1995-1996 Mountaineering

The whole group's mountaineering experience began in 1995. They were 2 seperate groups of people who knew nothing of each other. Don Tetzloff, Jon Buck, Chris Tetzloff, and Alan Jensen were mountaineering together and did a big trip to the Uintas to do Kings Peak in 1995. James Barlow, Duane Poslusny, Andrew Smith, Isaac Westfield, Greg Fischer, Chris Hunnicutt, and Dave Stair were another group who did a Uintas trip as well. They were more into backpacking than mountaineering, however. They met in January of 1996, when Don and Chris were tired of their old Scout troop, so they went to 411, which was the other group of guys troop. Chris immediatly fit in, and Don began planning a big trip for August to the Winds. At first, enthusiasm was limited. James, Duane, and Isaac were interested in the big trip, but nobody else was. The Winds trip for 1996 was Don, Jon, Chris, Alan, and James, which was Don's old group plus James. Duane and Isaac had been unable to attend the trip, but were still highly interested. By 1997, Keith Stevens, Don Stevens, Dan Dolan, Brian Westfield, and Greg Petersen began getting interested. By 1998, the group was complete with Matt Dolan, Richard Higgins, Kevin Dolan, and Corey Fischer getting into the big outdoors. This section of the web page is the beginnings and helps everything else make sense afterwards.

The first trip outside scouts to the mountains for James was to the Fishlake National Forest in 1995. James and his dad, Bill, tried to get the rest of his family to camp out for a long weekend there. It rained the whole weekend, and James was only able to do a little hiking, and his mom vowed never to go camping again. Here are some pictures from that trip.

This summer was also James' first real Wasatch hike. James and his dad, Bill, hiked up to the Johnston Regulator, near the Cardiac Ridge and Monte Cristo. It was a great hike and lead to later Wasatch hiking.

In 1995, Duane had planned a trip to hike up the Weber River in the Uintas. Duane, James, Greg F and Chris H, as well as 11 others went. The first day, they lost the trail, since it hadn't been maintained for a few years. At the end of the first day, they found a good campsite, and settled in. The second day, Chris H, his father, and 2 brothers decided to go back the way they came, since Chris' dad had injured his knee. The others kept on going, and finally found the maintained trail. They made it to Holiday Park by lunch, where another member of the group decided to hitchhike back to the trailhead. The rest of the group began ascending the steep canyon leading to Ibantik Lake, where others of the larger group were camped. They arrived by dinner, and crashed for the night. It rained that night, and Duane and his brother got soaked, since they slept in a tarp. Day 3 arrived, and everybody was glad to leave and make the last few miles home. The whole trip was about 30 miles in 3 days, and a great learning expeperience.
Beta: We started at the trailhead at Trial Lake, and headed towards Abes Lake via the Upper Weber River. The trail was almost non-existant in 1995, so it is probably totally gone now. Going down this canyon would be a great solitary bushwhack in a relatively popular area. Upon reaching Holliday Park, Utah, head southeast up the Weber Canyon Trail, until the turnoff to Meadow Lake and Wall Lake. The trail from the Weber Canyon floor to Ibantik Lake is quite steep, but enjoyable. Beware of mosquitos until August. Snow should be gone by June, and start falling again in October. Best hike time for best weather, heat, snow, and mosquitos is September. Pack for usual mountain weather.

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In 1996, James went on a 2 week trip to the mountains of New Mexico with 7 people from his scout troop. They did 11 days of backpacking, and saw some great New Mexico scenery. It was a great warm-up for the Wind River Mountains trip later that summer. Here are some pictures from that trip.

The trip began at the Green River Lakes Trailhead. The people who came on this trip were: Jon, Chris, James, Don T., and Alan. The first day, they hiked up Porcupine Creek, until a good campsite was found about 3 miles north of Porcupine Pass. There are many good places to set up camp along the Porcupine Creek Trail. The trail heads from the Green River Lakes trailhead south along the west side of the lake, until a trail cuts south into Porcupine Creek. Follow this trail all the way up to Porcupine Pass. The next morning was cold, but it would be warm the rest of the trip.

After breakfast, the group hiked up to Porcupine Pass, until lunch. After lunch they had to descend to a creek, and then climb back up to Lozier Lakes for the night. They enjoyed some rock climbing in the area, and then settled down for bed.

After leaving camp the next morning, the group went over a pass east of Lozier Lakes, and descended to the Green River. The pass east of Lozier Lakes is quite scenic, and you can see all the way into the Peak Lake/Gannett Peak area. After lunch at the Green, they walked across the river, since there is no bridge. There is a place at Three Forks Park where you can ford across the Green if you have sandals or go barefoot. After crossing the Green River, they headed towards Tourist Creek Canyon. Hiking up the boulderfield to Lake 10,090 was long, and hard. The boulderfield is seemingly never ending, but it does end at Lake 10,090. The group had the canyon to themselves for the entire time they were there.

Everybody felt tired, so Don proposed the idea of staying at this camp, and doing a snowfield south of the tents, and some rock climbing on a good cliff to the east. A better campsite was found about half a mile above Lake 10,090, so everybody moved the tents and gear. The group climbed the snowfield near our camp, which seemed steep at the time, but looking back, years down the road, it was very mellow, and they didn't even need a rope. There is a lot of potential for rock climbing in Tourist Creek and above, but it pales in comparison to the rest of the Winds.

After a day of climbing in Tourist Creek Canyon, they camped in a the meadow just upstream of Lake 10,090. The next morning, they hiked out to the Green River, and walked across at Three Forks Park, where they came up 2 days ago. The group then followed the Green River until there was supposed to be a bridge across it. There wasn't a bridge there, so they had to make their own. They spent the night at a beautiful campsite really close to the Green River. The group hiked out the next day, and said goodbye to the Winds until next year.

The majority of the route taken follows a popular backpacking route which circles the Green River Lakes area. It starts at the Green River Lakes trail head, and heads up the west side of the lower lake until the Porcupine Trail heads south after 2 miles. The Porcupine Trail heads south 7 miles to Porcupine Pass, and another 2 miles to the New Fork trail. Follow the New Fork trail 8.5 miles to the Green River and Three Forks Park. From Three Forks Park, it is 12 miles back to Green River Lakes trail head on the Highline Trail. Squaretop Mountain dominates the view for most of the trip.