Spirit Lake Campground - 2026

 

Meadow above the Lodge

070126 - 070526  - 4th of July weekend at Spirit Lake Campground. Second year in a row that I visited the High Unitas, Ashley National Forest.  (2025 post) I stopped in Vernal Ut., which is my habit for provisions. This year I used the Utah Fish and Game phone app to purchase my fishing license instead of Walmart. 

Spirit Lake Campground 2026

I also make sure I stop and download all the offline maps and latest Geocaching information that I will need. As soon as I turned onto Spirit Lake Rd FR 001 I noticed there was many more rigs in the dispersed camping areas, many big 5th wheel toy haulers.  Luckily there was plenty of sites in the campground, I would say that it was about 1/2 full when I got there, mostly the perimeter sites, the middle sites stayed open all weekend. I drove around the campground twice to select the right site and ended up setting up in the same site I was at last year. I knew I would have plenty of sun during the day and plenty of space for my moon shade. Plus there is that little creek that runs down the base of the ridge. 

By the time I got all set up, the sun was setting and the temperature dropped. I walked down through the first group site to the bank of the lake. The water level seems high to me but I really have no basis for it. No matter how many times I visit, the site of Spirit Lake is full of special feelings and memories of family fishing trips. I feel so fortunate to have spent time with love ones in such a wonderful place.  I returned to camp and cooked up some beef stew and a grilled ham & cheese that could not be beat. 

Bounty Lake

 My focus the next morning was to find GCBAM6G Bounty Lake the newest cache hidden July 30th last year. So far no one has logged it, giving me a chance at a first to find. It was less than a mile almost directly south. I headed directly towards it, there is not a trail that I know of, but there was a washed out creek up the steep hill off the campground road. After a 1/4 mile trek up the hill I found the trail referenced in the hint. I found the cache under/behind a big rock off the bank of the lake. The container was a brand new plastic ammo can. I opened it up and grabbed what I thought would be a blank log. But to my surprise, 🤯 there was a entry made on 8/31/25 by Samantha. So I am the 2nd to find and still the only one to log it online. 

Now I have never heard of Bounty Lake and official or widely recognized body of water named Bounty Lake near Spirit Lake, it could be considered a unnamed pond. Although it is not as big as Tamarack or Jessen, it is bigger than the Lilly Pond Lake which is named. It is not very far from the campground, but there is not a mapped trail to it that I can see. Not sure where the cache owner got the name from. 

Tiger Trout

Each time I visit it is a custom to make the hike up to Tamarack Lake, a natural body of water at 10,400'. I was able to locate  Tie One On GC8328 hidden 08-22-2002 and found it is great shape. The theme is to leave a fly and take a fly which are all organized in small plastic cubes. The log shows that I was the last one to find it last year. Again, I swapped flies and used it and caught a nice Tiger Trout on the first cast, and that is no fish 🎣 story. 

I packed myself a lunch and spent the day walking up and down the north banks casting my fly out in the clear alpine spring water, I caught a few more and release them all except for a pretty big one that I cleaned for dinner. It was another Tiger Trout, a sterile hybrid fish created by crossing a female brown trout and a male brook trout.  Up here the weather can change quickly and the big clouds were moving over the south ridge line, time to pack it up and head back to the van

Met hikers on the trail heading to Fish Lake. "No fish in Fish Lake" I said from personal experience. They were not anglers so they didn't care, but they were amazed that I carried my catch in my vest. I wished them a happy hike and continued down the trail. When I got back to the van I prepared the Tiger Trout for dinner. I had to use the larger frying pan Kate gave for this fish. I was surprised on how pink the meat is, it made a very tasty meal. I saved 1/2 of future tacos! 

Spirit Lake Lodge

The next morning, I took off after breakfast to check on Osprey Cove cache and fish the west side of the lake. I found the cache in good shape and was not surprised I was the last one to log it. I continued down the length of the lake and settled at a nice spot near the north end. While I was fishing I met Jason, a young man that volunteers for the Utah Fish and Game. He asked if he could ask me questions about fishing, part of a volunteer project. His questions just about where and how I fish. He said there is a project to protect the native Utah Cutthroat Trout subspecies which are having trouble surviving with the more aggressive hybrid species like the Tiger Trout.  The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (DWR) perform efforts to remove invasive or overabundant species to protect the native cutthroat. So Jason asked if I want to protect the native cutthroat which would result in slower fishing activity and less aggressive catch or continue to stock Tiger Trout and let the native cutthroat continue to struggle. I answered to protect the native fish, but when I started to explain why, a large train of side by sides drove up the road on the other side of the lake. The noise was so loud and echoed throughout the valley.  

Okay heres my rant. This is becoming a popular place for side by sides ( named for their specific seating arrangement, where the driver and passengers sit adjacent to each other on bench or individual bucket seats rather than straddling the vehicle). These vehicles are not allowed on the hiking trails, they ride them on the same dirt road that any other vehicle use. But they sound like a motor cycle and the sound carries across the forest.  They go through the campground day and night traveling from there huge toy haulers down below to the lodge and back again and again.  Utah has been poisoning the lakes and streams for decades and a google search will show that the Tiger Trout are not the problem. So I don't think it matters what fish that you would have caught while you are waiting for the traffic jam on Spirit Lake Road.   This is what I get for visiting over a holiday weekend.  I will alway visit Spirit and Tamarack but I'm thinking of finding another place to camp.  End of rant.

Ruble Ranch 

Okay, remember the van would not start when I was leaving Gooseneck, well the next morning 7/5/26 I was all packed up ready to go and my startup battery was dead. While I was trying to charge it with my power pack, I fired up the Starlink and found a Auto Zone open in Rock Springs.  The battery jumper worked and I drove off heading for Wyoming. On my way I drove through Manila, specifically where Dot & Chief had their cabin. It's no longer there but the Ruble Ranch is and the field to the old barn where I delivery fresh milk to Grandma after helping Danny Ruble milk the cows and gather the morning eggs. Amazingly it looks quite the same except the ranch house is much bigger.  I made it to Auto Zone and bought and installed a new battery. 

Thanks for visiting

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