Came from Uinta River trailhead, took far too long and I got back close to midnight. Coming off the northeast ridge was not a great idea. Great day otherwise, a good night too
vanman798 - Aug 19, 2016 12:30 pm Date Climbed: Aug 15, 2016
5 of 5 in a day
August 13, 2016 I backpacked into the Chain Lakes, and camped. Next day I backpacked to Lake Beard above Lake Atwood. August 15 I backpacked over 5 peaks, namely Trail Rider Peak (aka Ramp Peak) at 13247 ft, Roberts Peak (aka Pyramid Peak) at 13287 ft, North Emmons (aka Pinnacle Peak) at 13068 ft, South Emmons (aka Glacier Peak) at 13170 ft, and Mt Emmons at 13440 ft.
From Emmons I dropped down to Oke Doke Lake and camp above the 4th Chain Lake.
SabineInUtah - Oct 31, 2014 6:17 pm Date Climbed: Jul 23, 2014
Via Uinta TH
Climbed it with RB as part of a 4-day backpacking trip into the High Uintas. Approached from 4th Chain Lake, hiked up the drainage that runs into the lake, past Oke-Doke Lake and up the South ridge to the broad summit. Crossing the large, shifting boulders on the ridge was a bit sketchy. Only two other people near the summit while the area below was teeming with boy scouts and other very large groups of people.
rmjwinters - Jun 26, 2012 10:37 pm Date Climbed: Jun 19, 2012
Kings Emmons +
Approached via Swift Creek on June 18th. Bivy high in upper Yellowston Basin. Traversed from Henry Fork peak to Glacier peak south of Emmons. Exited via Swift Creek on the 19th.
ZeeJay - Oct 22, 2010 10:25 pm Date Climbed: Nov 6, 2010
Long day hike
11/6/2010 Via the Uinta River Trail. Went all the way to Roberts pass and then took the ridge just north of Oke Doke Lake. This ridge is much more scenic than the one south of Oke Doke Lake and is easier to walk on. A little snow improves the Uinta River Trail immensely as it smooths out all of the fist sized loose rocks. About 28 miles RT.
10/21/2010 Via the Uinta River Trail and the ridge S of Oke Doke Lake. Also climbed 11441 which is just NE of the 4th Chain Lake. Beautiful fall day.
7/15/2010 Started at Henrys Fork TH. Climbed Kings, S Kings, Painter Peak, Trail Rider Peak, Roberts Peak, N Emmons, Emmons, S Emmons, Owl, Lost BM, and Flat Top BM and exited via Dry Gulch in one long 21 hour day.
6/24/2010 Via Swift and Buffalo Creeks over Owl and S Emmons.
11/9/2009 Via the Uinta River and the Atwood Basin trails. Took off for the east ridge of Emmons just before Fourth Chain Lake. Very long but beautiful day, 26.5 miles RT. Almost no snow above treeline. Large sections of the trail had snow cover but except in one sheltered section it was only an inch or so deep. Lots of blowdowns across trail. Heard some very eerie sounds, kind of like space aliens, in the vicinity of the Chain Lakes. I'm assuming it was the ice? Note, there are many more switchbacks than are shown on the map. I'm upgrading my title from "Tough day hike" to "Very tough day hike". 15 hours RT.
5/26/2009 Started at the Swift Creek TH. Took the Swift Creek Trail to the 2nd stream crossing and then went up the Buffalo Creek Drainage and hit the ridge south of Owl. Went over Owl and S Emmons and then hit Emmons. Back the same way. If it hadn't been for the couple of inches of fresh snow above 12000' I could have done the whole thing without stepping in a speck of snow! I finally dumped the snowshoes on my way up S Emmons, wishing I had done it about 9 miles previous. The stream crossing was difficult, up to my knees in the worst spot, and flowing pretty swiftly. There were 3 or 4 different channels to cross. The first is by far the worst. The sleet started at about 10am and it sleeted and rained off and on the rest of the day but mostly off and never really hard except for when it was time to recross the stream which was really grim in the rain. The whole thing took 16 hours. I was in and out of the clouds so I did get some views but unfortunately Emmons was completely socked in.
