Kings Peak in 12 hours
After a long day at Bear Lake (it was a blast!) Chris and I went to Kings Peak to try to fast hike the highest peak in Utah.
Kings Peak at 13,528 feet in elevation is quite a popular destination for backpackers and a small number of day hikers. I have hiked Kings Peak a half a dozen times, the last time being last August with Mike Brown of the WBR fame. (Flickr photo stream) We did it in 3 days and enjoyed every moment of it.
Four years ago I hiked it in a day with my brother-in-law Jonathan Williams and it was an extremely difficult and painful experience. That year I hadn’t been running like I am now and we covered the distance in a respectable 16 hours but we were hobbling for weeks.
This year Chris and I realizing we are in semi decent shape decided to just hike at a reasonable rate resting only when needed and see what happens.
We arrived at the trail head shortly before 9pm. We chose this day due to the full moon which was to light our way. While the sun was still up the temperature on the car display showed 44F. It was cold. Shortly before leaving, the temperature had dropped to 41F.
I was wearing my convertable pants/shorts and currently had them in short mode. This was the only mode I had option for as I had brought with me the wrong leg attachments and the ones I had wouldn’t fit. As I felt the cold air I was very aware of my bare legs. After a minute or two prepping at the trail head we set off shortly after 9pm.
As the hours rolled by quickly and the moon tracked across the sky we realized we were setting a very decent pace and had so far no need to stop for a rest. We did stop at about 10:30pm to get food out of our packs and store them in our pockets.
While travelling, we were very aware that the temperature was dropping rapidly. We crossed the river at Elk Crossing and made our way to the top of a bench that marked our final approach to the Dollar Lake camping sites. As we approached, we made our second stop. It wasn’t for rest but rather to pack up our trekking poles. It was now too cold to hang on to them as our fingers were going numb. Additionally, a very thick fog was setting into the valley and visibility was very limited.
We hiked past Dollar Lake as quietly as we could as there were tons of hikers sleeping soundly in their warm tents. We had made it to Dollar Lake in just under 3 hours. Things were going well other than the cold weather.
We made our way up to Gunsight Pass and elected to take the short-cut across the top of the bench. As we did so, we noticed that the temperature was now cold enough that the streams we passed were now frozen over. This wasn’t still standing water, we were on enough of an incline that this water would be flowing if it weren’t so cold!
Eventually, we made it to Anderson Pass and what was undeniably the coldest part of our hike. It was here that we offically had our first rest in the cavity of a rock to avoid the gale force winds. 45 minutes of scrambling over car sized boulders later and we were the highest people in Utah. It took us 6 hours and 16 minutes to summit!
The way down proved challenging as the moon which lit our way was now setting. Difficulty aside, we made great time and soon the sky began to light up.
Our only real adventure returning to the car was a confrontation we had with a rather large moose.
We arrived at the trail head at 9:30am tired but in great spirits. We did our trip in 12 hours and a few minutes! Minus the time we spent on the summit, we decended in 5 hours and 50 minutes giving us a round trip hiking time of 12 hours 6 minutes. We were thrilled.
Today (2 days later) I went for a run. I wasn’t sore, but I sure didn’t have much speed in my legs!
We tried to take some photos but due to the temperature the camera didn’t work very well. I’ll post 3 photos later.
