# Dry Fork Trailhead



## Cdragon (Nov 26, 2007)

My brother-in-law, brothers, and a few friends want to hike the Dry Fork Trailhead in the Uintas this summer. The trailhead starts by a place called Holiday Park. In one of the books that I have.... it says that Holiday Park is private and there is not much parking in the area. Does any know about this trailhead and the parking? 



Thanks for any input!

Cdragon


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## Kingfisher (Jul 25, 2008)

the dry fork trail head is near/in holladay park. however the trail head and parking are public. weekends fill up pretty fast, weekdays go wanting. the trail is pretty easy for the first mile or two, then you cross the creek and it gets steep real fast and its a nice pleasant gut buster for a couple miles. up on top you have round lake, sand lake and fish lake. all have grayling. i prefer the top lake, i think that one is fish lake, lots of shallow areas around and you can see the grayling. just toss out any fly that is an 18 or smaller close to one and you should have some action. 40+ fish a day is my norm. they are all small and stunted, but really pretty, iridiscent blue and greens. all in all, a nice hike, pleasant day and fun fishing. you wont be able to access the lakes till mid/late june unless you want to hike over lots of drifts. holladay park will be open by memorial day. another fun hike is up the middle fork of the weber to abes lake where there are lots of brookies. about the same distance. or hike from trial lake down to some of the lakes. there is some bushwhacking involved going from trail to trail with nothing in between but that pretty much how i was raised anyway.


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## Cdragon (Nov 26, 2007)

Thanks for the info Kingfisher! We too like blazing our own trails. It's fun to get off the beaten path occasionally. So if we get to the trail on a Thursday..... we should be OK with the parking I assume?


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## Kingfisher (Jul 25, 2008)

absolutely. on a friday there will be a couple of horse trailers, 16 subaru's a prius a pious and a couple of beat up trucks. a lot of people like to camp just past the creek crossing in a very nice stand of mature spruce fir and then hike up for day activities. too many people crossing by for me to camp there... there are a lot of really nice spots up by the lakes for packers as well, i prefer the higher elevations. pick a spot near a ridgeline as the breeze will blow nicely in the night and keep the skeeters low.


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## Cdragon (Nov 26, 2007)

We plan on backpacking in around the middle of July..... and of course dressing appropriately for the mosquitos that might carry us off. We want to camp somewhere around the 3 bigger lakes up in there. Should be a good time and hopefully we'll catch some fish too. Thanks for your help Kingfisher!


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## cazmataz (May 18, 2009)

You are getting me all excited about the Uintas. I can't wait until the Mirror Lake HWY opens up.


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## Chaser (Sep 28, 2007)

Actually guys, the road is clear all the way to Alpine Acres up there. My family owns a cabin in HP, and my grandpa is going up there to turn on the water this weekend. Like Kingfisher said, there isn't much parking, but enough to accommodate at least a few small groups, even a couple horse trailers. The trailhead and parking area are on HP property, but the HP "homeowners" association has allowed the small area to be used by the public for parking/hiking to Forest Service property, which starts around a half mile up the trail, maybe a bit less. If you go, please pick up after yourself and others. We don't mind allowing public access, but it really blows when people leave their garbage around.

There will still be lots of snow on the trail right now, and probably some decent drifts into late June/early July. As mentioned, there are stream crossings, so be prepared for that. The first 1-1.5 miles is a decent hike, just a bit of up and down, but after you cross the stream the last time, it gets steep. If I remember right, its around 5 miles to Fish Lake from the trailhead. Round does have fish, but just a few, and generally just small grayling. Sand has a lot of fish, but again, dinkers, and Fish has some as well, but it is bigger, so they spread out. There are a few bigger ones in there, but don't count on anything too big. 12 inches is probably the biggest you will catch. Fly and a bubble always does the trick. The trip can be done easily in a day, but give yourself 3-4 hours each way for the hike.


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## Cdragon (Nov 26, 2007)

Good stuff Chaser! Thanks for the info. I hate seeing garbage left in the outdoors too. We definately will try and leave the place clean so someone else can enjoy it. Sounds like we will be in for a good hike. We will hike in on a Thursday and hike out on either Saturday or Sunday. July can't get here soon enough!!! We will be mostly fly fishing.... gotta love the Graylings on a dry fly!  

Thanks,
Cdragon


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## Cdragon (Nov 26, 2007)

So we are leaving bright and early tomorrow morning for this trip..... and one of my friends that is going heard from someone that there might be a gate somewhere on the Weber Canyon road that is locked and prohibits you from getting to the trailhead. Does anyone (Chaser, Kingfisher) know if there are any gates on the way to the trailhead that we might have problems with?

