King for a day... Well in a day

Yeah I have that stupid song from the Thompson Twins stuck in my head now... 

After seeing a window in the weather i convinced the family (minus daughter that hates hiking and prefers shopping with grandma) to take a trip to Kings Peak. We left Cache Valley after Garrett's soccer game around 6:30 and headed to the trailhead. Luckily I new the way as Garmin really wanted me to take the two track back roads a few miles before the Ft Bridger turn off. 

Based on intel from a previous trip I learned that the front bed (passenger seat) of the Subaru was sufficient for a few hours of sleep and I knew Garret + one adult fits very well in the back so we left the tent at home and slept in the car. It wasn't the best night sleep we have had but it worked... 

We were on the trail by 5:30am with one headlamp and the cheapest single aaa battery flashlight my wife could find in our house. Needless to say we probably could have used more light but me made due. Garrett in front with the headlamp, I followed next and Jill was last with her prized flashlight. Going up the trail I couldn't believe how big the rocks were and how eroded the trail was (more to this later). 

Garrett was setting a fast pace and the miles were flying by. This is a LONG approach! We made it to the cutoff to the shortcut gully and Jill decided she would stay back with Dakota the dog as from a distance it looked steep and scary. Garrett wasn't scared so we headed through the marshes to the entrance (I lucked out and picked a direct line to the gulley and didn't have any issues with swamps). 

As we started up the gulley I thought for sure we were the first ones up but upon closer inspection there were 2 people about 2/3 of the way up. They were moving slow and luckily they were being careful as there were many lose rocks. I let Garrett lead and he found that the "down" trail worked well for the climb. It had rained the day before and the dirt wasn't very lose. He would run up the trail 20 yards or so then wait for me to catch up and repeat the process. I have no idea where he gets the energy but I kept waiting for him to quit and he didn't. In fact he caught the group ahead of us at the ridge and we ended up being the first to summit this day. After taking summit pictures and having our traditional summit feast, PB&J and Gatorade we headed back down to find Mom. The climb from the top of the chute to the summit reminds me of Hyndman and was relatively easy to climb/descend. One thing to be prepared for is there are several false peaks during the climb 

We were back to mom in no time and started the long trail back to the car. Once we crossed the foot bridge Garrett wants to trail run a little, mom didn't so we went on ahead and planned to get the car packed so when she got there we would be ready to go. I learned previously from hiking in the dark that distance seems shorter it was still 5.5 miles back so we decided to only run the smooth section and walk the rocky one. This is when I learned my next lesson... Rocks look much larger when casting shadows from the headlamp of a short 9 year old. I thought the entire trail was ridiculously rocky on the way up but on the way down it had many (too many) nice runable sections. Determined to see if Garrett had the endurance to make it I was pushing him a little... All was great until he tripped on a root and fell. After some consoling he was back up and moving although we slowed the pace a little. We made it back to the car at 3:18. Total trip time of 9hrs 48mins and 23.01 miles. Mom rolled in a while later and we headed home 

It was a great day! 

Here are a few pics: 

This is the first major intersection. You want to go left. 
 

This was our route to the shortcut chute. I'm guessing they must graze sheep up there as there were many narrow trails to follow. I picked the most direct route and it works perfectly. 

 

One funny thing... There are a ton of Rockchucks up there. At the base of the chute I had Garrett stand on a rock so I could get his pic and one came out right buy him. I'm pretty sure he thought it was a bear because he jumped off and ran to me with a look or terror in his eyes 

Here is Garret on the summit: 
 

It must have been cold as there appears to be a little frost on my beard.



This is a great hike, challenging as far as the distance goes but nothing too technical. The views were amazing! It is a very popular hike though... even on a Friday in Sept there were probably 20 cars in the parking lot and at least 25 people summited after us (all had camped overnight). 

KML Link - LINK