During the days leading up to a hiking trip, thoughts are most often consumed thinking about the amazing views ahead and the adventure of the trip. Once you get on the ground and get started, the main thing I always think about shifts to food.

For that reason, I always like to start a trip with a good meal. When in Salt Lake City, Cafe Rio!

The journey to the top of Utah started with a flight out on Thursday night. My friend, Brian Lee (hereafter known as BLee) accompanied me. We got into town, picked up some camping stove fuel and groceries, and headed northeast towards the mountains.

Our approach to Kings Peak was from the north via the Henry’s Fork Trail. We spent the night in a tiny town in Wyoming and hit the trail after an hour drive the next morning.

Fall is setting in, with the aspen trees doing their thing.

After stopping for some pictures along the road, we arrived at the parking lot and got our gear ready for the trail. My pack probably came in somewhere in the ballpark of 30 pounds.

We signed the log book and hit the trail at exactly 9:30 AM, our planned start time for the first day. The weather was fantastic – 50 degrees and sunny with a few clouds. Perfect weather for a nice hike!

We had a tentative plan of attack, namely to hike in around 7 miles to Dollar Lake, where we would likely eat lunch. Then we would hike further to the base of Gunsight Pass. We would look at climb, think about our heavy packs, fret, and then hike to the top anyway.

We would then hike over the pass and down the other side to Painter’s Basin, where we would make camp. We would then proceed up to the summit of King’s Peak and return (exhausted) and sleep the night. We would pack out the next morning and be back to Salt Lake in the afternoon, in time for college football and a big dinner.

To get a better feel, take a look at the nifty 3D google map. The trailhead is to the top right of the picture, in the “flat” area beyond Gilbert Peak. The area just above the red marker is Gunsight Pass. The marker itself is the exact location where we set up our tent. Kings Peak is marked on the left.

That plan was…well…aggressive. But we will get to that later. Our journey is just getting started.

Blee setting out on the trail

Our first wildlife sighting, a large mule deer

The first look at the mountains (Gilbert Peak) ahead from the trail

The hike in was pretty easy – a slight uphill for most of the way to Gunsight Pass. One of the most exciting moments of the hike was when we cleared the woods and entered this alpine meadow, with a full view of the mountains in the distance.

Around Dollar Lake, we propped up on some rocks and ate some Boars Head Turkey sandwiches. I took off the boots and enjoyed some fresh mountain air.

After lunch we kept approaching the mountains. Kings peak is the peak in the background mixed in with the clouds. Our trail took us to the left of this picture toward Gunsight Pass and up King’s from the other side.

From this point we turned left towards Gunsight Pass.

As we approached the pass, we had to make a decision. Should we stick to our initial plan and hike over the pass? Or should we set up camp somewhere around here, fill up on water, and push to the summit?

Since we couldn’t really find a place to set up the tent with the wind and snow patches, we decided to keep going. I think that was the right choice. It was still early in the day (maybe 2pm), but a summit push would have been exhausting.

We climbed our way over the pass following the trail up a series of switchbacks, and were met with a fantastic view of Painter’s Basin and some snow-capped peaks in the distance.

Around 4pm, about 11 miles and six hours into our hike, we reached what would be our campsite at the beginning of the trail up Kings Peak.

We quickly decided that more climbing was out. Even without heavy packs.

We decided to set up camp and take a nap. Dinner could come later.

As it turns out, dinner never came. I wound up sleeping of and on – waking up every hour – until 6:30AM the next day. We both were a little dehydrated from the previous day’s hike and didn’t have much of an appetite. It got cold overnight but nothing too bad.

At one point, we heard thunder and a storm looked like it might come over the mountains, but it elected to go elsewhere and left us dry. We got a handful of snow flurries for a few seconds but nothing more.

Hang in there… the post about Day 2 – including summiting and the long slog out – is coming shortly.