6/18/2008 Started at Swift Creek TH. Bushwhacked to Water Lily Lake and then hiked the south ridge. 18 miles RT, virtually all off-trail with a 7000' total elevation gain, 14 hours RT. Also did S Emmons, Owl, and 11841. Beautiful day and beautiful views.
#1 9-10-10 With JP Lewis, from Uinta TH. Ideal weather, no mosquitoes but thousands upon thousands of road apples to dodge. This is a very long but satisfying day hike. I think the summit plateau is larger than Rhode Island. Thanks for ZeeJay for her assistance in the planning stages of this trek. This time of year, better plan on headlamps for the start and the finish. :) #2 9-28-10 W/ Brent W. Perfect weather but shorter days mean more headlamp time! One hour on summit. Left a red water-bottle summit log in the cairn. #3 9-22-11 w/ JohnParley Lewis. Also bagged South Emmons - these two in one day from the Uinta TH demand endurance of a sort... #4 7-25-16 With Signe. The last mountain crest on a long day defined by the Kings-Emmons Ridge. My red water bottle log container has been replaced by a khaki green ammo case. A long 3"-diamter pole sticks up from the summit cairn making it a tad easier to spot the summit spot on the huge rather flat surface of the summit. We descended the north ridge into the Atwood Basin and bush whacked to Trail Rider Pass before following an actual trail into Painter Basin.
7/16/10 Final peak of the day after the long traverse from Kings Peak. All that remained was an 11-hour walk back to Henrys Fork TH. Can you say "mosquitos"?
Camped at East Timothy and ascended S. Emmons, Emmons, the fantastic face of N. Emmons, Roberts and Trail Rider peak before descending for the day hoping to complete the ridge the next day.
LazyJSkwires - Jul 10, 2020 9:18 pm Date Climbed: Jul 9, 2020
BlarghCame from Uinta River trailhead, took far too long and I got back close to midnight. Coming off the northeast ridge was not a great idea. Great day otherwise, a good night too
vanman798 - Aug 19, 2016 12:30 pm Date Climbed: Aug 15, 2016
5 of 5 in a dayAugust 13, 2016 I backpacked into the Chain Lakes, and camped. Next day I backpacked to Lake Beard above Lake Atwood. August 15 I backpacked over 5 peaks, namely Trail Rider Peak (aka Ramp Peak) at 13247 ft, Roberts Peak (aka Pyramid Peak) at 13287 ft, North Emmons (aka Pinnacle Peak) at 13068 ft, South Emmons (aka Glacier Peak) at 13170 ft, and Mt Emmons at 13440 ft.
From Emmons I dropped down to Oke Doke Lake and camp above the 4th Chain Lake.
SabineInUtah - Oct 31, 2014 6:17 pm Date Climbed: Jul 23, 2014
Via Uinta THClimbed it with RB as part of a 4-day backpacking trip into the High Uintas. Approached from 4th Chain Lake, hiked up the drainage that runs into the lake, past Oke-Doke Lake and up the South ridge to the broad summit. Crossing the large, shifting boulders on the ridge was a bit sketchy. Only two other people near the summit while the area below was teeming with boy scouts and other very large groups of people.
rmjwinters - Jun 26, 2012 10:37 pm Date Climbed: Jun 19, 2012
Kings Emmons +Approached via Swift Creek on June 18th. Bivy high in upper Yellowston Basin. Traversed from Henry Fork peak to Glacier peak south of Emmons. Exited via Swift Creek on the 19th.
ZeeJay - Oct 22, 2010 10:25 pm Date Climbed: Nov 6, 2010
Long day hike11/6/2010 Via the Uinta River Trail. Went all the way to Roberts pass and then took the ridge just north of Oke Doke Lake. This ridge is much more scenic than the one south of Oke Doke Lake and is easier to walk on. A little snow improves the Uinta River Trail immensely as it smooths out all of the fist sized loose rocks. About 28 miles RT.
10/21/2010 Via the Uinta River Trail and the ridge S of Oke Doke Lake. Also climbed 11441 which is just NE of the 4th Chain Lake. Beautiful fall day.