I'd hate to get up there and have to change our plans.

Thanks for your input!
Cdragon


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## Chaser (Sep 28, 2007)

Nope. No gates to where you are headed. In fact, all the closed gates along the way will keep you on the right road to the trailhead. 

Holiday Park is pertnear 7 miles from the gate to Thousand Peaks Ranch (the turnoff to Smith and Morehouse). The trailhead where you will need to park is a bit more than 1/4 of a mile past the Holiday Park gate. If you have made it to the sign marking Alpine Acres, you have gone too far.


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

I come in from the Evanston side.










That's Fish Lake under my chin.


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## STEVO (Sep 13, 2007)

Wow, you are a amazing mountain man Goob. You dont even have to drop your drawers when ya poop :lol: j/k


Good luck on your trip. It should be some beautiful country and it will be nice to get out of this heat!!!


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## Cdragon (Nov 26, 2007)

Yeah Goob...... that is quite the squat you got goin' on there! 

Hey Chaser.... Thanks for the info. I'm pretty excited to get up in there and hook up with some brooks and grayling.


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

:lol: He, he, he

It's an old Garmin 45XL. You had to hold it just right to get a "fix".......uh...my story.

It was a drag for me to drive all the way around the mountain to Holiday Park and then walk up that steep trail. So I just came in from the top, Whiskey Island usually. Whiskey Island held the Utah state record for grayling for a long time.

There's a buddy of mine, and UWN Forum member, that bushwacked into Fish from the Mirror Lake Highway last year. I hope he chimes in. Fish Lake was always good to me, especially on the inlet and the mountainside, but it's been a few years since I have been up there. 

Also, you can hike in from Pass Lake, hit the Cuberant Lakes Basin, and then walk over the top to the Dry Fork. Note that, "back in the day" Sasquatch lived in the Cuberants. My guess is an over-abundance of Boy Scouts drove him out. 

Doesn't matter much, it's all good. 

Enjoy fellas.


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## Chaser (Sep 28, 2007)

I have heard that there is an old overgrown logging road that comes down most, if not all, of the way from the MLH to Fish Lake. Apparently its a much easier way to get INTO the area, but a beast to get back out. Have you heard of this Goob?


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

Chaser said:


> I have heard that there is an old overgrown logging road that comes down most, if not all, of the way from the MLH to Fish Lake. Apparently its a much easier way to get INTO the area, but a beast to get back out. Have you heard of this Goob?


Not that I'm aware of. The mountain ridge between the MLH and Dry Fork is very rough. The logging road(s) from the MLH stop within 1/2 mile of Whiskey Island. From there, bushwack to Whiskey Island, and then take off up the mountainside over the saddle to the west. You can also loop around south on the ridge between Cuberant Basin and Dry Fork Drainages. Either way it is a short distance over the hill (mountain)to Fish.....but it's not for everyone, kinda tough. Again, I just hate driving all the way around and walking the 5 miles up that trail.

There may have been some kinda road following the Dry Fork back in the day they built the dam on Fish, but I just assumed they used horses and mules. Got me, I don't now. I've never took that trail along the creek, the loop part.

Just off the MLH there's a steep part on the logging road that is tough. I couldn't get up on my last try; wrong kind of tires, I just spin out on the rocks. Last year the logging road was barricaded off for awhile in the summer. I don't know why. I need to get up there, there's two lakes in the basin I have missed, Carol and a no-name lake.


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## gdog (Sep 13, 2007)

wyogoob said:


> There's a buddy of mine, and UWN Forum member, that bushwacked into Fish from the Mirror Lake Highway last year. I hope he chimes in. Fish Lake was always good to me, especially on the inlet and the mountainside, but it's been a few years since I have been up there.


Wife and I where coming out from Whiskey Lake and ran into those monkeys heading over the top to Fish lake. Probably going to do the same trip in a couple weeks. Supposedly a fair amount of steep boulder hopping to get over the pass.

We fished Whiskey Lake for the afternoon, but had no luck..nor saw any fish at all.


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

gdog said:


> wyogoob said:
> 
> 
> > There's a buddy of mine, and UWN Forum member, that bushwacked into Fish from the Mirror Lake Highway last year. I hope he chimes in. Fish Lake was always good to me, especially on the inlet and the mountainside, but it's been a few years since I have been up there.
> ...


Whiskey Island always had winterkill problems.

The Whiskey Island side is the toughest side for me, the top is a very steep, lots of loose rock. The boulders on the other side aren't too bad.


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