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Utah Highpoint - Kings Peak - 13528 ft
Summit NOT reached!!

11 Sep 2005 attempt.
Back to 2005 Utah Soccer Trip

9 Sep - I leave the Motel 6 in Rock Springs, WY, and head west on I-80 to Mountain View, WY, generally following the Winger directions.  Past Mountain View, I turn onto the unpaved roads that lead to Henrys Fork Campground.  The roads, although unpaved, are in very good condition, wide and with few ruts.  The last leg, 3.5 miles along FR 077, is rougher but still no problem for my Honda Civic.  I sign the trail register, put on the backpack, and head south on FT 117 into the High Uintas Wilderness, towards Dollar Lake 7.5 miles away.

The trail is very good at the beginning, as it gently ascends towards Dollar Lake.  There is intermittent light drizzle early on, so I put on my rain jacket.  After two and a half hours of hiking, I take a short break, and check my position with the GPS.  I am making good time, I am close to the footbridge at the 5.5 mile mark.  While I take my rest, several horses pass by.  I chat with the riders, who say they are 'going over the top' and hope the weather, which looks poor ahead, holds.  I am curious how it worked out for them, as the weather did not in fact cooperate.

The horses move ahead, and I start up after them, soon coming to the bridge.  After passing the bridge, the trail was less sheltered by trees and more in open meadows.  Soon the weather starts to deteriorate... I start to get pelted by sleet, a little at first but soon a lot.  Lightning flashes ahead.  As I keep on towards the lake, the sleet turns into cold rain, which is worse.  The terrain has a number of groups of trees, and I hope that the trail would head into one where I would have a little cover.  No such luck, and as the downpour increases, I run off the trail for some trees.  I add some layers against the cold, a fleece pullover, rain pants, and a balaclava, which was a little more armor against the sleet.  After this, I hurry on towards Dollar Lake.  The trail starts to be very muddy here, and as I jump across a mudpit, I see a lost boot, which had been swallowed by the mud.

Pretty soon, though, I get to the camp spots near Dollar Lake, the area is marked by a fire closure sign, I head downhill off the trail, finding the first flat spot that seems sheltered, and put up the tent.  Once the tent is up, I toss my wet pack inside, and crawl in, and take off my sopping wet rain clothes.  It isn't warm anymore, the temperature has dropped during the storm.  My down sleeping bag, in a waterproof stuffsack, is still dry, so I know I will stay warm, as long as the bag stays dry.  I want to make sure it stays dry, so I don't get the bag out yet, but I do try and warm up.  First priority is to blow up the Thermarest, for insulation against cold (and lightning!)  Next, I pull out my light space-blanket bivy sack.  I've never used this for real before, but I figure it will help me stay warm for now, and help keep my sleeping bag dry later.  Then, I put on the single extra layer of clothes I brought, some long underwear pants.  I'm glad I brought it!  I wish I had brought a small sponge.  Since I only planned to boil water on the stove, I figured I didn't need the sponge for cleaning.  It would have been nice for mopping up the water in the tent.  As it is, I do my best with the single paper towel I have...

After all that, I have nothing left to do, but wait for the thunderstorms to stop.  This doesn't happen until midnight, so I skip cooking a real dinner and settle for some bagels and a rice crispy treat instead.  By this point, I still haven't seen either Dollar Lake or Kings Peak.

10 Sep - I am no mood to start early, with all my stuff wet and cold.  The wind is nice and loud above the trees, which decreases my interest in putting on my cold, wet, wind/rain layer.  I don't get out of the tent until 9 am, after the sun is out and the temperature has warmed up.  I check my thermometer, it is up to 32 F by this point.  I still have treat some water from the lake, which I haven't found yet.  With all that, I don't hit the trail until around 10:30 am.  As this late hour, I don't expect to get to the top early enough to be safe, but I don't want to sit around all day!  I figure I'll hike towards the peak, to scout out the way, check out the views, and hope that excellent weather will give me a chance to make it.  If not, I'll try again the next day. 

Very soon after starting on the trail, I leave the trees and have my first view of Kings Peak.  The trail continues south through open meadows towards Gunsight Pass, with views of the High Uintas ahead.  The view is fantastic.  The red colored rock of the surrounding peaks, and the strata of the rock, remind me of the Maroon Bells near Aspen.  With the blanket of fresh snow, the scene is very pretty.

Kings Peak poking up behind Anderson Pass.

   
The High Uintas, with Kings Peak in the back.  The summit to the left of Kings, Gilbert Peak, is a county highpoint.

   
More views of the very pretty peaks.

