Route Climbed: Henry's Fork Date Climbed: August 1996
Stayed a week in the basin. Great moose sightings. Saw a cow and calf and then a bull. One deer. Several marmots close to Gunsight Pass. Awesome summit!
e-doc - Jan 1, 2006 1:22 am Date Climbed: Aug 24, 2000
Route Climbed: Dollar Lake; Date Climbed: August 24, 2000
After our 4 day Wind River trip, three of our group returned to SLC; Shawn, Brian ,and I checked into a nondescript hotel in Rock Springs. The next day we drove up to Henrys Fork and then hiked to Dollar Lake. It was fun to see the boy scouts attack the beaver lodge, only to be confronted by Shawn who claimed to be from the Forest Service and they immediately stopped their beaver lodge assault.The next day Shawn felt poor so he hiked back to the car; Brian and I summited via Gunsight and Anderson passes. As clouds moved in on our downclimb we opted to take the scree field down from Anderson Pass. I really hate lightening when I'm in the open on a camping trip. Broke camp and hike down to Elkhorn crossing to camp the second night. Met Shawn on trail the next day. He gave us a beer, it tasted good.
Route Climbed: Henrys Fork Date Climbed: August 27th
We did this as a two day backpack and camped at a small lake above Dollar. Almost got caught in a thunderstorm on the second day but made it off the summit plateau in time.
Route Climbed: Anderson Pass Date Climbed: September 1, 2005
I'd already climbed it in 1994 but went back so my brother could claim it as a highpoint. Beautiful pack-in (but strangely devoid of wildlife) only to be met with a herd of maybe 200 sheep and a horse-riding shepherd at the head of the valley. I seemed to remember a cairn marked trail from Anderson Pass to the top but never found anything and negotiated questionably stable boulders for hours up and down. Saw 2 moose on the way out.
Route Climbed: Henry'sTH, Gunsight,Anderson Pass Date Climbed: Sept. 1998,Aug. 2002
A couple of buddies and I did this 30 mile round trip in a day, 11 hours to be exact. Brutal charging. We only spent a few minutes at the summit. Traveled with an H2O bottle, iodine pills, rainbreaker and a beanie (and a sandwich). I wore bowling shoes with no insoles. Ha. Painful.
The whole idea started as a sort of dare, the night before ,in the bar. It ended with being wrecked for three days
ALWAYS DO THAT WHICH YOU SAID YOU WERE GOING TO DO WHEN YOU WERE DRUNK, SO YOU DO NOT MAKE THAT MISTAKE AGAIN.
Been back since (wearing proper attire). Nice hike.
Route Climbed: Henry's Fork, Gunsight Pass to Anderson Date Climbed: Aug. 18 - 20
Camped at Dollar Lake, went up to Gunsight pass, over the small cliffs, through the never ending boulder field and straight to Anderson pass, then up to the top. On the way back we went down the rock slide at Anderson pass. Kind of dangerous but saved lots of time. Saw some kids knock some rocks loose which almost killed some people. Just make sure you hike down where people are not above you. From Dollar Lake it took up 6 hours to go to the top, have lunch, and come back. Beautiful hike and backpacking trip. Bring Advil for the altitude headaches.
Route Climbed: Henry's Fork-Gunsight shortcut Date Climbed: August 5, 2005
My two brothers, my father and our friend woke up on Friday, August 5th, 2005 to mostly clear skies. We left from our base camp about 3/4 south of Dollar Lake at 6:20 AM. We wanted to get a fairly early start to beat the weather. With the 'mature' members of our group, we knew we would have to take our time (hey, even I am no spring chicken).
We had debated quite a bit about trying to go up the scree but decided that our party would be better going around. We made good time through Gunsight Pass but then the going was slower up over the high Gunsight alternate route. I would only recommend that for your more spry hikers. My brothers and I did fine but it was hard on my Dad and our friend.
We made Anderson by about 9:30 and to the top of King's by a little after 11 am. It is a spectacular view up there for sure! We shared the summit with 10-20 people. We probably encountered over 50 people from Anderson Pass to the top and back. Friday must be a popular day to summit.
