A Short Evening Hike in the Uintas

This afternoon I was able to take a short hike in the Uintas just for fun. I tried to get John and Zach Rogers to go with me, but they could not leave on such short notice. The snow is mostly gone from the lakes in the Provo River drainage, although I was able to stash a couple of cans of pop in a snowbank and pick them up on the way out. I hiked in to Haystack Lake first and caught this fish on the first cast, and followed that with another a little larger on the third. From Haystack, I hiked cross country to the west and then north up to Rock Lake through a big boulder field. When I got there, I took a picture and then realized that I had lost my BlackBerry - it had fallen out of my holster somewhere. Thinking I must have lost it in the boulder field, I backtracked through the boulders and then gave up. I headed back to Rock Lake and caught a 12" Brookie on the first cast. From that point on, I pretty much got eaten alive by mosquitoes. I gave up on fishing - I couldn't fish and swat mosquitoes at the same time - and decided to head down to Blue Lake, where I caught another Brookie ( smaller) on the first cast and then headed west at the base of Haystack Mountain. I thought I remembered another lake out west, but I walked for an hour and a half to another cirque at the base of the mountain, but no lake. I headed back, picked up the pop at Rock Lake and then headed out over the boulder field. I decided to pray for help in finding my BlackBerry and did so. I tried to walk back the way I came, but every boulder looked the same and once I got to the hillside leading down to Haystack I realized it was hopeless to find the same way I had walked in since I was just going cross country and I hadn't really paid attention to where I had gone. I could hear a stream, and I went towards it and just as I got there, there was my BlackBerry right where I had jumped across the stream on the way in. Needless to say, I knelt down and thanked my Father in Heaven for the help. I should have had more faith that it would work- I had just about given up when it just appeared. I was rewarded later with a beautiful view across the meadow near Trail Lake. What a wonderful experience to have on a hot Saturday afternoon.