Red Castle (Post by Jake)

This is an adventure almost 2 years in the making. It all started at the Walmart in Orem, Utah. I was there with my younger sister, Johannah. We were getting ready to check out & while walking past a stand of post cards, I saw a picture of Red Castle. That moment is when my obsession began. I started planning my hike to the magical place on the post card.

All of these photos were taken on my iPhone

This photo is base camp @ Lower Red Castle Lake. View from our tent. Second day

After a couple of failed attempts to get people committed to going, it finally happened. All it took was for my older brother Bryan to move to Utah. As soon as he got here, we made plans to take the hike around Pioneer Day. Finally- someone that would stick to the plan. I almost couldn't believe it! 

This photo is Lower Red Castle Lake

We left Orem on Friday the 20th of July just after noon. It was a bit of a drive up into Wyoming and then back down into Utah to get to the trail head. Just over 3 1/2 hours, but finally we had made it to China Lake. We had a goal to hike half the distance the first evening. We fell a bit short on that goal and only did about 3 of the 12 1/2 miles on Friday. We made camp just off the trail. We were hoping that it would not rain on us during the hike, but that would not be in the cards for us. It rained almost the entire time we were hiking. 

This photo is our view of Red Castle from our camp. Day two

We awoke the next morning, broke camp as fast as we could, and got on the trail. We made it a good distance before the rain began. I have never heard thunder more impressive in my life! It seemed to shake my entire body. Every time the thunder cracked, the hail would start. It hailed for over an hour so we took shelter under some trees and had our lunch. Nothing beats the flavor of a MRE. When the hail stopped we headed out to our final destination for the day. Lower Red Castle Lake was the place where we would make out base camp. 

All of the above pictures were taken from our base camp at Lower Red Castle Lake. The one immediately above is a picture of the valley that we had hiked out of. It was a hard hike in, and my legs were completely shot after the day of walking. If it were not for my brother and the competitive relationship that we have, I probably would not have made it that day. We set everything up as soon as we got to the lake, at the base of the mountain. As soon at the tent was up, the deluge started again, hail and all. We decided to go fishing that evening in the rain. The temperature dropped probably 15 or more degrees and it got cold. The fish did not want anything to do with us that evening, but that did not stop me from wanting to be on the shore with a line in the water until dark. 

The final day of our hike we chose to make our way up to Red Castle Lake. It is the largest and deepest natural lake in the Uinta Mountains. The hike up was beautiful. There were 3 plateaus that we had to climb to get there. The lake sits above 11,000 ft in elevation. There was still some glacial snow in various places. The water fall flowing out of Red Castle Lake can be seen in both pictures above and below. The pictures really do not capture the full beauty that I saw. 

Once we made it to the Red Castle Lake we wasted no time getting our fishing line in the water. The fishing is the biggest reason we took the hike and to this point we had not been able to bring a single fish in. We would not be disappointed with this lake. The fish were plentiful and the views were more than breath taking. The creek that flows out of the lake and to the waterfall, was filled with fish. There were so many, you could grab them with your hand. So I did a little bit of hill billy hand fishing. 

The dapper gentlemen in the picture above is my brother, Bryan. The fly fishing rod was a birthday present from me to me this year. I had never caught a fish with a fly rod in my entire 28 years of life. That would change at Red Castle Lake. 

I finally caught a fish with my fly rod. Make no mistake I am no pro with that frustrating piece of equipment. In fact, no technique was used at all to pull this gorgeous Bonneville Cutthroat trout out of the  water. I could see him hiding under a bush that was hanging over the water. So I hid behind the bush and dropped the fly right in front of him. He took the bait, and I jerked him out of the water! It was a proud moment for me.

We took a little break from fishing and walked over to the cliffs to look over the waterfall. You can't tell from the picture, but that was more than a 100 ft drop. I was standing pretty close to the edge when I took this picture. 

After we were done hanging out on the cliffs we returned to the fishing. I wish we would have taken more pictures of the fish we caught. I am just so used to having Aubre around to take the pictures, that I forget about it. The last couple of fish we caught were tiger trout. Small fish but big fight. 

We had planned on only staying until 2 pm at the latest. As usual, I somehow managed to convince Bryan that we needed to enjoy some fishing while it was good. We finally left the lake around 3 pm and we had to hike back down to base camp. The rain started again and it was coming down hard. Hard enough that we had a hard time finding the trail that we had come up on. It had turned into a creek. So we followed the creek. That turned out to be a mistake. I guess we followed the wrong stream. That is what I get for letting Bryan lead. I finally set us back on course and we made it off the mountain.

We got back to base camp, finished packing up and headed out. The hike back was longer and wetter than I remembered. I am pretty sure we had to cross over 100 streams. Our feet were wet all day long. We only took one break on the way back. We were hoping to make it back to the truck before it got dark. That would prove difficult, but we made it. When all was said and done we had done about 20 miles that last day. By the end of the hike I was so tired that my body was just on auto pilot. As soon as we dropped the packs in the back of the truck, it was like our bodies broke down and we couldn't walk any further. I have never been so close to just collapsing in my life. 
The trip was a success!! It was more than worth the walk. I seriously can't wait to go back. All I have to do is convince Aubre to come along. I am super thankful that she allowed me to slip away for a few days. To be honest, I missed her pretty bad during the hike and that was one of the reasons we cut the hike a day short. I like my brother but I love sleeping in the same bed as my wife. I was pretty excited to get back to her. I don't think she was expecting my phone call at 10 pm that night. We didn't get home until well after 2 am. This trip will go down as one of the best of my life. The two year dream had finally become a reality. It will forever be a fond memory for me and Bryan.