I usually only carry a fanny pack on dayhikes. Well off we go, about 1/4 mile into the hike we see 3 cow moose on the trail, but they got scared and just move out of our way (must have been that 30 lbs. pack I was carrying and they felt the ground force) then about another 200 yards or so we meet up with about 30-40 sheep all over the place. Some were running all over getting off the trail others just grazing on the grass. At about the 2 mile fork which splits into Amethyst Lake/Ryder Kermsuh Lake we had lunch. So far this was not too bad. Now I was thinking this might be a piece of cake, well here comes the steepest part of the trail a 600 foot elevation gain in 1/2 mile. I just kept going at a pretty good pace I did not even get tried when I got to the top I waited for my hiking partner. I waited about 10 minutes saw some people coming up I asked them if they saw my partner they said yes, he was catching some grasshoppers. WTF, when he got to where I was I asked him what happen, he said he needed some bait for fishing. So off we went, next we came upon a meadow with some mountain ridge where you could see some avalche had taken place, about 50 or so trees just mauled down. Amethyst Meadows was the next stop we made which I heard was a nice place to setup camp, but it was just to open for me so we head off for the Lake. I went off a little to fast, I arrived at a lake, but it was just too small to be Amethyst Lake, so I waited for my partner, after about 5 minutes no one shows up so I back-peddled, call out his name, some people answered, but not my partner. Now I get a little nervous, but I see another trail. Off I go, this has to be the trail to the lake. At least I was thinking we'll just meet at the Lake, besides there were some other people behind us going there also. About another mile or so there's my partner. We left our packs, and looked for a campsite. This Lake is settled between two awesome mountain ridge Ostler-LaMotte, I believe their both over 12,000. This is supposed to be a very popular hike, we saw a few people, but no one else setup any tents. We set camp up and then my partner did some fishing he caught 1 trout. About 10 minutes later the people that came up after us went in the a swim. My partner decided to go to another spot. We meet up with some people (The couple that told me that my partner was catching grasshoppers way back) he caught 3 trout. We headed back for camp when we meet up with a grouse. Back at camp we had dinner and BS'd. My partner told me there was no moon out tonight. I retired about 9:00. Well about 12-1 am I wake up to this bright light in my tent (No fly) here's this giant moon in my face, awesome. Got up about 7, my hiking partner went fishing, caught 1 more fish (forgot to tell you he ate the other fish for dinner). We packed up and left for another lake (Ostler) which has no trail. We did a climb up and got to a hill and there it was below us with Ostler Peak above. We only stayed for a few minutes and headed out. We got to a stream where my partner had to just try for some more trout, nothing. I was watching the Jays which flew over my head a few times. Off we went looking for the trail. We stop at the fork where we had lunch the day before and we meet up with some people from the club, but which also belong to another club, which were up there for a dayhike. The one lady I was talking to was pissed because she didn't see the posting in our magazine that their was a backpack the day before. We might get together for a backpack this weekend though. Well we got back to the trailhead and headed home. To me this was a great backpack, there will be many more to come. Today my shoulders are a little sore, and my tailbone in also a little sore, but my legs and knees are feeling pretty good. Next month King's Peak. Sorry, but no pictures.”

“Man, I hate when that happens... camping with a grouse then waking up with a giant moon in my face, <G>.

Sounds like a fun hike. 'Amethyst' is a cool name for a lake.”

“that it is, Tilt-o-rama.

so Wasatch, dude, you walked for 1/4 mile and saw moose??? awesome! and that is like SO unfair. you're obviously the next one to be banned.
;-P”

“Tilt,

Actually, when my partner went fishing, I laid in my tent and I could here this puffing sound kind of like a stereo in the distance. Man I was thinking did someone bring up a boombox. When my partner came back I told him what I heard. He told me it probably was the grouse. That giant moon was awesome, about the size of a softball. Yes, Amethyst is a cool name for a Lake.

Lyra,

With a name like Lyra, I know you would like Amethyst. Yes, saw some moose that soon. Even though they were cows, they were pretty big. I heard the moose up their are pretty familar with people being around, so they don't bother you as much or not tend to move when you approach.”

“I hiked Cohutta Wilderness for 4 days with a grouse one time. It had rained continuously for like 48 hours, so I really couldn't blame him, <G>.”