After having come up short on our attempt from the Swift Creek trail last year, it was a great feeling to actually make it this time!
Coincidentally, it was my birthday and as a surprise, my brother carried a Hostess cupcake, a candle, and freeze-dried ice cream to the summit. I'll give two thumbs up to King's as a spot for a birthday celebration.
Route Climbed: Henry's Fork Date Climbed: August 4, 2005
I went up the Anderson Pass chute and saved a ton of time, definetely worth it. I do not suggest going down the chute though, I think it is too dangerous, that's why we descended through Gunsight.
Route Climbed: Gunsight Pass, across ridge to west Gunsight pass, then up. Date Climbed: July 31, 2005
A wonderful hike, and a great 'scramble'!. I climbed it on a Sunday so all the LDS folks (Boy Scout included)were in church so I only saw about 5 other people total the entire day. (Otherwise it is usually mobbed up there!) The 'Valley route" below Gunsight was a bit tedious, although some great campsights down in this area, and I would reccomend the high route, 'shortcut' up and across the ridge west of Gunsight pass. There is very minor exposure depending on how you do it, but defintaly fun!
Route Climbed: The Way Everyone Else Goes Date Climbed: June 2003
Did as a two day trip from Henry's Fork Trailhead. Nice scramble up the ridge and a tremendous view from the top. Excellent hike. Walked out the same day, the last half in the dark, surprising moose a couple of times in the blackness.
6 of us left Dollar Lake at around 9 am. We reached Anderson's Pass at 12:00 noon. It was a great hike at this point. We rested for about 15 minutes then made our ascent to Kings Peak and made it on top by 1p.m. Only 4 of the 6 made the hike all the way due to exhaustion. They waited and Anderson's Pass. Took the Chute down to save time. I don't think that it is that bad. Just take your time and you will be fine.
Craig and I left our camp from Dollar Lake headed for West Gunsight peak. At GS pass we decided to go up and over a cliff band directly west of the pass. We were able to do some scrambling up some cliffs (5.3) and we also went over some steep snow. We used our trekking poles, as we had left the ice axes in the car. We reached the summit and had some lunch. Craig brought some smoked salmon that was great. We decided to bag Kings as well, so we did not stay long on top. The scramble up Kings was more interesting than usual, as there was quite a bit of snow on the mountain. We had to stay almost right on top of the ridge and there was a lot more exposure there, but nothing serious. We reached the summit and contemplated South Kings, but it was getting late, so we headed down. This was my fourth time on top of Kings and each trip was a unique and fun experience. Had a great glissade from the ridge, which saved some time. We opted to head back taking the shortcut to GS pass, over the East flank of West GS. We had a sphincter pinching glissade down a steep slope full of rocks. This hike was epic!
Route Climbed: Henry's Fork Date Climbed: August 5, 2004
Camped at Dollar Lake. Hiked up Gunsight Pass and traversed across the side of West Gunsight Peak and then scrambled up the ridge of Kings Peak to the summit after waiting out a 10 minute hail storm 50 ft below the summit. Climbed down the ridge and then descended through Anderson Pass into Henry Fork's basin and back to camp. Great 3 day backpacking trip!
Route Climbed: Henry's Fork Date Climbed: 3 Jul 2005
Packed into a camp near a small lake above Dollar Lake in 3.5 hrs. Next day hiked to Gunsight Pass and then traversed the southern shoulder of West Gunsight Peak towards Anderson Pass. Countoured up to the ridge rather than go to the pass and then continued onto the summit which we reached after about 5 hrs. There was a lot of soft snow immediately after Gunsight Pass and we broke through to rock several times. We used crampons a lot on the upper ridge of Kings, and were able to glissade a large portion of the way down. We descended the snow couloir to the north of Kings rather than go back to Gunsight Pass. This also made for some fine glissading. We then hiked back out the same day reaching the trailhead after 11 hrs of hiking on the day.
Route Climbed: King's Peak Date Climbed: October, 2004
Did this one alone. What beautiful solitude! Actually, Bojo the Dog came along and was the best partner one could ask for. No complaining. Tried to get naked on the summit but it was just too cold. Came down by route of the "toilet bowl" col instead of the trail . It was a very steep descent down into the meadow. Moose, elk and deer abound.
Route Climbed: Henry's Fork Date Climbed: Aug 23, 1997
We camped at Dollar Lake the night before. Then we started early the next morning and took the short-cut after Gunsight Pass and made good time to Anderson Pass. I sat on the summit for an hour waiting for the rest of the team. I was worried because there was a incoming storm in the distance. We didn't stay long and hurried down. It rained all night and we left the next morning.
A big one. I was especially proud of my 6 year old brother who summitted with the family, without complaints.
On our descent to the saddle, storm clouds swept in out of nowhere. Two young guys were on the way up, and we were somewhat concerned. Two days later, while hiking out in the hail, they caught up w/us and told us the amazing story of how one of them got struck by lightning just below the summit. He had 3rd degree burns down his back. Took him quite awhile to slowly come to his senses and have enough energy to get off the mtn. They had seen our base camp on the way up, and were counting on resting in our tents, but unfortunately for them, we had packed up immediately in the rain and headed out.
D-bo - Jan 7, 2006 5:04 pm
Route Climbed: Henry's Fork Date Climbed: August 1996Stayed a week in the basin. Great moose sightings. Saw a cow and calf and then a bull. One deer. Several marmots close to Gunsight Pass. Awesome summit!
e-doc - Jan 1, 2006 1:22 am Date Climbed: Aug 24, 2000
Route Climbed: Dollar Lake; Date Climbed: August 24, 2000After our 4 day Wind River trip, three of our group returned to SLC; Shawn, Brian ,and I checked into a nondescript hotel in Rock Springs. The next day we drove up to Henrys Fork and then hiked to Dollar Lake. It was fun to see the boy scouts attack the beaver lodge, only to be confronted by Shawn who claimed to be from the Forest Service and they immediately stopped their beaver lodge assault.The next day Shawn felt poor so he hiked back to the car; Brian and I summited via Gunsight and Anderson passes. As clouds moved in on our downclimb we opted to take the scree field down from Anderson Pass. I really hate lightening when I'm in the open on a camping trip. Broke camp and hike down to Elkhorn crossing to camp the second night. Met Shawn on trail the next day. He gave us a beer, it tasted good.
dyscti - Oct 29, 2005 3:50 pm
Route Climbed: Henrys Fork Date Climbed: August 27thWe did this as a two day backpack and camped at a small lake above Dollar. Almost got caught in a thunderstorm on the second day but made it off the summit plateau in time.
leftfield - Sep 28, 2005 10:07 pm
Route Climbed: Anderson Pass Date Climbed: September 1, 2005I'd already climbed it in 1994 but went back so my brother could claim it as a highpoint. Beautiful pack-in (but strangely devoid of wildlife) only to be met with a herd of maybe 200 sheep and a horse-riding shepherd at the head of the valley. I seemed to remember a cairn marked trail from Anderson Pass to the top but never found anything and negotiated questionably stable boulders for hours up and down. Saw 2 moose on the way out.
motobb2000 - Aug 26, 2005 8:36 pm
Route Climbed: Henry'sTH, Gunsight,Anderson Pass Date Climbed: Sept. 1998,Aug. 2002A couple of buddies and I did this 30 mile round trip in a day, 11 hours to be exact. Brutal charging. We only spent a few minutes at the summit. Traveled with an H2O bottle, iodine pills, rainbreaker and a beanie (and a sandwich). I wore bowling shoes with no insoles. Ha. Painful.
The whole idea started as a sort of dare, the night before ,in the bar. It ended with being wrecked for three days
ALWAYS DO THAT WHICH YOU SAID YOU WERE GOING TO DO WHEN YOU WERE DRUNK, SO YOU DO NOT MAKE THAT MISTAKE AGAIN.
Been back since (wearing proper attire). Nice hike.
