One of the greatest joys of being a backcountry skier is staying at a yurt or hut high in the mountains. While Utah doesn’t have a fancy hut-to-hut system like Colorado’s 10th Mountain Division huts, what we do have are quaint, small, and cozy yurts that are every bit as capable of getting us to the goods as a log, multi-story cabin. The Bunchgrass Yurt, located in the Bear River Range of far northern Utah, is one such yurt.
We visited the Bunchgrass Yurt the first week of January, about a week after the last big storm. Temperatures were moderate as we drove up Logan Canyon and geared up at the trailhead between Tony Grove Road and the Red Banks Campground. Crossing the road, we found a well-established skin track that went directly up the drainage. We felt fortunate that there would be no route-finding involved in finding the hidden yurt, but were also dismayed that our ski terrain was likely tracked out.
The skinner made quick work of the miles as it snaked along Bunchgrass Creek, crossing it about 2 miles in and heading northwest toward White Pine Knob, which became visible in the distance. Looking at Topo maps, we know that was our destination, so we continued on into groves of aspen trees beneath a ridgeline covered in tracks from previous parties. In just about two-and-a-half hours and four miles total, we found the Bunchgrass Yurt nestled in the woods between Chicken Hill and White Pine Knob.
After familiarizing ourselves with the shelter, claiming our beds and eating a bit of lunch, we rallied up and skinned to the top of White Pine Knob for a look around at the terrain. A short climb up the mountain’s east ridge put us at the summit, where impressive views of Mount Magog, Gog, and the mountains above Tony Grove could be seen to the west. Ready to ski, we made turns down the ridge we ascended, as the only soft snow in the area was found next to the skin track.
At the bottom, ready for more, we traversed to the foot of Chicken Hill and climbed to her broad summit. Better skiing was found here as her north-facing slopes were protected from sun and wind crust, even weeks after the last storm. The final run of the day, through an open meadow surrounded by old-growth pine and fir trees, made us realize that the skiing on this trip was going to be good.
That night we turned in early after a huge spaghetti dinner, beers/booze and a marshmallow-creme-topped dessert that proved to be a bit much for most people. Temperatures dropped into the low teens and chilled the inside of the yurt as we never got up in the night to throw more logs in the stove.
In the morning, we headed out around 10 and completely explored the entirety of Chicken Hill and White Pine Knob. If there was an aspect that was soft and powdery, we slashed it, carved it, farmed it and drew our signatures all over it. For over five hours we skinned and skied, making the most of the daylight we had. Exhausted, we returned to the yurt and enjoyed what is arguably the best part of a yurt trip – hanging out with friends over dinner and drinks by the light of a lantern. The entire world outside those octagonal walls could be a million miles away when you’re secreted away in a yurt for the night with the only thing to worry about is keeping the fire stoked.
On our final day, still recovering from the day before, we went for two more runs on Chicken Hill. High winds overnight with a trace of precipitation somewhat ruined the previous day’s soft snow, but we found some sheltered slopes to ski before packing up, cleaning out, and heading back down to the cars in Logan Canyon. Overall, the Bunchgrass Yurt was an ideal place to find some solitude and excellent ski terrain just steps outside the yurt door.
If you want to visit the Bunchgrass Yurt yourself, contact Powder Ridge Ski Touring.
Utah does have a great yurt to yurt system maintained in part by BRORA. Their website with details is here; http://brorayurts.org