This hike was set for two reasons. First and formost to get my son Scott on a back packing trip this summer. Because of football, he is uable to make the Mt Whitney hike. Second, to see if we are ready in our training to make the Whitney hike and to make sure we know how to use our gear. We met the second objective, but Scott decided Lake Powell with football buds and girls in bikin's was going to be more fun and did not make the trip.
Kings Peak is the highest peak in the state of Utah. It is 13,528 feet above sea level and located in the North East cornor of the state. To get there from Salt Lake City, travel East on I 80 past Evenston WY to Mountian View Wy and take State road 414. Go through the town and get on road 410 and continue towards Robertson WY for 6.7 miles. The road makes a hard right turns heading west. Do not head west. We did and had to turn around. Continue to head South and DO NOT turn right. This is Unita County road 283/forest road 072. Continue South at just over 12 miles turn onto Forest Road 077. There is a sign telling you which way Hennry's Fork is. This is the way. Turn left here, It will wind around and ends up heading in a Southward direction for about 3 miles. Follow the signs to the Hennry's Fork Trail head. Once you arive there are two parking lots. One for horses and one for hikers just a liitle furher and sits right on at the trail head.
 |
| King Peak Trail Head |
 |
| The Top of Kings Our ending point |
The trail head is at 9,000 feet and it has pit tolites and many nice camp sites. We arived around 7 pm and decided to change our plans. Rather than stay the night at the tail head we packed up to head off for Alligator lake. Alligator lake is 2.5 miles from the trail head and the turn off is well marked (GPS N 40 53.033, W 110 21.878) If you are adventerous, continue on the trail to the GPS point N 40 53.033, W 110 21.878. Turn right here and bush wack up a small hill heading west. You will run right into Alligator Lake and avoid the steep hike. It should be 1/2 mile or less. Set your GPS for the Alligator point above.
 |
| Campling! |
 |
| Aligator Lake |
 |
| Starbucks at 10,000 feet! |
We arived just before dark and set up camp. It took 1 hour form the trail head to the lake and we all agreed that its was worth it. We got a head start and a Awesome camp sight to boot!
 |
| Elkhorn Crossing |
At Elkhorn you can turn Right and head for Hennry's Lake or Left to Dollar lake. If you are ok with about 4 miles of extra hiking, but want some of the best fishing these mountians have to offer, then go Right to Hennry's Lake. You can still summit Kings. It just means you will have a little father to base camp. The distance to summit is about the same and time wise may be less given you have the option of comming down the "shoot" off of the face of Kings right back near your base camp. We went Left to dollar lake. At Elkhorn you will see a small bridge to your left that will allow passage across the creek. Keep going straight for about 100 yards and you will see a second newer bridge that is much more stable and less chance of getting soaked in the creek.
From the trail head (parking lot) to Dollar Lake it is 8 miles. We arived after hiking for 3 1/2 hours after leaving ALigator lake. For a total of 4 hours of hiking from the trail head. Dollar Lake is not visiable from the trail. In fact we walked right past it the first time. The lake is off the left side of the trail in a large grove of pine trees. It sits a 10,813 ft. I would not recomend camping here. It is beautiful do not get me wrong. There is tremendous pressure form all the hikers headding up Kings s is showing its wear with, well, lets just say the evidence of human scat was too much for me. I recomend moving on about 1/2 mile to the next lake. It may not have water year round, but the creek is close and it feeds two large lakes just off the right side of the trail about 1/4 to 1/2 mile away. This site is in a small grove of pine trees with some of the most spectacular views of the large vast medows and "drainage" along the hike. It sits at N 40 49.237, W110 21.568. It is also a driect shot to Gunsight Pass.
We set up camp and and made ourselfs at home. We got out the maps and started to plan our summit the following day. Doing this we made note of specific trail marks we need to hit to make the summit. Word to the wise, do not belive evrything you read on the web when it comes to tail advice and drections. Go with experence and your gut.
We got going early and set off for out for the summit. We left Dollar and headed to Gunsight Pass. As you hike you will come to the trail that conects Henny's Lake to Dollar Lake. The Hennry Fork Basin turn off (N40 48.853, W110 22.440). Stay to the left and head toward Gunsight pass. Right in this area we ran into a man from South Jordan. He told us he had left his car at 04:10 in the morning and had summited and now on his way back to his car to set personal best. His goal was trail head to summit to car in less than 12 hours (when we checked out he did it in <11 hours!)
You will pass Unnamed lake to the right, which is 2 miles from Dollar Lake at 11,512 ft (N40 48.237, W 11021.724).
As you approach Gunsight you will see a carin just before you start the switch backs. If you are up for some boldering, stay centerd and head right up the gut of Gunsight Pass. It will save you a lot of time and distance. Otherwise start up the switch backs to the top of Gunsight pass at 11,911ft (N 40 47.827, W 110 21.568).
If you are up for more boldering, take a sharp Right hand turn and head up the mountian up the bolder field and over this ridge. Comming down the other side will put you right on top of Anderson Pass. This saves you at least 2 hours of hiking. Once you are in Anderson Pass, you are a very short distance to the summit trail head. We did not realize it was a true right turn and up and over the ridge. We were under the impression from what we had read on the internet and guide books this was a boldering around the upper portion of Painters Basin. This misunderstanding explaned why everthing we read said there was no water after the unnamed lake. We went into the upper Painters Basin and ran into all kinds of water. We were very early in the season, but I suspect after the snow melts this would dry up quickly.
 |
| Anderson Pass |
At the top of Anderson Pass you are now only 0.8 miles from the summit. There is a trail that comes in and out of the boulders.
Once at the top the views are just breath taking! Well worth the trip!
On the way down we decided to go straight down the back face of King peak (see photo at the start of this blog). We boldered down to Anderson Pass and admired some high altitude flowers on the way back.
We made it back to camp and crashed! What a great day! It chanellged us and rewarded us! What an Unbelivable experence!
This hike is a challenge but well wort it! I recomend it highly! We are already planning our next adventure into this area real soon!
Stats on the Hike:
Total elevation change 12,000 feet over 3days, hiked 28 miles and burned 15,000+ calories. Chris lost 4 lbs and I lost 3 1/2 lbs. Adaptation changes: First night my pulse was 113 resting and oxygen saturation after the hike 86%. At Dollar LAke Heart rate at rest 90 and oxygen saturation 91%. During the summit hike at 11,911ft heart rate was 90 and oxygen saturation 85%, at the top of Kings Peak, heart rate 88 and oxygen saturation 93%.
No comments:
Post a Comment