Bignick - Aug 26, 2005 1:59 am
Route Climbed: Henrys Fork Date Climbed: August 22 2005A terrific adventure with two of my best friends and my son. This is how I spent my 56th Birthday.
MrRadford - Aug 22, 2005 4:04 pm
Route Climbed: Henry's Fork, Gunsight Pass to Anderson Date Climbed: Aug. 18 - 20Camped at Dollar Lake, went up to Gunsight pass, over the small cliffs, through the never ending boulder field and straight to Anderson pass, then up to the top. On the way back we went down the rock slide at Anderson pass. Kind of dangerous but saved lots of time. Saw some kids knock some rocks loose which almost killed some people. Just make sure you hike down where people are not above you. From Dollar Lake it took up 6 hours to go to the top, have lunch, and come back. Beautiful hike and backpacking trip. Bring Advil for the altitude headaches.
twinkydink2612 - Aug 16, 2005 12:01 pm
Route Climbed: Henry's Fork-Gunsight shortcut Date Climbed: August 5, 2005My two brothers, my father and our friend woke up on Friday, August 5th, 2005 to mostly clear skies. We left from our base camp about 3/4 south of Dollar Lake at 6:20 AM. We wanted to get a fairly early start to beat the weather. With the 'mature' members of our group, we knew we would have to take our time (hey, even I am no spring chicken).
We had debated quite a bit about trying to go up the scree but decided that our party would be better going around. We made good time through Gunsight Pass but then the going was slower up over the high Gunsight alternate route. I would only recommend that for your more spry hikers. My brothers and I did fine but it was hard on my Dad and our friend.
We made Anderson by about 9:30 and to the top of King's by a little after 11 am. It is a spectacular view up there for sure! We shared the summit with 10-20 people. We probably encountered over 50 people from Anderson Pass to the top and back. Friday must be a popular day to summit.
After having come up short on our attempt from the Swift Creek trail last year, it was a great feeling to actually make it this time!
Coincidentally, it was my birthday and as a surprise, my brother carried a Hostess cupcake, a candle, and freeze-dried ice cream to the summit. I'll give two thumbs up to King's as a spot for a birthday celebration.
madsjim - Aug 14, 2005 10:58 pm
Route Climbed: Henry's Fork Date Climbed: August 4, 2005I went up the Anderson Pass chute and saved a ton of time, definetely worth it. I do not suggest going down the chute though, I think it is too dangerous, that's why we descended through Gunsight.
POWERJL - Aug 10, 2005 9:05 am
Route Climbed: Gunsight Pass, across ridge to west Gunsight pass, then up. Date Climbed: July 31, 2005A wonderful hike, and a great 'scramble'!. I climbed it on a Sunday so all the LDS folks (Boy Scout included)were in church so I only saw about 5 other people total the entire day. (Otherwise it is usually mobbed up there!) The 'Valley route" below Gunsight was a bit tedious, although some great campsights down in this area, and I would reccomend the high route, 'shortcut' up and across the ridge west of Gunsight pass. There is very minor exposure depending on how you do it, but defintaly fun!
madjohnbo - Aug 6, 2005 9:16 pm
Route Climbed: Gunsight Pass Date Climbed: Summer 2000Fun climb
mr kieran - Aug 6, 2005 5:54 pm
Route Climbed: The Way Everyone Else Goes Date Climbed: June 2003Did as a two day trip from Henry's Fork Trailhead. Nice scramble up the ridge and a tremendous view from the top. Excellent hike. Walked out the same day, the last half in the dark, surprising moose a couple of times in the blackness.
jnielsen - Jul 31, 2005 2:25 pm
Route Climbed: Gunsight Date Climbed: 07/28/056 of us left Dollar Lake at around 9 am. We reached Anderson's Pass at 12:00 noon. It was a great hike at this point. We rested for about 15 minutes then made our ascent to Kings Peak and made it on top by 1p.m. Only 4 of the 6 made the hike all the way due to exhaustion. They waited and Anderson's Pass. Took the Chute down to save time. I don't think that it is that bad. Just take your time and you will be fine.
