Trip Review: The High Uinta Wilderness Area

We were able to take a trip to the Uinta National Forest in Utah this summer.  Riding conditions were perfect and the scenery was fabulous. Here is what we found.

We headed up to the High Uinta Wilderness Area and the East Fork of the Bear River.  You can access this area of the Uintas from the Mirror Lake Highway through either Evanston or Kamas. It’s a great area for riding with trails of varying length and difficulty.

Wolverine Trail System

We first hit the Wolverine trail system. You can get to the trails in this area from either the trailhead on the Christmas Meadows road (#057), or from the trailhead on the Lyman Lake road (#058), right off of the main highway. This system is kind of a maze of several different trails. They weave in and out of the area and make for some great riding. We’d suggest picking up a trail map at the Bear River ranger station to help you navigate your way through. We rode several trails in the area, most of them were fairly short and rocky. But there was enough trail to explore to make a good day of it.

We got some great views of Lily Lake and some beautiful mountainous views. Some of the trails lead through a burn scar from an old forest fire. The views are still breathtaking and the area is slowly recovering. We were there during wildflower season, and the vibrant colors made the meadows really phenomenal, even in the burn areas. There are a couple of really fun river crossings out on the loops. One of our favorites was a crossing of the East Fork of the Bear right off of the road (trail #380).  It was a little deep, but not insane deep and an exciting ride. We looped back and did this one several times. There was also a small stream/canal on trail #738 that was a lot of fun to cross.

Lyman Lake Trails

We also really liked riding the trails by Lyman Lake. These trails are only a short distance east of the Wolverine Trail system, and the two connect. Our favorite was a loop we took over Deadman Pass (Trail #s 063, 303, 305, 061 and 304). It starts on road #058 and comes out on #059. It was one of the longer loops. We got some amazing views up on top of the pass, a great little lake (right around trail #305) to take a break at and some more really fun river crossings. There are many trails to try in this area too, so you can choose your own adventure. Again, a trail map is pretty invaluable in finding your way.

As we hit the trail, we did run into some size restrictions. These weren’t surprising since we’d done a bit of research ahead of time. The wolverine trail and a few gems around Lyman Lake only allow for a 50” max width. However, there are several trails in the area that allow access for machines of all sizes. Also, most of the trails were pretty rocky. We got bounced around a bit.

Camping

We camped just off of the Lyman Lake road (#058). It’s got some great off-road camping locations right next to a pristine little stream. This isn’t far from the Bear River Lodge. There are cabins at the Lodge that are available to rent. You can also rent UTVs at the Lodge if you don’t want to haul your own machine to the area.

Overall, this area is lots of fun to spend a couple of days riding in if you don’t mind riding rocky trails. The area is beautiful, and great to explore it. There are lots of trail options and plenty of exploring to do.  It makes a fabulous weekend trip.