| Kings Bid in Fall Trip Report |
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| Kings Bid in Fall   | 
| Page Type: Trip Report Location: Utah, United States, North America Lat/Lon: 40.77650°N / 110.3723°W Date Climbed/Hiked: Sep 16, 2007 Season: Fall | Page By: COTrekker02 Created/Edited: Sep 19, 2007 / Sep 20, 2007 Object ID: 338896 Hits: 332 Loading... Page Score: 88.3% - 9 Votes Loading... Vote: Log in to vote |
Gearing up for Kings Peak Bid Why does Labor Day always seem to come so quickly in the Rocky Mountains? Maybe it's because the snow doesn't clear in the high country until July 4th, or because we always seem to cram too much in the short summer months that we never accomplish the "lists" all climbers make during the daylight-deprived winter months.
In any case, as mid September closed in on me, I decided I needed to spend one final weekend in the high country before the snow inevitably ends the summer climbing season. What better place then the High Uintas, and what better prize than the top of Utah - Kings Peak. I knew, however, that as Friday came and turned into Saturday morning, I wouldn't go unless I recruited a partner. Enter my loving wife, Laurie. I started talking to her about the 28 mile round trip (over 24 or so hours) on Monday and by Wednesday she was "in". Of course I helped the cause by plotting to keep her pack weight right where it would be for a day hike.
So, Wednesday night we headed to Brighton to assemble and familarize ourselves with our new lightweight tent, packed Thursday night, enjoyed ourselves at a work party Friday night, and soon found ourselves hitting the road towards Wyoming around 10:00 am Saturday morning. The drive from SLC to Mountain View, WY took about 2 hours, as it is mostly interstate driving on I-80. From there, we followed the excellent SP directions the 29 or so final miles to the trailhead, and shouldered our packs around 12:40 pm Saturday and hit the trail up Henry's Fork Basin. The campground was still open, and approximately 1/2 full. There were about 15 cars in the parking lot; many more than would be there Sunday evening when we returned to our car at the TH.
Finding Camp and the Windy Sleep The hiking was easy and we enjoyed it immensely. The trail gains altitude very slowly, and transitions from quaking aspen stands to pine and spruce until finally emerging from the forest in a large basin with winding streams surrounded by willow marshes. Kings looms large through the view Anderson Pass provides. We passed a few groups of people on their way out, surmizing by the cars in the parking lot that we'd be mostly alone Saturday night at camp and hopefully in our summit bid of Kings the next day as well.
I wanted to hike beyond Dollar lake to avoid a long approach to Gunsight Pass the next morning and limit our mileage as best as possible. So, we continued past Dollar for another mile and a half or so until turning west off the trail for about 300 yards. We crossed an open meadow, traversed through some willows and crossed two small stream beds until finally settling on a campsite near a windbreak of spruce trees above a 50' high bench above the basin floor. We quickly set up camp and found a rock to take in the views. We ate dinner, hung our food in the nearby trees, and climbed into our tent as darkness fell at 8pm.
The night took forever and the wind was relentless, blowing all night. The trees served as a great windbreak, but nonetheless the wind blew our tent, and some gusts moved the tent wall to within 12 inches of my head as I lay there. Light finally filled the sky around 7 am and I jumped out of bed and headed to retreive our food. I immediately spotted a large bull moose trotting our way, and called to my wife to come look. About 1 minute later there he was, trotting through our camp only 40 feet from us! He didn't mind us, though, and headed over the hill crest to better things. We would soon find out what better things meant.
We got ready to hike, choosing to skip breakfast for now and get a move on towards our goal - Kings Peak. We headed towards the trail and soon heard some noise. After cresting the ridge we found our bull moose friend sparring with another lesser bull, as well as two cows waiting patiently ringside. Before long, the lesser bull was on the move and our campsite visitor had taken over his small harem. What a site to see indeed. They soon moved on and so did we.
Heading Towards Kings We trodded towards Gunsight Pass in the growing light, with occassional cloud cover overhead. The trail switchbacks nicely, and soon we were at the pass at 11,888 looking into Painter Basin; another huge basin of alpine tundra. We descended the pass and soon located the cutoff trail. We followed this on a well-defined trail below the cliffs of Gunsight Peak and headed towards the main trail again. We found this after about 25 minutes of hiking, and were soon climbing again towards Anderson Pass. The trail remains excellent and switchbacks, never becoming too steep. The wind would not quit, and I was worried that it would zap our energy, which we desperately needed as we would be logging 20 plus miles this day, including about 3,500 feet of elevation gain, and had to work the next day. No worries, though, we knew we could do it and were just happy to be enjoying fall in the solitude of the Uintas.
Soon we were on Anderson Pass looking into Yellowstone Basin. We had to keep moving, though, as the wind took its toll in the open country. Luckily, the trail up Kings' north ridge stays east of the ridge proper, and is largely hidden from the wind. The trail dissapears and reappears on the climb up, but cairns are prevalent and it's quite obvious where the safest route up the blocky ridge is. 50 minutes after leaving Anderson Pass, we were on the windy summit of Kings. We hid from the wind under a shelf below the summit block for a few minutes, and then snuck up to the top to snap some quick pictures and touch the top. The wind was dangerous on the summit, however, blowing both of us off our feet several times. Back to Henry's Fork and Camp We quickly left the summit and decided to descend Kings' south east ridge back to the trail in Painter Basin rather than climb down to Anderson Pass. This decision was so-so, as the slope was steep and the talus loose. It was still blocky, though, so most of our steps were firm. The wind was crazy,though, and we were elated when we finally reached the tundra grass and left the talus. Soon we were back on the main trail heading down towards the cutoff trail and stopped to eat some granola and protein bars.
The wind had calmed a bit, especially as we entered lower Painter Basin. We traversed back towards Gunsight Pass and regained the 400 or so feet lost on the trip to Kings. My knee was bothering me quite a bit, and I was worried about the 10 plus miles we still had back to our car, especially once my pack was loaded with all our camp gear.
We still hadn't seen a soul since Saturday around 4pm, and were enjoying the solitude as we climbed back into Henry's Fork Basin. Soon I spied two people looking for a campsite and we traded waves as we headed to our camp. I soon spotted our bull moose from the morning, and soon after his two cow companions. It was soon apparent that we were heading for the same patch of land, and low and behold, they ended up only 50 feet from our campsite. I thought we had pushed them away, but was wrong and as I approached a ridge top, the larger cow moose scurried away yelling and seconds later the bull emerged walking right at me. I quickly retreated, pushing my wife ahead of me. We had crossed the line and he stood firm head-on to us, telling us as much! We moved back to about 75 yards where I couldn't help but take some pictures.
After realizing he wasn't moving, we decided to circle widely around them to our camp, and took only about 20 minutes to pack our stuff, take down our tent, and hit the trail towards home, all the while keeping a watchful eye on the rutting bull standing in the distance, no doubt eyeing us back.
We left our campsite at 3pm under patchy sun and clouds, and soon fell back into the brisk pace that defined this weekend. The wind was still howling, so we looked forward to re-entering the calm confines of the forest. We made it to Elkhorn Crossing at 4:15, and knew we only had 5 miles to go...2 hours if we kept our pace. Those two hours crawled by, as our legs and feet screamed at us for reprieve. We chatted on and off on our way down, and also both silently reflected on our great weekend in the Uintas. This wilderness is so large it really puts things in perspective, and offers true solitude if you look hard enough...even in one of the most visited basins in the area.
We spied the trailhead at 6:10 and were soon snapping the final pictures of the trip at the High Uintas Wilderness boundary sign. We traded hiking boots for sandals, and fired up the Xterra, pointing it north towards Mountain View, Wyoming, lower ground, warmer temperatures, gatorade, and soon after....another week of work. I was so happy to have completed this trip late in the year, and even happier that my wife decided to accompany me. Even if she did have to put up with an ultralight/ultra"small" tent, howling, unforgiving winds, 28 miles of hiking in 28 hours, a posturing bull moose in rut, and my constant ooohs and aaahs at the vistas before us. But you can't fool me...I know she loved the adventure just as much as I did, and the constant half-smile her face showed all weekend proved that thesis.
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Uinta Mountains
