Amethyst Lake

At the beginning of August I went on a backpacking trip with some of my in-laws to Amethyst Lake in the Uintas. The distance from the trailhead to the lake is about 6 miles, mostly up-hill. We camped about 1 mile away from the lake. This was my first backpacking trip. At the beginning of the year I started exercising more regularly and eating better and I felt that this trip would be a good opportunity to test my physical fitness.

Here I am in the parking lot.

This is our group before we started.

Our first rest break

This is about 2 miles into the hike. It's hard to see, but there is a sign and the trail forks here. You head left up to Amethyst, and you quickly realize that you are going to hate your life for the next 4 miles.

We hiked next to this river during the most brutal part of our journey

This was some of the terrain we had to navigate on the way up.

Our campsite with my tent in the foreground

This meadow was right by our campsite. Oh yeah, and there was a moose too.

This is the same meadow, looking up toward the lake.

This is one of the small lakes near Amethyst.

One of the meadows on the way home

We had a fantastic time, except for the part where my father-in-law fell and sprained his knee and had to ride out on horseback. I was really happy with how I faired physically and it has shown me how much fun you can have in life when you get your body in shape to do it. Also, this has been the trip that just keeps on giving! A couple weeks ago I started having some pain, so I went to the doctor and found out that I had brought a little friend home from my trip (not giardia). So, I also learned that even thought you filter your water, you can still get sick. Now I get to take medicine and eat some of this: