High Uintas, Utah: King’s and Gilbert Peaks

Part 3 of LVMC 9-day trip (here are Part 1 and Part 2)

pics by Harlan W.S. & M Ali H
Aug 7, 2010

Joel and Justine left Borah in Idaho ~12:40PM on Aug 6, shortly after we completed the hike. They were headed to Salt Lake City, to pick up Mike S at the airport, supposedly at ~3:45PM. I made the mistake of having a 12-oz beer, which was about the same as the volume of water I had on the entire hike. In a disarranged state, I quickly packed, and by 1:15PM, Ali and I were ready to drive another 370 miles to Henry’s Fork trailhead in Utah. The idea was to meet the rest of our party in Utah the night of Aug 6, once they came back from the airport. Ali and I drove the last 35 miles in the dark, on gravel roads, only to find the Henry’s Fork campground totally packed. There was no moon, and our prospects of finding a site looked dim. Once again, Ali saved the day (night) by finding a miraculously vacant site. I set up my tent by the headlights of Ali’s truck, and we agreed that the chances of Joel finding the site were about 0. I settled in for the night.

Then about 9:15 PM (Vegas time), Joel, Justine and Mike pulled in next to Ali’s truck. Joel must be blessed with good luck. I pointed out the few tent spots, once again repeating the warning about my snores. Justine fell into a coma-like sleep, and later insisted that I did not snore at all.

The next morning, Aug 7, we hit the trail at ~8:30 Vegas time, prepared for an 8-mile backpack and a two-night stay at Dollar Lake.

Gps tracks for the 2^nd and 3^rd day, when we went up King’s Peak (red) and Gilbert Peak (blue), respectively. The 1^st day we just packed in to Dollar lake (top of map).	~8:30AM on Aug 7, we start near Henry’s Fork trailhead. It must have been cold, and I’d forgotten my sportsbro. Pic by Ali.	Soon we got a picture of Mama and llama.
These goats seemed to be moving well; two days later, we would see goats that were less compliant.	Ali tried to stop a fellow from falling off a bridge; the fellow grabbed onto him and pulled him down in the mud. No good deed goes unpunished.	Mike S dances across a bridge.
Justine on the bridge.	Near noon, the clouds were getting thick. This view is to the S. King’s Peak is the sharp pyramid in the distance, just L of Justine’s head.
Next morn (Aug 8), we left the campsite at Dollar Lake and headed S to Gunsight Pass. (View N.)	White-purple columbine.	We rested at Gunsight Pass. The sky was initially completely blue, but a few clouds began to build.
View S from Gunsight Pass.	Gunsight Pass is just beyond the snow, view NE.	Ptarmigan.
The view just NW of Anderson Pass. The sharp peak is a nameless promontory N of the pass.	View SE from below Anderson Pass.	Now we ascend the last 800’ vertical, over rough but stable sandstone blocks. View ~N.
		Ali comes over the ridgeline.
View S to the summit. Two men wearing athletic shoes, and carrying nothing but water bottles, passed us about 20 minutes before the summit.	View N from the summit, as Justine and Joel come up the ridge.	A similar view with Ali.
On top, view E.	More good times on the summit.	Ali asked another hiker (Brundle_fly) to take our group picture. Because of the shadows in our faces, it isn’t possible to distinguish most of us; but I’m wearing yellow, Justine is in red, Mike in black, Ali in green, and Joel Grey.
	View N.	I held that pose for a long time. Pic by Ali.
	View N, as Joel heads down.	Can you see Justine?
Sky pilot.	The same greenish flower we saw on Wines.	Stuff.
	Marmot.	More stuff – probably mini-penstemons.
Then it started to rain and hail.	Views S to Gunsight Pass, after a break in the hail. Ali has his waist pack under his jacket; his ass isn’t that big.	View back to King’s. In the rain. (Ernest Hemingway.)
We waited out the rain and hail in our tents. These are my legs, not Justine’s.	The next day (Aug 9), we started up Gilbert. View NW; Dollar Lake in the back.	We had a surprise coming. Despite our 5:30AM start, a front caught us, and at one point sheets of rain were seen falling over Gunsight Pass; King’s Peak was obscured by clouds. We got pelted by hail, and the wind picked up to a fierce speed.
Then the clouds began to break, but the wind persisted. We traverse a vast tableland.	View E from peak top.	View NE from peak top.
View SW.		View W as Justine pops over the flat top.
Mike, Joel and Justine huddled in the windbreak on top. Before they arrived, I had built up the top edge by 6”; a pika, who had been living in the windbreak, expressed his annoyance, but did not pose for photos (the ungrateful bastard). Justine expressed pure love of Gilbert.	The wind was fierce, but I found a place to do “the pose.” This was perhaps the most clothing I had worn on a summit in 27 years.	Let’s get the Hell outta here. Mike dressed up as The Man from Glad, wearing a bag left over from his dry cleaning.
		At this point, Joel and I went down an “interesting” gully on the W side of Gilbert, while Justine and Mike continued N on the ridge.
View of Joel in the gully. The camera is pointed at 45 degrees.	We pack up and head out the same day. Mike and Justine pose before the ridge they took down from their favorite mountain.
	This is how Justine generally appeared to me on the backpack out.	Rose.
Thistle by Ali.	By any other name would smell just as sweet.	And then we made a very long drive back home on the night of Aug 9… arriving at ~12:30 AM on Aug 10.