Ryan (almost 40), Alec (almost 15 at the time), K.C (mid 20s?), and I (super-human 30ish) decided to knock out Kings Peak (elev. 13,528), the highest point in Utah. August is not the best time to climb peaks in the Uinta mountains because afternoon thunderstorms are fairly common. But it was the only time we could go, so we did.
It started out great. The first day was long, but we made good time and camped at Dollar lake (eleve. 10,800) that night. We hiked 9.7 miles, which is pretty good considering Ryan and I are getting SLOW. We didn't get there until after 10 pm, and had to find a camp spot in the dark, but we did a pretty good job. I had a hard time sleeping due to a headache, which may have been a result of the altitude.
We started "early" the next morning (as early as is possible with Ryan and K.C anyway). It was fairly cool and the skies were a little overcast.
At Gunsight pass we decided to leave the trail and head westish. It looks tricky because of the quick elevation gain, total lack of trail, and the talus slope. The actual trail drops, hugging the shoulder of a ridge that drops from Kings.
We watched a kid and his dog scale the ridge without much difficulty so we went for it. I'd do it that way again. It was difficult but saved us a lot of time. Once on top of the ridge, it's a matter of crossing a boulder field and then the final push to the top. Just as we crossed the boulder field, a thunder storm started rolling in from the North, and we could see another coming in from the South. And it started raining.
We hunkered next to an older guy and his teenage daughter, Becca. The rain was cold, but didn't have lightning, so we wanted to wait it out. But the weather only got worse -- the rain let up a little, but we could hear some major thunder. One guy with long hair came off the ridge and his hair was still standing on end. Ryan and I, using hand gestures, managed to talk K.C and Alec down (they were about 200 feet higher than us and were anxious to summit).
So, with two storms ready to collide, we were faced with three route choices: follow the trail around the ridge, back up Gunsight pass and down to camp; back over the boulder field to Gunsight pass and back to camp; or down the "Toilet bowl." I don't think we named it the toilet bowl, and I personally like to call it the "shoot from hell." It is an almost 90 degree talus slope, but Becca and her dad said it was doable so we went for it. Lucky for me, it started raining in earnest just as we started the descent so I couldn't really see how scary it was, what with the water sticking to my glasses. But it was wet and cold.
The highest we got that day was 12,100 feet. And then we were out of time -- sort of. We could have stayed one more day and attempted the peak again, but we decided to stick to the plan and hike down to Fish Hook Lake, 7.5 miles north (actually, I think it's called Alligator lake or something, but watch the video to find out why we don't call it that). If you listen close, you can hear Ryan say something like "don't be such a pansy" and then the POP when the hook finally comes out. I can't seem to recall exactly how the fish hook was hooked in K.C's finger, but I think I still owe him an apology.
That is a beautiful lake. I wish we could have stayed longer.
We hiked the last 2.5ish miles the next day, back to the car.
Our next trip will be another assault on Kings Peak, only from the South this time. We plan to go up Painter's basin. It's fairly remote and gets a lot less foot traffic.
