High Uintas Wilderness

Located in northeastern Utah, the Uinta Mountains were named for the Uintaat Indians, early relatives of the modern Ute Tribe. Carved by glaciers from an immense uplift of Precambrian rock — some of it exposed as colorful quartzite and shales — the range holds the highest peaks in Utah, countless lakes, and a unique alpine ecosystem. The High Uintas Wilderness envelops its wild core. The main crest runs west to east for more than 60 miles, rising over 6,000 feet above the Wyoming and Uinta Basins to the north and south. Massive secondary ridges extend north and south from the crest, framing glacial basins and canyons far below. This rugged expanse of peaks and flat-top mountains is the largest alpine area in the Intermountain West and is the setting for Kings Peak, the highest peak in Utah. Hundreds of picturesque lakes, streams, and meadows lie within sculpted basins, and cold, clear rivers plunge into deep canyons that form the headwaters of Utah's major rivers. Elevations run from 7,500 to 13,528 feet at the summit of Kings Peak. Above treeline, tundra plant communities thrive in the harsh climate of the highest altitudes; below it, thick forests of Engelmann spruce, subalpine fir, and lodgepole pine blanket the land, interrupted by park-like meadows and lush wetlands, with aspen groves and mixed species lower down. The mountains are home to elk, mule deer, moose, mountain goat, coyote, black bear, bighorn sheep, ptarmigan, river otter, pine marten, cougar, and 75 percent of Utah's bird species, among many others. The Wilderness boasts 545 miles of trail, reached from a number of trailheads near the gateway communities of Duchesne, Roosevelt, and Kamas, Utah, and Evanston and Mountain View, Wyoming. The network leads deep into the Wilderness, through thick forests, past rushing streams and placid lakes, to sweeping alpine vistas below majestic peaks. It is administered jointly by the Ashley and Wasatch-Cache National Forests and was designated in 1984.