Henry's Fork Basin
Date: August 21, 2010
Distance: ~25 miles
Vertical: ~5000 feet
Time: Long Day
Peaks: Kings Peak (13,528 feet)
Route: Henry's Fork to Gunsight Pass to Anderson Pass
Kings Peak is the highest point in Utah (the state has around twenty 13,000+ foot peaks). It lies within the Uinta Range, the highest East/West running mountain range in the USA. The Uintas are very unique compared to many of the other ranges I've visited, and other than Colorado's San Juans, I don't think there are any other places in the states with so much land over 10,000 feet.
We headed up to Henry's Fork on Friday night after work, arriving around 6:45pm and we hiked in for an hour before setting up camp and calling it a night. The plan for the weekend was to setup a high(er) camp, climb three 13ers on Saturday, and two more on Sunday. So when we woke up on Saturday morning, we carried our camping gear another 4 miles or so up to the Dollar Lake area. At that point we dropped everything but the essentials and set off towards Kings Peak. By the time we got over Gunsight Pass and had made our way to Anderson Pass, it was evident that Andrea's foot was going to give her problems (she has been stricken with a case of plantar fasciitis), so we decided that Kings was going to be the only mountain we climbed that weekend. We hiked and scrambled up the ridge to the summit, where the views of the Uintas and all the basins were limitless. Since we have tentative big plans for Labor Day weekend in two weeks, we decided to just be satisfied with a nice hike up Kings and call it a weekend. That, of course, meant hiking back to where we dropped our camping gear, and then all the way back to the trailhead. We made it back around 6:30pm and drove back to Salt Lake.
Kings is a cool peak... its not a technical challenge by any means, just a walk up, but definitely a long hike. I'd recommend it as a day hike, although I'm sure we'll be back up in that region to do some backpacking and grab some of the other 13,000 foot peaks.
A major highlight of the day was the moose sightings on the hike out. We made a deal with each other that if we saw a moose, we got to buy Moose Tracks ice cream when we got home. Well, sure enough, we came across two BIG moose who were walking right on the trail a few miles from our car. It was the first time either of us had seen moose in the wild.
At camp on Friday night
Morning in the Uintas
Heading up towards Gunsight Pass
This big cairn marked the top of the pass
Andrea with West Gunsight Peak behind her
Looking West from Anderson Pass
East Gunsight Peak just looks like a pile of scree
Heading up the ridge, which was basically just lots of broken rocks
Jenga?
View from the summit of Kings Peak (south to west to north)
Andrea on top of Utah...
...And her view of where I was standing
Looking East into Painter Basin
These mountains reminded me of the Maroon Bells
Bottom of the north side of Gunsight Pass
Looking back at Gunsight Pass (low point in center)
Another shot of East Gunsight Peak and Gunsight Pass
The ridgeline that makes up the southern end of Henry's Fork Basin
Kings Peak is the one furthest back, right of center
Heading home
One of the moose we saw on the way out!
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I just returned from the mountains and your pictures want me to go back again. Maybe I was not meant to be a suburbanite? Gosh, it is so beautiful there.
ReplyDeleteBTW, what tent were you using? I am looking for a light weight 2-person one for our planned John Muir Trail trip next year.
Ewa - our tent is a Black Diamond Skylight. Its actually a 3 person tent, but we really like having the extra space. Its a single-wall, so its lighter and packs smaller than most 2 person tents, anyways. I got it for 50% off, so it was WELL worth it!
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