Scott Wesemann - Jul 27, 2005 5:51 pm
Route Climbed: Henrys Fork Date Climbed: 7/05Craig and I left our camp from Dollar Lake headed for West Gunsight peak. At GS pass we decided to go up and over a cliff band directly west of the pass. We were able to do some scrambling up some cliffs (5.3) and we also went over some steep snow. We used our trekking poles, as we had left the ice axes in the car. We reached the summit and had some lunch. Craig brought some smoked salmon that was great. We decided to bag Kings as well, so we did not stay long on top. The scramble up Kings was more interesting than usual, as there was quite a bit of snow on the mountain. We had to stay almost right on top of the ridge and there was a lot more exposure there, but nothing serious. We reached the summit and contemplated South Kings, but it was getting late, so we headed down. This was my fourth time on top of Kings and each trip was a unique and fun experience. Had a great glissade from the ridge, which saved some time. We opted to head back taking the shortcut to GS pass, over the East flank of West GS. We had a sphincter pinching glissade down a steep slope full of rocks. This hike was epic!
mattdalman - Jul 22, 2005 5:59 am
Route Climbed: Henry's Fork Date Climbed: August 5, 2004Camped at Dollar Lake. Hiked up Gunsight Pass and traversed across the side of West Gunsight Peak and then scrambled up the ridge of Kings Peak to the summit after waiting out a 10 minute hail storm 50 ft below the summit. Climbed down the ridge and then descended through Anderson Pass into Henry Fork's basin and back to camp. Great 3 day backpacking trip!
bc44caesar - Jul 9, 2005 1:56 pm
Route Climbed: Henry's Fork Date Climbed: 3 Jul 2005Packed into a camp near a small lake above Dollar Lake in 3.5 hrs. Next day hiked to Gunsight Pass and then traversed the southern shoulder of West Gunsight Peak towards Anderson Pass. Countoured up to the ridge rather than go to the pass and then continued onto the summit which we reached after about 5 hrs. There was a lot of soft snow immediately after Gunsight Pass and we broke through to rock several times. We used crampons a lot on the upper ridge of Kings, and were able to glissade a large portion of the way down. We descended the snow couloir to the north of Kings rather than go back to Gunsight Pass. This also made for some fine glissading. We then hiked back out the same day reaching the trailhead after 11 hrs of hiking on the day.
HighCountry - Jun 18, 2005 7:49 pm
Route Climbed: King's Peak Date Climbed: October, 2004Did this one alone. What beautiful solitude! Actually, Bojo the Dog came along and was the best partner one could ask for. No complaining. Tried to get naked on the summit but it was just too cold. Came down by route of the "toilet bowl" col instead of the trail . It was a very steep descent down into the meadow. Moose, elk and deer abound.
mountaingazelle - Apr 30, 2005 9:34 pm
Route Climbed: Henry's Fork Date Climbed: Aug 23, 1997We camped at Dollar Lake the night before. Then we started early the next morning and took the short-cut after Gunsight Pass and made good time to Anderson Pass. I sat on the summit for an hour waiting for the rest of the team. I was worried because there was a incoming storm in the distance. We didn't stay long and hurried down. It rained all night and we left the next morning.
easleygone - Apr 12, 2005 11:30 pm
Route Climbed: Henry's Fork Date Climbed: Sept 19909 mile backpack to the campsite. Beautiful valley
and lake complete with incredible horde of mosquitos! Summitted by 10AM and reached
trailhead by 1PM. A good one!
Nate D - Feb 28, 2005 4:49 pm
Route Climbed: Date Climbed: 1986A big one. I was especially proud of my 6 year old brother who summitted with the family, without complaints.
On our descent to the saddle, storm clouds swept in out of nowhere. Two young guys were on the way up, and we were somewhat concerned. Two days later, while hiking out in the hail, they caught up w/us and told us the amazing story of how one of them got struck by lightning just below the summit. He had 3rd degree burns down his back. Took him quite awhile to slowly come to his senses and have enough energy to get off the mtn. They had seen our base camp on the way up, and were counting on resting in our tents, but unfortunately for them, we had packed up immediately in the rain and headed out.
Wild, but true.