Summer 2023, Part 2

For our final preparation for Kings Peak, Max, my friend Michael, and I hiked up Timpanogos. Where Olympus is challenging for how steep it is, Timpanogos is tough because of the distance. We took the Timpooneke Route.

^ It’s fun to see the destination poking up over the parking lot when you start.

^ Those views!

^ Michael wanted in on this one because he was doing Kings with us. And Max adores him, so it’s a great win-win. Spooky snowfield crossing in the top left. Everything else on the trail is super straightforward, but that part was a little cringey. You can also see the track where people were sliding down it (we did not, valuing our bones unbroken).

^ At the saddle before the final push towards the summit.

^ Lunch break! Notice Max brought another friend along (it’s the head of a Ty Beanie-Boo Turtle).

^ View from the saddle of what awaits us. You can see the summit shelter poking out at the top.

^ Victory!

^ The trail looks spicy when you look down on it in a photograph, but it’s not sketchy when you’re on it. Even Max just now said, “I don’t remember that—that looks scary.”

^ The wind at the top was CHILLY. We didn’t stay long.

^ Max drew this little mountain goat on the inside of the summit shelter. The M-cubed stands for Max, Michael, Mark.

^ And then how perfect that we would meet a herd of these critters immediately after!

^ Max, as you can imagine, was elated.

^ Lots of momma and baby goats. I’ve never seen so many that were so comfortable getting so close!

Now some of the few pictures we took at the Lewis Reunion at Bear Lake. Sorry I’ve been so lazy capturing the goings-on these past few years…

^ Aggie ice cream, of course!

^ Chess with Ruth.

^ First beach day.

^ Rainy Limber Pine walk.

^ Morning walks in the Reserve.

^ Second beach day.

^ Cute Gobbler curled up on his bed in the sunflower room at Bearadise.

Though there aren’t a lot of pictures, there are more playing at the beach photos than these. For all interested in downloading them, the link is at the button below.

And if you missed downloading the family portraits we did behind the cabin, you can get them by clicking this button:

After skirting through Wyoming by Evanston, we arrived at the Henry’s Fork trailhead in Northeastern Utah to begin our 3-day journey to the summit of Kings Peak and back. We took the Henry’s Fork Route.

^ Looking down at the Henry’s Fork River…

^ Taking a moment to rest before we cross the river to approach the peak.

^ Crossing the river…

^ Kings Peak is the pyramid-shaped one on the left. This is the same route Ryan and I took two years ago, but this time we were able to enjoy the beauty. Last time we couldn’t see much because of all of the wildfire smoke blowing in from California.

^ Taking a break before cutting off the main trail towards Dollar Lake where we would set up camp.

^ The excellent camp site we found beneath some pines.

^ Meadow by our campsite that leads up to the main trail.

^ On our way to filter water by the lake. This is a good look at how all of the older, more mature trees have been killed by bark beetles, while the younger trees are still thriving and strong.

^ Dollar Lake

^ Out for an evening exploration walk after dinner.

View of the south end of the basin. Kings Peak is the second from the left (it’s behind the closer set of mountains).

^ Posing atop “Kitchen Rock.” Kings is now to the left of Max (off his right shoulder).

^ Those clouds made for some really dynamic skies!

^ Loves being a wild boy.

^ Three moose on the far end of Dollar Lake (they’re tough to spot—look left of center in the frame).

After a pleasant and warm night’s rest (I am sort of kidding… I’m discovering that it’s just impossible for me to sleep well without a proper pillow… it wasn’t a cold night, though), we woke up and prepared for our summit hike.

^ MURCH more scenic than last time.

^ A glorious morning!

^ Flowers of every color and variety.

^ Lots of awesome rocks in astonishing colors and patterns (and the next two).

^ This one is almost like wood.

^ Gaining more elevation to reach Gunsight Pass.

^ Gunsight Pass, 11,873 feet. We didn’t take any pictures for the next bit because (1) we took a wrong turn that led us to hurry more to make up for lost time, and (2) the weather turned sour. Strong wind and hail/rain pelting the face. We considered turning back, but figured we may as well cross the basin we were in to look over the ridge on the other side before the summit push and see what the oncoming weather was like. If it looked scary or if we heard any thunder, we were turning back. Though the weather remained poor all the way to the ridge, the oncoming clouds looked much friendlier and we heard no thunder and saw no lightning, so we felt free to continue to the summit.

^ You can see the basin we crossed behind us and the poor weather we’d trekked through. We lost track of Ryan and Peter when we took a shortcut to get back on trail and they opted to backtrack.

Michael went ahead to the summit on his own at this point as Max and I were deliberating about what to do (he didn’t want to miss it—as a result, you won’t see Michael in the next few pictures). The weather was wearing down Max’s resolve a bit. After taking a break and having some food he decided he wanted to continue (he was encouraged by the approach of blue skies in the West as well). We reunited with Michael at the summit.

^ Feeling more optimistic now.

^ Getting closer!

^ Looking at the bad weather now assailing Painter’s Basin that had largely passed us by.

^ Victory! 13,528 feet. He was glad he decided to push through to the top.

^ Must’ve been very hungry. We got him a peanut butter and Nutella sandwich after this pic.

^ Someone had left this pale green Utah-shaped rock at the summit that we had fun taking pictures with. Speaking of green—check out how many different shades Max is wearing.

^ The weather, much improved.

^ We met a family of 8 that had all backpacked to the top together (youngest was 13, I think). The mom told us about how they backpack together as a family once every year. I am feeling inspired to pick up a new family tradition…

^ After a few hours apart, we crossed paths with Peter and Ryan on our way down while they were nearing the top.

^ We forgot to get a picture of the two of us at the summit, so this one of us WITH the summit will have to do.

^ Nearly back to gunsight. Getting a “nose for the barn” by this point.

^ We couldn’t resist stopping to take pictures by these cool rocks on our way back to camp.

^ After finishing dinner at camp, we came back out to sit in the meadow and watch for Ryan and Peter as the sun set.

^ Michael brought along this Native American flute that he learned to play at the mountain man rendezvous at Fort Bridger. It was pretty cool. I’m not sure I understood exactly how it works, but you can’t skip from note-to-note with it. You have to slide to whatever note you go to, which was interesting.

Ryan and Peter arrived about the same time as that last picture. The second night, unfortunately, was much colder than the first—probably because of the clear skies.

^ Max drinking the last of his oatmeal while taking in one final chance at the views before heading back to the car.

^ Checking out a pond Max thought was cool before going back to camp. Goodbye, Kings Peak and the Uintas!

^ Unwinding at the car after soaking our feet in the Henry’s Fork River.

We made the mistake of letting the van’s onboard GPS pick our route home (we didn’t have cell service at the trailhead). It started leading us down a nice road at first, but things quickly deteriorated and we had to have spotters outside the van guide us through a tricky 100-point turn next to a stream. The upside is we saw this monstrous and glorious bull moose while backtracking:

I’ve seen a lot of moose while out, but this was the biggest, healthiest looking moose I’d ever seen. After finding our way back to paved roads, we stopped at Don Pedro’s Mexican restaurant in Evanston on the way home which tasted like the greatest food ever. I was really happy with the food we had backpacking, but there’s nothing quite like a monster burrito filled with steak that no backpacking meal can come close to replicating. Michael and Max entertained Peter and Ryan with Star Wars Bad Lip Readings while we drove back to the Wasatch front.

Ryan, if you’d like, you can download all of the pictures (many, many more than what I’ve put on here, of course) from our Kings Peak expedition by clicking the button below:

Elly had a bunch of little friends of hers over for a Bluey-themed birthday party the week before her birthday.

^ Painting flower pots.

^ Keepy-uppy.

^ The leftover head of the piñata.

^ Luna being very helpful while Ailie edits photos.

^ A tired fellow. And Callum fell asleep.

^ Callum’s rendition of “I Have the High Ground.”

Happy 7th Birthday, Peaches! She picked this homemade cookies ‘n cream ice cream for her treat. I thought you might find her faces while waiting for the singing and attention to stop entertaining:

Enjoying one last slurpee run before the end of summer: