Bogley

[brettyb]

Thinking of heading up to the Mirror Lake Highway area in the Uintas to car camp and do short hikes next weekend. We are leaning towards dispersed camping, but aren't certain yet. Can anyone recommend a good dispersed camping area, not too far off the highway? We have a pseudo-SUV so we're looking to avoid too rough of a road. Being close to a lake or a stream would be a plus.

More questions:
-Do the developed campgrounds fill up on the weekends? We won't be able to get up until Friday early evening.
-How is the bug situation? We can adjust the elevation at which we camp depending on the bugs.
-Are fires permitted in dispersed sites?
-Are there any areas to avoid if we want to steer clear of ATV usage?

Thanks.

[CarpeyBiggs]

brettyb wrote:
More questions:
-Do the developed campgrounds fill up on the weekends?

Definitley will fill up.

Quote: -How is the bug situation?

Bugs aren't bad, should be fine off MLH.

Quote:
-Are fires permitted in dispersed sites?

Fires only in established campsites, nothing in the wilderness boundaries or away from maintained campsites, I believe.

Quote: -Are there any areas to avoid if we want to steer clear of ATV usage?

Shouldn't find much ATV usage up there.

I'd recommend camping near Crystal Lakes Trailhead. There are lots of campsites within an hour walking, if you want to hike a little bit. If not, there are plenty of sites on the highway in that area.

[James_B_Wads2000]

brettyb wrote: Thinking of heading up to the Mirror Lake Highway area in the Uintas to car camp and do short hikes next weekend. We are leaning towards dispersed camping, but aren't certain yet. Can anyone recommend a good dispersed camping area, not too far off the highway? We have a pseudo-SUV so we're looking to avoid too rough of a road. Being close to a lake or a stream would be a plus.

Does dispersed mean car camping? If so I think I know of a secret place, but I won’t give it up easy!

brettyb wrote: -Do the developed campgrounds fill up on the weekends? We won't be able to get up until Friday early evening.

Maybe not completely full but crowded, that’s my guess

brettyb wrote: -How is the bug situation? We can adjust the elevation at which we camp depending on the bugs.

Usually only bad at night, DEET and longsleeves takes care of that.

brettyb wrote: -Are fires permitted in dispersed sites?

Pretty sure the fire restrictions are in place for most the state.

utahfireinfo.gov wrote: FIRE RESTRICTIONS
PROHIBITIONS:

Wasatch-Cache National Forests, beginning July 4, 2007, at 12:01 a.m. and continuing until further notice:

Igniting, building, maintaining, attending, or using a fire outside a fire structure that is provided by the Forest Service within a designated area

AREA DESCRIBED: All National Forest System lands as described below:
1. Ashley National Forest: All Ranger Districts except areas within the High Uinta Wilderness.
2. Dixie National Forest: All Ranger Districts.
3. Fishlake National Forest: All Ranger Districts.
4. Manti-LaSal National Forest: All Ranger Districts.
5. Uinta National Forest: All Ranger Districts.
6. Wasatch-Cache National Forest: All Ranger Districts except areas within the High Uinta Wilderness.

#6 includes you

brettyb wrote: -Are there any areas to avoid if we want to steer clear of ATV usage?

Soapstone Basin. Unless you want to get ran over by a dirt bike….er I mean MOTORCROSS bike and or an ATV stay out. Ain’t nothin’ there but gun toting rednecks.

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE HAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!

brettyb wrote: Thanks.

Anytime,

James

[Jaxx]

we just got back. We stayed in the Cobblestone campground. Friday afternoon everything was full. Saturday afternoon there were quite a few open sites. No bug problems at all. Got one bite while packing up on Sunday.

[brettyb]

Thanks for the feedback. I do mean dispersed car camping. What exactly is the price to reveal your secret spot, Mr. Wads? I was contemplating heading down the Spring Canyon Rd, from the Trial Lake area heading south. Am I getting warmer?

[mudjumper]

One of my favorites car camping places is Moosehorn lake. Especially if you can get a spot down right next to the lake. That way your up high where it's nice and cool, and you're in the "middle" as far as access to other good spots: Mirror Lake, Crystal Lake, etc

We've had plenty of luck just showing up on Thursday afternoon and getting great spots. But by mid-day Friday, they're almost all gone.

Hope that helps.
Russ

[James_B_Wads2000]

brettyb wrote: What exactly is the price to reveal your secret spot, Mr. Wads?

My price is that you post lots of pics on uutah.com if you go. I was thinking of heading down in a couple weeks.

It’s a great place, but it’s been years since I’ve been there. You turn off the ML Highway just after the Cobelrest CG on a road that heads to Murdock Basin. Stay to the right at the two major junctions the road follows Little Deer Creek down to the Duchesne River at a place called East Portal. There are a couple of campsites down there. The road was a little rough the last few switchbacks but that was years ago so I have no clue now what it is.

East Portal is where water is diverted from the river under the mountain and dumped into the Provo one drainage over. When the river is being diverted you can hike down Cataract Gorge where there are some great spring fed swimin’ holes. Just watch for exits because if they redivert while you’re down there you’ll be hating it (happen to us, it was scary)

Also there is a waterfall down there and trail that follow the river up and down.

Here are the coords:
40.6232°N, 110.8912°W (NAD83/WGS84)

Here are a few poorly scaned photos:


Be safe,
James

[brettyb]

Thanks to all for the advice, especially to Wads for revealing his secret spot (though we didn't end up trying it). Getting up there at 5PM on a Friday didn't leave with us a lot of options, predictably. We were leaning towards a developed campground b/c we wanted to have a fire. We looked at Shady Dell first, there were a couple of marginal sites available. Then Cobblerest, it was full.

Assuming the higher cg's were already full, we backtracked to the signed dispersed area near Duchesne Tunnel, but it looked like huge RV/ATV land, so we went further back down. We ended up checking out the Lower Provo River campground. It was full, but there was an obvious semi-developed dispersed site just up the road from the devloped CG. It had a metal firering, so we could have a fire. It was very close to the road, but since the road dead ends at the CG, I didn't think there would be much traffic.

The site ended up being OK. The ground was a little lumpy and uneven for the tents, but the site was spacious. The biggest negative was a lot of ATV traffic. A steady stream of obnoxious machines from morning to night, including the same fat kid who drove by at least a dozen times over two days. A serious detriment to any otherwise great weekend. (Weather cooperated quite nicely and bugs were no problem at all.)

[James_B_Wads2000]

I am glad you had a good time bret (execpt the ATV's) post some pics if you got some.

After telling you about the East Portal it got me itching to go back. So today I took a day drive out there to check it out and get some pics with digital camera. We stopped at the West Portal just off the MLH, then made a quick stop at Provo Falls then on to the East Portal.

James_B_Wads2000 wrote: It’s a great place, but it’s been years since I’ve been there... The road was a little rough the last few switchbacks but that was years ago so I have no clue now what it is.

I figured it had been 8 yrs since I’ve been down there, the pics I scanned being 9 years ago. The road is much rougher than I remembered. Once you turn off the MLH at the road signed “Murdock Basin” it is six miles to the Duchesne River. The first 3 miles are improved dirt road suitable for cars and trucks pulling campers. At the second junction the road goes very rough with large boulders and very steep as it descends down to the river. This last three miles is high-clearance 4WD. But it only took about a half-hour do drive the last 3miles.

Once down there we stopped at the coffer dam to throw rocks. There are only about three good campsites, lots of open rocky ground for other sites. We passed a three ATV’s on the way down and a couple groups stopped by while we were hiking around. We walked over to the Little Deer Creek falls and then to and overlook of The Gorge. The river was not being diverted and The Gorge was full of water and not hikeable.

It is still a great spot, but it has more ATV and dirtbike traffic than in years passed.


James

[accadacca]

Oh my hell! My screen just melted from that last pic. :lol8:

[James_B_Wads2000]

accadacca wrote: Oh my hell! My screen just melted from that last pic. :lol8:

I guess your screen can't handle that much hot sexy man. :ne_nau:

[accadacca]

Nice 4-Runner tho. I just bought an 80-Series Cruiser on ebay, its on the way. :cool2:

[James_B_Wads2000]

Post pics when it gets it.

Toyota Power!!! :2thumbs:

[sparker1]

I turned into the Murdock Basin Road several weeks ago, but my map/guide (obtained at the permit kiosk) showed Murdock Basin as primarily ATV usage.