# Uintas: Red Castle



## HighmtnFish

A little backstory: my wife's brother died in an accident this fall. He was an avid outdoorsman and loved to share the outdoors with his kids. He promised his 13 year old son he would take him backpacking in the Unitas before he died. The family got together and decided we would take him instead. 
There was 5 of us that made the 11 mile hike from china meadows to lower red castle. We stopped and fished the steam along the way, it was full of small Brookies. We caught many on the way up.



























Saw a few moose, this one was kind enough to pose for us.










First look at Red castle:









We made it to lower red castle with enough daylight left to set up camp and do a little evening fishing.



























The next morning we hiked up to red castle lake, another 2 miles or so. The hike up to the lake was spectacular. The lake sits at about 11,250 feet, above the tree line. The windflowers were out in full force and the fishing was excellent for small cutthroats and tiger trout if you had the right fly, I wore out every Adams and renegade in my box.


















































































I got my nephew set up with a fly and a bubble and he caught all the fish he wanted, I'm afraid I might have created a new fisherman, his mother will not be happy with me.



















We bummed around the next day and slowly made our way back to the truck. 3 days I not enough time to spend up there, unfortunately thats all the time we had.

A few more fish:


















Don't feed the wildlife!









One last look at red castle:


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## tye dye twins

A+ report. Do I dare say Uintas post of the year? 

Just added it to my list of places to go this summer. Excellent post dude!!!!!!


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## Idratherbehunting

tye dye twins said:


> A+ report. Do I dare say Uintas post of the year?
> 
> Just added it to my list of places to go this summer. Excellent post dude!!!!!!


I agree. It was added to my list of places to go! Just not this summer for me.


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## adamsoa

I've hit that stream before. Its a beautiful place. Thanks for sharing the pics


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## trclements

Great post and awesome pictures.


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## N8ON

Great report, gorgeous pics, and inspiring story.


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## Dirtbag08

Awesome pictures! I have wanted to make it up there and this post just fueled that fire! Thanks for sharing


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## brookieguy1

Excellent work, Highmtnfish! Great job fulfilling a promised trip. Good looking fish also, even though I know it was tough fishing for those sub-species!


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## tkidder

Excellent report! Way to help out getting a fisherman started. Too bad his dad couldn't do it, but awesome that you could step in like that.


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## gitterdone81

I love that place. I need to get back one more time with my dad before his health fails him.

Side note, I was always told it was 16 miles...what do others think? Anyone GPS'd it?


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## sawsman

Simply awesome!8)

Stellar photos! Felt like I was there..


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## HighmtnFish

gitterdone81 said:


> I love that place. I need to get back one more time with my dad before his health fails him.
> 
> Side note, I was always told it was 16 miles...what do others think? Anyone GPS'd it?


My remaining brother in law had a GPS and it read 11.3 miles to lower red castle and another 2.5 to red castle. With a 35 pound pack on my back, it felt like 16 miles.


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## Dunkem

Very nice post,story,and pictures.


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## wyogoob

Great post.


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## wyogoob

HighmtnFish said:


> My remaining brother in law had a GPS and it read 11.3 miles to lower red castle and another 2.5 to red castle. With a 35 pound pack on my back, it felt like 16 miles.


You bring up a good point. Backpacking is not gauged so much in miles as it is in time. The time it takes to get from point "A" to point "B" is relative to whether you are going uphill or downhill, on-trail or off-trail, the weight of your pack, your physical condition...other stuff. In the 80's it was 6 hours to Red Castle Lake; now it is 8 hours. :-?


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## gdog

Long 8 hrs at that!


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## LOAH

That's just beautiful. Makes me want to go there.


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