Kings Peak Double – 53 miles

Kings Peak is the highest peak in Utah at 13,528 feet.  I’ve summited it ten times in the past.   In 2010 I accomplished the first double Kings Peak, trailhead to summit and back, and then did it again.  I knew a triple Kings Peak was within my reach so I went to give it a try.

I arrived at the Henry Fork trailhead early Friday morning and snoozed until dawn and then got ready.  About ten minutes before heading out, I noticed two young guys, probably in their 20s heading out with light day packs running.  Good, I would have someone to try to catch.   I wasn’t going to try to push the pace hard because I needed to save it for the other trips, but I felt really well running at 10,000 feet with all the running I have been doing recently at altitude.  As I ran early, I was puzzled that I had not yet caught the two guys, but I finally did at the four-mile mark.  This time I decided to be open with people I met and tell them that I was doing the run multiple times.  It would be entertaining all day hearing the reactions.   I reached Elk Horn crossing (mile 5.5) at 1:08.

The trail was full of backpackers going and coming and once above Dollar Lake the trail was loaded with people making their way towards Kings Peak. I’ve never seen so many people on the trail.  It reminded me of a busy day on the Timpanogos Trail.  I even ran into about a half dozen people who I knew or who knew me.

I ran very light without any pack, just two water bottles and some foot stuffed in my pockets.  I reached Gunsight Pass (mile 10.2) at 2:23.   I passed group after group and was delayed over and over again talking to people, but it was great fun.   The weather was perfect and my pace felt comfortable.   The ridge going up to the summit was very crowded and I passed group after group.  Word spread what I was doing and some people would ask me several times, “Why are you going to do it multiple times?   I would give some sort of answer about it being fun or that I was doing a birthday run, and again they would ask, why, as they were struggling to make it to the top, about five miles into their hike.   I would leave them just smiling.

I made it to the summit in 3:51, not bad for the first trip.  Next, down I went and passed by group after group who I had passed on the way up.  The run back to the trailhead was fun.  The day was getting warm, but I kept cool and didn’t run out of water until the last mile. I finished the first trip in 7:32, not super speedy but solid.

I took my sweet time at my car, taking 50 minutes to clean my feet, make a bathroom stop, and load up my pockets for the next trip. This time I took a small pack for my lights until I needed them.  I headed back on the trail for trip two at about 4 p.m.

About four miles up, I again met the two guys coming down.  They were very complimentary and thanked me for “putting them in their place.”  The guys ran up to meet a scout troop on their 50-mile hike for the Kings Summit.  They got a kick out of seeing this old 55-year-old running up the trail for his second trip.  They had me stop to talk and take pictures with me.  Pretty funny.

My trip up continued well.  For some reason my legs felt much better running uphill then downhill.   After Dollar Lake I met many groups finishing their summit day hikes, returning to their campgrounds.  So many were very friendly and asked me what number trip I was on.  It was fun to stop and talk to some of the groups.

My goal for this trip was to reach the summit before sunset.  As I was going up the ridge I stopped to call home.  I was having a blast and felt wonderful.  I felt no effects of altitude and even for the second trip was able to push fast to the summit.  I made it to the top in a little after 5.5 hours. Slow but fine.

But then the trouble started.  About a quarter mile from the summit I met three guys hunting for a backpack.  They said they had put it down so they wouldn’t have to haul it all the way to the top.  But they couldn’t find it in the fading light, and they didn’t.  I asked them if they had lights and they said they did. As I started back down, dark arrived.  I had forgotten how difficult it was to do steep boulder-hopping in the dark.  I had two lights, but still it was very tough.  It was harder to tell the angles of the boulder surfaces and my balance on them was bad and I kept falling if I tried to go fast.   It was slow going but I finally reached Andersen Basin.

I looked ahead and saw a light of the guys who had lost their pack.  They were heading on the cutoff but seemed to be traveling pretty high.  I like to take the cutoff wide, instead running on the lower grass avoiding the boulder hopping which is much faster for me and easier on the feet.  But most of the people I saw this day would do anything to avoid extra distance and losing a few feet of elevation, so they did tough boulder hopping to get through the cut-off.

As I returned, I just couldn’t understand why those guys were traveling so high.  I kept looking up and finally started yelling to them that they were too high and motioned with my light for them to come down.   As I neared the point to descend back to Gunsight Pass, I continued to worry about them and didn’t pay enough attention to my route.  I ended up descending too soon, the wrong route.  Soon I heard a voice above me.  One of the guys was following me but he didn’t have a light and there was no moon.  Wow.   I yelled that I thought I was on the wrong route.  He yelled that his flashlight went out.  His friends were still very high on the mountain slope.   Finally, I knew I had badly off course and had no choice but to boulder hop to the bottom and get on the Painter Basin trail.  I did that, yelled up to the guy that I made it and then headed to the Pass.   I heard the guy every few minutes call for help.  I groaned.  This would be a bad delay.  When I reached the pass, I decided that I needed to help, so I ran back on the correct cut-off trail, calling out for the guy and finally reached him.  I gave him my spare headlamp.

I noticed a faint light still way up on West Gunsight Peak.  I asked him about his friends.  He explained that they had gone too high (Gee, I had yelled that to them and they heard, why didn’t they come down where I was?)  But their problem was that they didn’t have flashlights!   “We thought our cellphone lights would be good enough, but they went out.”   I was astounded about how unprepared these guys were, being up on the mountains in after dark.  They lost a pack, didn’t have real lights, and this guy didn’t have a jacket (probably in the lost pack).   He said his plan was to head back to his camp, just below the pass, get lights and a sleeping bag and then go up to this friends.   I told him to keep my headlamp and asked him several times if I could help more, but he assured me they would be fine.

I had been badly distracted and hadn’t been fueling or drinking.  I was badly dehydrated and all the water had poured out of my bottle as I had boulder hopped down to the basin.  As I ran on, I kept worrying about those guys, if they would be OK.  But it was really pretty warm and there was no wind.  I assured myself that they would be fine if they didn’t do any more stupid things.  But my focus was gone.  My pace was slow and it took awhile to get hydrated again.

With seven miles to go, I was still determined to head up again for the third trip and to check on those guys.  But it was discouraging when I looked at my watch.  My second rip now would take more than ten hours.   With four miles to go, a sore knee started to pop and my feet felt thrashed.  I slowed down and finally decided that I wouldn’t head up again.  That was disappointing but night running on the Kings Peak trail or anywhere in the Unitas is tough and slow.  I reached my car a little before 3 a.m.   I wanted to snooze and wait for the “Quest for Kings” runners started at dawn, but sleep didn’t come so I decided to start driving home.  That didn’t work well, I was pretty thrashed.  Near Fort Bridger I stopped and slept for a couple hours.

Well, my adventure and day-after-birthday run was finished.  I was bummed out that I didn’t do a triple and not happy with another 19-hour double.  I know that I can do it much faster, but that will have to be another day.  This run did remind me just how tough multiple Kings Peak runs are, especially at night.