King’s Peak UT Adventure!

Generally in September Z and I do a Mt. Whitney California trip and combine a bunch of other cool side trips with it such as Death Valley, Bristlecone Pine Forest, etc. but we decided to mix things up this year and head to Kings Peak, the tallest point in Utah. This was my 9th state high point thus far and is just one more check off the big 50 list

. Below is the trip report along with some pictures of the area. I must say that September is truly an excellent time to get out and do some exploring, whether it’s a mountain climb, a backpacking or fishing trip or even just rambling around in the foothills. The weather is generally cooler, the bugs are on their way out, there isn’t a ton of snow (usually) plus the changing colors of the surrounding foliage makes for a very interesting landscape and a fun adventure.

Some quick facts about King’s Peak Utah:
•   King’s Peak is located in the north eastern part of the state in the Uinta Mountains
•   Elevation is 13,528ft
•   26 miles round trip as we did it (the ‘standard’ trail makes a huge 2 mile detour with a 1000ft elevation loss before heading up to the peak on the last leg of the assault. Z and I bypassed this by traversing a massive boulder field).
•   Elevation gain from trailhead to peak is 5,250ft
•   King’s Peak is ranked 7th hardest of the 50 state highpoints
•   The peak was named after Clarence King, a surveyor and mountaineer in the 1800s known for his explorations of the Sierra Nevada.

Wednesday, September 16 : We left Boise around 11am after working a 12 hour night shift at the ‘Cron. Thankfully we only had about a 6-7 hour drive ahead of us which meant once we got to the trailhead we could get some sleep before starting on the trail. We reached the trailhead late that afternoon, set up camp, re-organized the packs and then tried to get some shut eye.

Thursday, September 17: Our original plan was to wake up around 06:30, pack up camp and be on the trail between 7 or 7:30. Well it turns out that we were more tired than we thought and ended up waking up around 8, then spent an hour drying out the tent fly. By the time we were finally on the trail it was 09:15. Not a big deal though, at that point we had a lot of miles ahead of us and the weather was beautiful. We hiked right up to the base of Gunsight Pass which is about 10miles in before setting up camp. After getting camp situated and getting something to eat a rain/hail storm came in and lasted about 2.5hrs. Perfect chance to get a good afternoon nap in

. Once the storm passed we filtered some water, hung out for a bit and then hit the sack for the night.

Friday, September 18: Woke up at 04:30, got on the trail at 05:00 and hit the summit at 08:00. This was the day of the real climbing since up to our camp the elevation gain was pretty minimal. As I mentioned before we took a detour at the top of Gunsight Pass that traversed the side of the mountain through a massive boulder field. It was difficult to walk through since there was a thin layer of frost on all the rocks making it an easy way to snap an ankle! By the time we reached the summit the sun was up and the view was amazing. We hung out for about 40mins on top taking pictures, got something to eat and drink before heading back down to camp.
Once back at camp it would have been easy to take it easy for a few hours but we could see clouds already forming and it looked like the afternoon showers were going to be hitting earlier than the day before. So we packed up and left with the same swiftness we came in with. At about 4pm we finally made it back to the trail head with the peak and 26miles in under our belts. All in all a totally awesome trip. We wasted no time getting back on the road, stopped for a victory burger in Evanston and then did the red-eye home.

Enjoy the pics!

Just starting out. King's Peak is the tallest one in the center