Kings Peak (13,528 feet) by Brian Schultz Monday August 23, 2004
After climbing Borah Peak in Idaho, Tim and I drove 400 miles to the Kings Peak trailhead, which oddly required driving from Utah through the southwest corner of Wyoming and back into Utah. We encountered a severe thunderstorm near Mountain View, Wyoming, about thirty miles from the trailhead, and pondered the unpromising weather forecast for our climb. We were not pleased with the forecast but didn't change our plans. Dayhiking Kings was still on.
We pulled into the Henrys Fork campground at 8:30 PM and were immediately flagged down by a backpacker asking if we'd seen a ranger on our way in. This fellow had backpacked to the high lakes in the morning but turned around because of altitude sickness and had just now arrived back at the campground. He wasn't the one looking for help though. With him was a German woman who'd been waiting all day at the camping area for her son and was frantic because night was falling and he hadn't returned from climbing Kings. She had good reason to be worried- the young man began at 7:00 AM and carried only a small fanny pack for the ~27 mile roundtrip hike. We said we'd alert a ranger if we saw one.
At the parking area, a returning couple who'd backpacked up to Alligator Lake yesterday informed us that they also missed the summit, but seemingly enjoyed their outing and advised us to keep an eye out for moose along the trail. We cleaned up and turned in at 9:30 hoping to make the best of a short night's sleep. Our sleep was interrupted, however, when a ranger pounded on the windows of the truck at 11:30 and asked if we'd seen the German woman. He told us the son had returned to the parking lot and drove himself to the hospital in Mountain View, Wyoming, and collapsed there. We were glad the kid made it off the mountain but had no idea where the missing mother was and neither of us slept much after the ranger left. I tossed and turned for two hours before the alarm rang.
Getting up at 2:15 AM. was tough on so little sleep, especially after climbing Borah yesterday. While we ate and readied our packs, the few stars twinkling about in the night sky disappeared behind a heavy cloud cover- I took this as a disturbing sign given the weather forecast. We began at 2:45 AM by headlamp on the well worn trail, an excellent footpath except for the scattered rock stretches where I stubbed my toes a few times. The trail gains only 1,600 feet elevation over the first eight miles so a fast pace was easy to sustain. With nothing to see in the dark, other than the eyes of unknown creatures that Tim spotted, we hiked mostly in silence until stopping at 4:50 at the "Foot Bridge" for a break, covering 5.5 miles in those two hours. After we broke out of timberline we faced a soggy mud section of shrubs, similar to the willows of Mt Bierstadt in Colorado before the new boardwalks were installed. This area was difficult to maneuver in the dark and we sank repeatedly up to our ankles.
Conditions were cold and windy upon reaching the open basin at 6:15. We stopped for an extended break as first light revealed nasty black clouds racing across the sky, each dark mass quickly followed in succession by another. Turning around was a distinct possibility as we ate and discussed taking a shortcut gully to the summit ridge, which Tim had read about in a trip report but wasn't mentioned in the guide book. I questioned whether the ease of the gully might have been exaggerated by the trip report writer but as morning dawned, we could see it ahead and although it looked steep, it looked doable. The summit of Kings beckoned in the distance but the threatening weather at 6:45 in the morning didn't do much for my comfort level. Our now visible surroundings included several small lakes below in the basin to the right, probably where the solo backpacker with altitude sickness turned around, and a peak resembling North Maroon Peak in Colorado to the left.
We agreed to continue because there wasn't any thunder rumbling, and once in the gully we'd have protection from the wind, so we descended to the nearest lake and bushwhacked across the open area to the base of the gully. We started up the gully at 7:40 and were relieved to see the black clouds turning gray but the temperature turned even colder as we ascended the mix of of dirt, scree and loose rock. Halfway up, it began snowing lightly. It took a full hour to reach the top and at 8:40 we made our bid for the summit as the snow picked up in intensity.
We contoured around the false summit and passed under several points along the ridge on steep talus. Slowed by the accompanying fog and gusting winds that blew the snow so hard that we had to turn our heads sideways, we traversed over rough talus to just below the summit and then scrambled to the top at 10:10 as the snowstorm hit full force. We couldn't find a register and wondered if the next peak along the ridge was the actual summit but GPS readings indicated that we were on the correct one and a look at the topo map later confirmed the other peak to be South Kings Peak. We only stayed fifteen minutes in the blizzardlike conditions before the windchill and stinging snow drove us down.
We descended the snow covered talus very carefully to avoid slipping and finally reached safer terrain below the false summit. Finding the shortcut gully in the fog was confusing initially, and we had to be careful descending it as well, but before long we were at the bottom and looking for a place to rest. As we recharged for the long hike out, we were captivated by the picturesque peaks and their fresh layer of snow but only for a short while. The fog crept down and shrouded everything above the basin floor.
Using a waypoint set from my GPS earlier, we bushwhacked across the basin to the trail with gusting winds blowing snow down from the mountain tops at our backs so persistently that we didn't get relief until reaching timberline. We passed by hundreds of grazing sheep in a grassy meadow and kept an eye out for moose but traveled a long time before finally seeing a female and her calf in a clearing. Shortly after that Tim spotted two bull moose. They moved away before we could get a photo but what a highlight! We've never seen moose along the trail in all our years of hiking and climbing.
The march back to the trailhead was exhausting. Other than the moose sightings, it was no fun at all and we pulled in at 6:00, making this one of our longest ever days from start to finish. Our return took even longer than the ascent, which I can't ever remember happening on a climb before. Tim figured we hiked about 23 miles roundtrip and as much as we wanted to drive into Colorado and climb another peak in the morning, we didn't have the desire or the energy. We stayed in Lyman, Wyoming, spent the next morning taking a leisurely drive past the Flaming Gorge in Utah, and recovered enough to hike the easy Hanging Lake trail near Glenwood Springs, Colorado. Many thanks to the trip report writer suggesting the shortcut because it saved the day for us.
Trailhead to summit- 7 hours 25 minutes
Summit to trailhead- 7 hours 35 minutes
Start to finish- 15 hours and 15 minutes.