May 10- Kings Peak TR
Two weeks ago I came here for advice about hitting Kings in a day, and received some good tips. Really appreciate the help.
Thanks to the warm winter, conditions weren’t terrible, but they definitely were still winteresque above 10500 feet. I started the hike at 0600 coming up from my hotel at mtn view. Snow started filling out the trail about 6 miles in. At about 1200 I started post-holing pretty heavily in the snow. It was slow going; round trip was 18.5 hours. That last mile up on the summit ridge was killer. I expected going down to be faster but I just could not pick up the pace until I was well out of Gunsight pass and down back into the woods. I was the only one on the mountain and it was beautiful. I passed several moose, a pair of porcupines, some elk, and a pronghorn. They just barely made the last five, brutal miles worth it haha. Finished at about midnight with some soaked boots and tired legs. Awesome trip.