Jake DeBrusk
New member
Last week the Harker Outdoors team and I set out to intentionally push the limits of our rigs in extreme winter conditions in a mountain snow storm. Our plan was to head into the Uinta Mountains a few hours after the storm started (around 3:00 PM) and get to the trailhead before sundown.
We got a slightly later start than we had hoped, and after encountering a family of moose on the Mirror Lake Highway we were a behind schedule and knew we would have to negotiate the trail in the dark. We decided on a 15 mile off-road route which traverses a respectable summit from north to south and would drop us out on pavement the next day.
The road which already had 12-18” of snow gave us some struggles heading to the top of the mountain and ended up getting stuck 3-4 times, but not bad enough to use a winch or a tow! Once we made it to camp, we set up our Christmas winter wonderland. This is something I would recommend to anyone who likes winter camping. Bring some colorful Christmas lights, a small Christmas tree, and a fire pit. It turns a snowy forest into a winter wonderland in no time! The next morning we hopped back on the trail and crossed over the mountain. Plowing through several feet of fresh powder was as much fun as it sounds and not only did we have the entire trail to ourselves all day, we managed to find some beautiful dense forest campsites to take Holiday photos in.
Check out some of the shots we got!
We got a slightly later start than we had hoped, and after encountering a family of moose on the Mirror Lake Highway we were a behind schedule and knew we would have to negotiate the trail in the dark. We decided on a 15 mile off-road route which traverses a respectable summit from north to south and would drop us out on pavement the next day.
The road which already had 12-18” of snow gave us some struggles heading to the top of the mountain and ended up getting stuck 3-4 times, but not bad enough to use a winch or a tow! Once we made it to camp, we set up our Christmas winter wonderland. This is something I would recommend to anyone who likes winter camping. Bring some colorful Christmas lights, a small Christmas tree, and a fire pit. It turns a snowy forest into a winter wonderland in no time! The next morning we hopped back on the trail and crossed over the mountain. Plowing through several feet of fresh powder was as much fun as it sounds and not only did we have the entire trail to ourselves all day, we managed to find some beautiful dense forest campsites to take Holiday photos in.
Check out some of the shots we got!
