Climbing Ruth Lake

(click on pictures to see a larger image)
Friday evening, i picked up Landon after class and we headed into the Uinta's. Every weekend we've lived here we make sure to spend one day rock climbing. We've climbed the limestone in Logan Canyon and American Fork and decided that it was about time to get into the MOUNTAINS. We (actually, Landon - he's awesome at choosing stellar places for us to play) decided to hike into Ruth Lake in the Wasatch National Forest. We started our hike pretty late in the evening - as you can tell by the awesome color in our pictures. And we were actually able to set up camp before it was dark. It was a very quick and easy hike up to the lake (website says it was 1.6 miles, but i swear it was less). The hike was very comfortable - only 300ft altitude gain, so very flat and easy. It was a beautiful hike in the trees beside and very still and small winding stream leading up to Ruth Lake. The lake was beautiful at sunset! And there were not designated camping spots, just little patches of dirt next to fire pits that you could tell had been developed over the years. We found a spot that was tucked into the trees, but still really close to the lake. We were the only ones there (although we saw a couple in the morning during our hike out who had camped a big distance from where we had been). It was amazing. Quiet. Beautiful. The stars were brilliant. and we were safe - never bombarded by moose or a lion or bear, even though we were in their world.The next morning we woke eventually - slept in, actually, and enjoyed a leisurely morning with Starbucks VIA instant ready brew (i'm so serious) and cereal.
We filtered enough water to last us a day climbing, and hiked 15 minutes down the trail to the the quartzite cliffs.
We stashed our over-night pack in the trees and were the first climbers to approach the cliffs. (sorry, for some reason we don't have any pictures). It was SO COLD there! It got in the 30's the night before and because these cliffs are always in the shade, and the wind bounces off of them, they were freezing. well, not literally, but landon and i were shivering the entire time, and each climb was a challenge because our fingers would go completely numb and we'd have to stop and breathe on them and shake them out so that we could make sure moves. I was afraid i would slice my fingers on the sharp edges of the rock and not realize it, but that wasn't a problem - i'm not as awesome as i think i am. The climbing was so fun and really different than the limestone. It was beautiful!

This place was just so amazing that i put WAY more pictures on this post than i normally do. I usually only like to add a max of 5 because i'm lazy and that's the max that blogger allows to upload at a time. but this place was just so awesome, i had to share more! Hope you enjoy seeing them!