Silver King Peak (13,762) also known as Magdalene Mountain by Brian Schultz Friday July 18, 2008
Distance: 21.2 miles
Elevation gain: 5,600 feet
Tim and I contemplated several routes to dayhike Silver King and ended up doing a loop route beginning at the Missouri Gulch trailhead and finishing at the Pine Creek trailhead. We intended to start and finish at Missouri Gulch TH but set up a car shuttle to allow for bad weather, figuring if thunderstorms did materialize, our descent would be considerably safer along Pine Creek rather than returning over Elkhead Pass to Missouri Gulch.
We dropped my car off at the Pine Creek trailhead, then drove up to the Missouri Gulch trailhead, where carcamping was efficient but made for a short night of sleep. We began at 3:00 AM by headlamp and set a good pace on the trail, passing by the old cabin in an hour, and stopping at 5:10 in the basin for a breakfast break. This is the fourth time I've been on the familiar trail and it's also where Tim and I met in 1997 while climbing Mt Belford. We've racked up a lot of peaks together in the eleven years since.
We kept the break short before continuing on to Elkhead Pass because the early morning temps were cold. We reached the pass at 5:55 and dropped into Missouri Basin on the same trail I used to climb Emerald Peak five years ago. First light revealed a fair amount of snow in the basin and on the peaks, although Silver King in the distance appeared to be clear.
The sun finally rose in scenic Missouri Basin as we made our way toward the Pine Creek trail junction. As we neared the southern end of the basin, we set a bearing toward our peak and departed the trail as it turned eastward. Squishing along in marshy areas from winter snowmelt, the shortcut took us over several streams before meeting up with the Pine Creek trail below. We followed the excellent trail up to Silver King Lake, arriving there at 8:40, and stopped briefly to observe the route to the summit. As we neared the rock wall on the lower ridge we found a nicely cairned route leading up. Tim also spotted a ptarmigan on the rocks, nearly invisible until it started moving.
We reached the saddle at 9:15 and from there carefully ascended the exposed ridge to the summit, sometimes staying on the edge and sometimes to the right of it. We made the summit at 9:50, nearly seven hours after leaving the trailhead and covering 8.75 miles according to Tim's GPS. On top was a plastic jar placed by Gerry and Jennifer Roach with a notebook inside to sign. They refer to this peak as Magdalene Mountain but it seems everyone else calls it Silver King or UN 13762.
Clear skies allowed for a leisurely stay to enjoy the views of Missouri Basin and the surrounding peaks even though clouds were puffing up behind Elkhead Pass. We finally departed at 10:35, worked our way cautiously down the ridge, and reached Silver King Lake again at 11:20. Once below the lake we decided to continue along the Pine Creek trail, not wanting to chance the worsening weather, and arrived at the trail junction we bypassed earlier. There were lots of flooded areas from snowmelt alongside the trail, particularly between the trail junction and Bedrock Falls, and when it started raining in the midafternoon, we sloshed through a very saturated trail.
We saw a number of backpackers coming up the trail, several of whom were taking a rest at Little John's Cabin as we walked by. After we stopped for a break to filter water, the march back to the trailhead seemed to take forever. My feet were hurting and Tim will verify that I wasn't in a very good mood. The car was a welcome sight when we pulled in at 4:30 but we still had to drive back to the Missouri Gulch trailhead to get Tim's truck.
For anyone looking to avoid a backpack on Silver King, this is a reasonable alternative. Our loop route covered 21.2 miles total (Missouri Gulch trailhead to summit- 8.75 miles, return to Pine Creek trailhead- 12.45 miles).
Missouri Gulch trailhead to summit- 6 hours 50 minutes
Summit to Pine Creek trailhead- 5 hours 55 minutes
Start to finish- 13 hours 30 minutes