7/15/2010 Started at Henrys Fork TH. Climbed Kings, S Kings, Painter Peak, Trail Rider Peak, Roberts Peak, N Emmons, Emmons, S Emmons, Owl, Lost BM, and Flat Top BM and exited via Dry Gulch in one long 21 hour day.
6/24/2010 Via Swift and Buffalo Creeks over Owl and S Emmons.
11/9/2009 Via the Uinta River and the Atwood Basin trails. Took off for the east ridge of Emmons just before Fourth Chain Lake. Very long but beautiful day, 26.5 miles RT. Almost no snow above treeline. Large sections of the trail had snow cover but except in one sheltered section it was only an inch or so deep. Lots of blowdowns across trail. Heard some very eerie sounds, kind of like space aliens, in the vicinity of the Chain Lakes. I'm assuming it was the ice? Note, there are many more switchbacks than are shown on the map. I'm upgrading my title from "Tough day hike" to "Very tough day hike". 15 hours RT.
5/26/2009 Started at the Swift Creek TH. Took the Swift Creek Trail to the 2nd stream crossing and then went up the Buffalo Creek Drainage and hit the ridge south of Owl. Went over Owl and S Emmons and then hit Emmons. Back the same way. If it hadn't been for the couple of inches of fresh snow above 12000' I could have done the whole thing without stepping in a speck of snow! I finally dumped the snowshoes on my way up S Emmons, wishing I had done it about 9 miles previous. The stream crossing was difficult, up to my knees in the worst spot, and flowing pretty swiftly. There were 3 or 4 different channels to cross. The first is by far the worst. The sleet started at about 10am and it sleeted and rained off and on the rest of the day but mostly off and never really hard except for when it was time to recross the stream which was really grim in the rain. The whole thing took 16 hours. I was in and out of the clouds so I did get some views but unfortunately Emmons was completely socked in.
6/18/2008 Started at Swift Creek TH. Bushwhacked to Water Lily Lake and then hiked the south ridge. 18 miles RT, virtually all off-trail with a 7000' total elevation gain, 14 hours RT. Also did S Emmons, Owl, and 11841. Beautiful day and beautiful views.
Moogie737 - Sep 11, 2010 1:54 pm Date Climbed: Jul 25, 2016
Kings-Emmons Ridge: Done!#1 9-10-10 With JP Lewis, from Uinta TH. Ideal weather, no mosquitoes but thousands upon thousands of road apples to dodge. This is a very long but satisfying day hike. I think the summit plateau is larger than Rhode Island. Thanks for ZeeJay for her assistance in the planning stages of this trek. This time of year, better plan on headlamps for the start and the finish. :) #2 9-28-10 W/ Brent W. Perfect weather but shorter days mean more headlamp time! One hour on summit. Left a red water-bottle summit log in the cairn. #3 9-22-11 w/ JohnParley Lewis. Also bagged South Emmons - these two in one day from the Uinta TH demand endurance of a sort... #4 7-25-16 With Signe. The last mountain crest on a long day defined by the Kings-Emmons Ridge. My red water bottle log container has been replaced by a khaki green ammo case. A long 3"-diamter pole sticks up from the summit cairn making it a tad easier to spot the summit spot on the huge rather flat surface of the summit. We descended the north ridge into the Atwood Basin and bush whacked to Trail Rider Pass before following an actual trail into Painter Basin.
Joseph Bullough - Jul 17, 2010 4:10 pm
via Kings-Emmons ridge7/16/10 Final peak of the day after the long traverse from Kings Peak. All that remained was an 11-hour walk back to Henrys Fork TH. Can you say "mosquitos"?
byates - Dec 7, 2008 10:58 pm
Via Swift CreekDid the 2 13ers to the north and one to the south on the same day, Labor day weekend 2004.
apachedino - Sep 24, 2008 1:22 pm Date Climbed: Sep 21, 2008
3 Emmons+EquinoxCamped at East Timothy and ascended S. Emmons, Emmons, the fantastic face of N. Emmons, Roberts and Trail Rider peak before descending for the day hoping to complete the ridge the next day.
Scott - Apr 20, 2004 10:50 pm
Route Climbed: South Ridge Date Climbed: August 1997, also other times on various ridgesNice peak.