My journey to Kings Peak was in July 2008. I was joined by my son, Sean, my neighbor Scott, his son Rob, and the boy's friend Steve. We departed from the Henry's Fork TH around 1000 on Thursday, July 10. The elevation at the TH is 9,400'. The climb is gradual most of the way to upper Henry's Fork Basin. When we arrived at the bridge that crosses the stream it was around 1200; the elevation at the bridge is 10,350'. This is where we stopped for lunch.
This is a picture of us
preparing to leave the Henry's Fork TH
This the crew taking their lunch
break where the trail crosses the stream
The trail is well marked and frequently traveled, so there was no difficulty in following it. Occasionally you may run across livestock at the higher elevations of the Henry's Fork Basin, but they seem to be well managed by the shepherds who are there on horseback. We arrived at the base camp around 1600 and set up, then pumped some water. Our camp was about 400 yards below Gunsight Pass, in the Henry's Fork Basin. As we sat around the "supper table", another fellow by the name of John came up the trail and stopped for a little orientation. He was from Ohio and had driven to Utah just to climb Kings Peak. We invited him to share our camp site and to join us for the ascent of Kings Peak in the morning.
This is the view of Kings Peak as you
reach the upper regions of Henry's Fork Basin
I retired early due to fatigue I was experiencing from the elevation. I seriously thought I would have to cancel my climb to the summit because of the way I was feeling. In the morning I felt much better and I joined the rest of the group as planned. We headed up the switchbacks that lead to the pass and then followed a system of cairns that leads to a shortcut above Painter Basin. The photo shows the our route in green. Rather than follow the trail from the pass into Painter Basin, we scrambled up a rugged trail marked with cairns that probably saved us about an hour or two, and about 4 miles.
One of the drawbacks of this route is the continuous boulder fields that you have to navigate to reach Anderson Pass. As I was traversing one of the fields, the rock rolled under my feet and I literally did a back roll and almost landed on my feet. I wasn't seriously hurt...I wish I had the move on video however!
I was the last one of the group to make the summit, but hey, who's keeping track right? I made the summit around noon and there we had some snacks and rested up for the trip back to camp.
The young men headed off first, as they wanted to follow the route that goes down the "chute" located at Anderson Pass. Next to depart the summit was John; then a few minutes later my neighbor and I headed down. By the time I arrived at Anderson Pass, John was already headed down the trail into Painter Basin. We decided to follow that trail as far as the base of the peak, then follow another shortcut that skirts the flank of West Gunsight Peak to Gunsight Pass, then base camp.
I was so worn out that it was 1800 before we got back to camp. The boys were there, but no John. We waited until about 1900 then sent a search party, consisting of Scott and some of the boys, back to the pass to see if they could spot John. Our understanding was John was coming back to base camp that evening. The crew got back to camp around 1945 without siting John and then we discussed whether we should summon help from the local search and rescue. By 2000, the boys were headed back to the TH, then they would take the car into Mountain View, WY to contact the sheriff's office. Scott and I stayed at base camp in hopes that John would show up.
On the summit July 11, 2008 - 13,538 ft.
Saturday morning came and still no John. Scott and I packed up the camp and headed down the trail to the TH. By the time we reached Dollar Lake, we could hear the search helicopter flying around. We waved at them and the pilot landed the helicopter in a clearing so the rescue guy could get as much info about John as possible. They took off and headed toward Painter Basin while we headed down to the car. When we arrived at the TH, the boys were there to get us, and there was a serious search and rescue command post in operation.
All turned out fine as the rescue party spotted John on Sunday morning in the area of Gunsight Pass. Evidently John had spent the last 2 days lost in Painter Basin.
It was one of the best adventures I've had.
Out.
John, this is the pic they put on the the search flyers
that were handed out to everyone coming
through the TH
that were handed out to everyone coming
through the TH