The trail continues south to Gunsight Pass, and after a couple of switchbacks it reaches the top of the pass.  The pass is partially covered by snow.  There is supposedly an informal 'use' trail near the top of the pass, but I do not find it.  Instead, I stay on the official trail, which descends several hundred feet into Painter Basin.  At 11500 ft, at an unmarked intersection, the main trail continued into Painter Basin, while a right turn leads along the side of the basin.  I take the right turn, and follow the informal 'use' trail as it contours along the edge of Painter Basin, at around 11450 ft in elevation.  The trail is mostly easy to follow, and is marked with cairns over some rocky sections.  Soon, I pass two hikers who are concerned by the clouds building near Kings Peak.  I share their concern, but I hope that the strong winds will blow the weather away.  We all keep on, and at first, the weather did start to clear up.

   
Painter Basin.

After about 2/3 of a mile, at 11440 ft, the trail comes to a rocky drainage, turns right, and follows the edge of the drainage uphill.  The trail is somewhat harder to follow here, but the path is basically up, parallel to the gully.  After a bit, the angle lessens, but the trail becomes even more indistinct.  Continuing straight ahead, I rejoin the official trail at 11580 ft.  This informal trail doesn't avoid much of the altitude loss down from Gunsight Pass into Painter Basin, but does cut significant distance off of the official trail.  Exactly which trails I am on was a little confusing.  There aren't many signs, and my path doesn't quite match where my maps say the trail is.  I'm fairly sure I am on the 'official' trail except for the cutoff along Painter Basin.  A map of my actual path, with GPS coordinates of the intersections, is here.  I see some other 'use' trails as well.

The trail now climbs to the west, towards Anderson Pass.  By this time, more clouds have started to move in.  The ground starts to be snow covered, getting thicker as the path continues uphill.  When I reach 12080 ft, at 1:30 pm, the clouds were building substantially.  At this late hour, it seems like time to turn back and return to my tent, and start preparing for a real attempt the next morning.

Looking west to the summit.  Anderson Pass is off to the right.

I head back the way I came, finally have a real (well, cooked) dinner, and enjoy the twilight colors on the peaks before going to sleep.

View from near Dollar Lake in the early evening of 10 Sep.

11 Sep - I wake up at 6 am, a more reasonable time than the day before.  When I start out, there is just enough light that I don't need my headlamp, so I can skip carrying that weight.  The wind is even stronger than the day before, but still I make better time now that the trail is familiar.  Some of the snow is gone, Gunsight Pass had cleared up a lot, but there is still lots of snow as I start to approach Anderson Pass.  The trail gets hard to follow, and I wish I had brought gaiters as I plod through the snow.  The snow gets deeper as I continue, and after dodging some snow covered streams, I lose the trail for a bit, and wander through the snow covered talus to Anderson Pass.  At the pass, the route turns left, gets steeper, and ascends a Class 2, rocky talus ridge to the summit.  With all the snow on the rocks, I decide that this ridge is more slippery and treacherous than I care for.   I don't have much experience in snow, so I am pretty wimpy, especially solo.  I decline the challenge, and turn back.  It is 10:24 am, as I check out the view from Anderson Pass, at 12740 ft, before starting back.

The final slope, from Anderson Pass to the summit.

Looking back from Anderson Pass.

Looking north over Anderson Pass, back towards camp.  Kings Peak is to the left.

To keep to my schedule, I need to pack out this same day, so I still have a lot of work left to do.  I return to my campsite, back the way I came.  I pass a few other hikers during the 5.5 or so miles back to camp.  At least one of them made it to the top that day, and at least one other did not.

Looking back on Kings Peak on the way home, on 11 Sep.

After a short rest, I take down the campsite, take two Advil and a big drink of water, put the heavy pack back on, and start back towards the trailhead.  The only mileage information I have is that it is 2 miles to the footbridge.  That takes me 50 minutes, so I figure 25 minutes per mile for the remaining 5.5 miles, and count down the time on the way back.  Around 25 minutes early, I reach the trailhead, after hiking about 19 miles on the day.  I still have time to drive out on the unpaved roads before dark, but at one point my progress is blocked.  As I came up to a cattle guard, a cow lumbers out into the road, blocking my car.  Is that what 'cattle guard' means?  Eventually, the cow wanders off and I can continue.  Once I reach I-80, I head west towards Salt Lake City, in preparation for the Texas vs. BYU soccer game.

The state of Utah still had obstacles for me, however.  Unknown to me, all the freeway exit numbers on I-15 had just been changed.  I have directions to a motel south of Salt Lake, but I am looking for a specific exit number.  These directions lead me nowhere.  I am pretty tired by this point, but I have to keep on driving.  I turn back north, and drive back towards Salt Lake.  Eventually, I fiund a place, after about 40 miles of extra driving.  Then, I learn how I have been tricked.  Despite not standing on the summit, this hike was worth it for the views.  I'll just have to go back!

References

Highpoint Adventures, Charlie and Diane Winger, Colorado Mountain Club Press, 2002.
Highpoints of the United States, Don W. Holmes, University of Utah Press, 2000.
http://www.summitpost.org/show/mountain_link.pl/mountain_id/208