Kings Peak

DJ Williams

Kings Peak

03/10/16

Great backpack trip with my 13-yr old son.

4.0

Mike Gromer

Kings Peak

10/01/15

I just did this hike last weekend with two friends. It was a LOT of fun, and tough. We hiked in Saturday to our site, which was about 10 miles in from the trailhead, near a waterfall. Hung out around the site for a bit, explored a bit, then finally had dinner and went to bed by 8PM. Got up at 2AM, were hiking by 3AM, were on the summit at 7:17AM, and back to camp by 10AM. We hung out a bit there, ate lunch, and then left, and were back to the trailhead by 5PM. To add more detail to the route description, everything is easy to find and well marked up to the top of Gunsight Pass. We took the short way towards Dollar Lake when we got to the Elkhorn Crossing intersection. Next time I will set aside more time for the hike and take the long way at Elkhorn. After Gunsight Pass, it gets far less tracked out. The trail isn't as obvious, which is a lot tougher at 4AM with no light. Luckily, we did have a full moon (night before the super blood moon we just had), which gave us far more light than we would have with a new moon. Carins are spaced out and pretty large for a while, but we ended up getting off trail when we had started working our way up to Anderson Pass. This left us scrambling over the rocks at the base, instead of being on the smoother trail up to Anderson. If it's dark, go slowly and scan everything for the carins. On the way down from the peak, we hugged the ridgeline pass Anderson, and dropped back into the area we were camping via the wide, steep chute about 1/4 - 1/2 mile from where the Anderson Pass trail crests the pass. This route cuts ~4 miles off your trip, but it's *really* steep, and very loose. Space out if you do this route with multiple rocks, because as you walk, you're knocking rocks down the slope, and they sometimes roll far and bounce high. Next time I do King's Peak from this trailhead, I am not sure I'd do this route down again. For campsites in the area, be aware that there are a lot of swampy areas. They're generally pretty easy to spot, as they are covered in short brush. Navigating around and through them can be an adventure, and it was nice having the legs zipped on for it. There are LOTS of places to camp, and we had water sources. We were near a waterfall at just under 11,000' elevation. Lakes all over, and streams were pretty easy to find. If you have ankle issues, or have had ankle injuries in the past, boots may be nicer than hiking shoes. I fractured my ankle just over a year prior to doing this hike, and my boots helped me reduce motion when I rolled it a couple times on this hike.

5.0

Nic Martinez

Kings Peak

08/23/15

Great adventure! The whole thing in general was easier than expected, but it was difficult nonetheless! Make sure you're totally prepared with all the necessary equipment. I developed several blisters, but it wasn't anything unbearable.

5.0