[TR] Kings Peak - Via Henrys Fork 07/04/2024

[JasonG]

Trip: Kings Peak - Via Henrys Fork

Trip Date: 07/04/2024

Trip Report:

After Borah, we drove south for a few days swimming at Bear Lake (recommended) and fossil hunting around Kemmerer, WY (also recommended) before settling in Lyman, WY for the night to prepare for a three day trip to climb Kings Peak over the 4th of July.  Although people do the 25+ mile RT in a day, I figured with the altitude that a more leisurely itinerary would be much more family friendly.  In the end, this was a good call.

 

Any way you approach it, Kings Peak is way back in there.  We chose the most shortest and most popular approach via Henrys Fork and it was a pretty mellow ramble of about 9 miles to a tarn just beyond the masses at Dollar Lake.  The first night we had it all to ourselves and it was a glorious spot (~11,000) to take in the views, which included KIngs, about five miles away.

Kings Peak from camp:

The next morning dawned clear and still, but this area is known for thunderstorms so we didn't waste (too) much time getting out of camp and up the hill while the day was young. 

I had been worried about how much snow we would encounter on our way to Gunsight Pass (~12,000), but we only needed to cross a few small sections, all with steps beat in.  All the snow we encountered was pretty hard and icy in the early morning so if there is more snow you'll need to plan accordingly.

When you reach Gunsight Pass there are two ways to reach Kings- short and long.  We chose the shortcut which angles up steeply and right from the pass, mostly on a climbers path, but also with some rock hopping and scrambling.  In the end, this was probably the better way to go, though it seemed to be not much faster than dropping down and around (we saw another party do this just ahead of us). 

As we climbed higher, the views got wider and the day remained perfect.  No thunderstorms to worry about as we meandered upwards, talking about how different the Uintas are compared to the North Cascades.

A bit of minor scrambling along the summit ridge brought us to the top of Utah late in the morning.  After another couple parties left, we had the summit to ourselves for about an hour.  I was a bit surprised at the lack of crowds, given that it was the 4th of July, but we found them that evening back at camp, ready to climb it on the 5th. 

Reversing the route back to camp was simple and much easier that wheezing upwards and we were treated to another calm and beautiful evening back at camp, with a dozen more tents scattered around.  The State high points are not lonesome! 

All the remained for us the final morning was a quick hike back to the car and then off to Nevada and a few more summits....

Don't let them fool you, they could hike for another 10 miles with enough sugar and bad jokes.

Gear Notes:
hiking poles

Approach Notes:
Follow the masses up Henrys Fork. All the beta is found here: https://www.roadtripryan.com/go/t/utah/northern-utah/kings-peak

[Lostbolt]

Great write up how old are the boys? Mine is 13 and I think this is another good trip for this summer.

[JasonG]

Oh I'm sure your kid could make it happen @Lostbolt! 

My boys were 14 and 16 last summer and the three day pace didn't push them- it was pretty casual.