Hiking to Kings Peak, Utah - 13,528 Feet of Awesomeness

Just 3 more miles, right...?

We researched, read, visited the National Forest Service office, purchased a fancy map, downloaded apps, and then went with "Plan A" to hike into Dollar Lake, about 8-9 miles from the trail head. Next morning summit (15 miles RT), return to our base camp, 😴 sleep for 9 hours, wake-up, and hike out. Total mileage was planned to be 27.1. Yeah, that didn’t work... Plan B- we started hiking circa 17:30 on Thursday, made six miles until the trail got dark. Made our campsite about 50 ft from the main trail and slept in an ultra tent for about 7 hrs, and hiked 18 miles to the summit & back. We intended to crash at our base camp ⛺️ last night, alas, there were three puddles of water on our tent, water leaked inside and both sleeping bags were soaked 51%. UGH! We broke our awesome camp, and quickly returned to the trail thinking it was 3-4 miles. Nope! It was six clicks back to the trailhead and parking lot. The last two hours of hiking were beyond thought. We skipped stopping for dinner in fear of cramping up our legs. Each hiker group that passed us hiking into Dollar Lake we asked, “How long have you been hiking or how far have you hiked?” The responds were so varied we finally stopped asking. 

Okay, we resumed asking after becoming overly frustrated with the never-ending trail. During the last 1/2 Italian swear words filled my mind. My thoughts gained a delirious taste as I began repeating the phrase, “just 3 more miles, just 3 more miles, just 3 more miles...” we were about 1/4 mile from the parking lot, we could hear the river, and became excited. I questioned my ability to navigate and JP thought we had missed a turn. I reviewed my trail database and recalled the first 5 miles was a straight shot. Yikes! The times was 21:30 and I was the only one with a flash light. JP was too tried to stop moving, take off his 16 lbs pack to retrieve his Petzel headlamp. Ergo, he stayed close behind and I lit the way. Another five minutes passed and not trail end in sight. We heard strange sounds and I thought, crap! We are about to become a bear’s 🐻 midnight snack! We stopped, and shinned the flashlight through the thick 🌲 pine trees. No glowing eyes 👀 appeared. Instead, we viewed a headlight brightness down by the river. Could it be the parking lot and had we passed a side trail or missed signage? Nope! It was the moonlight’s reflection off the river. We pressed forward, no swearwords uttered off the tongue. Another 11 minutes passed and I finally saw the most beautiful sight; a wooded gate and and the U.S. Forest Service trailhead signs. Wahooooooooo! Navigation through the gate was quite difficult for I was carrying my trekking poles, our food bag, and my sleeping pad which fell off at mile four. JP’s car never looked so good. We quickly changed our of clothes. My socks had become one with my skin after 29 miles and 29 hours of usage. Funny and ironic though for there were two more clean pairs in my pack. Yes, I learned much about myself, from JP, and from Mother Nature during our extreme hike. Would ever want to summit Kings Peak again? Ask me again in 2019...

The Ascent

The ascent to the summit - a roughly 1,100 feet and one mile straight up & over boulders. Oh yeah, there is snow melt running under, over, and around eroding and this causing the rocks to shift and you “carefully” traverse with GREAT anticipation...

The Photographs... https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B115VaUrzNPcVq