My neighbor Mike Bouy has hiked King's Peak the last 2 years and invited me along to conquer the peak again this year. Anyway, Mike is 6'2" and 250 pounds which is 50 pounds more than he was last year. We left Friday morning and arrived to a 40 degree, cloud covered, snow and muddy trail in the Uintah mountain range at 10 AM. And I do not enjoy the cold but I could just feel Mike's child like enthuisasm for the 3 day 2 night excursion. With our 40 pound back packs we headed to base camp which some maps say is in 7.5 miles and others say that it is in 10 miles from the trail head (I will decidely say it was atleast 10 miles in.)
We arrived to base camp in about 4 hours and set up camp, hung our food packs in the trees away from the bears and took our 20 minute power naps before dinner. This was truly a new experience,camping with only what you can carry on your back, I had not camped in this fashion since my dad would take us to high adventure camps when I was a young man (My camps I do for the high adventures are pretty lush and we eat well and play hard.) Anyhow, the sun set at 7 pm so we entered the tent when the tempatures dropped to 20 degrees, played cards for 45 minutes (Which I won both nights) We slept very little that night, not that we were cold but our pads were only an inch thick and very unconfrontable.
The next morning we waited until 8 am so that the sun would come over the mountain so it could start de-icing our tent. Then we started the hike to heaven, the terrain was ok at 1st, then tough, then tougher (Boulder Hopping for 2 miles), then tougher than tough hiking up the shark tooth in 1 foot to 1.5 feet of snow to the summit up 8/12 to 10/12 grade.
Mike led at a fast pace for the 1st half of the hike until we reached the boulders and my slighter build gave me a huge edge as I skipped from rock to rock. Having to pack around 250 pounds to my 140 pounds Mike slowly made his way from rock to rock. Then we arrived to the last climb (the hardest and steepest). At this point I was just hitting my second wind and was excited and energized to summit the peak, meanwhile, Mike was exausted from his long trek over the boulder field and had little energy to push onward. He'd been suffering from a stomach bug and it caught up to him during the 1st 200 yards of the final climb, with determition and a stalwart effort he climbed on until he was within 200 yards of the summit.
I had been waiting for him for about a half an hour to climb the 50 yards to meet me for the final push. As soon as he arrived he said, "I can't do it." I've never seen Mike exhausted to the point of quitting (2 weeks ago we did a 50 mile bike ride and he pushed the pace the whole entire time we went around Bear Lake.) he looked like someone that had no more to give. He then told me to summit and return to him, I asked if he wanted me to forego the summit and help him down the mountain. He said, "You do it, I will wait for you here, you are here and you see King's Peak its only 200 yards."
So with my excitement at a high, I scrambled with a pure flush of adrenaline passing another hiker who also could not finish the summit. He explained that what had happened to Mike and himself was they had hit an altitude at which their bodies would not allow them to go higher and it would be extremely dangerous and maybe even life threatening if the countinued onward. I finished the climb and with a feeling of being on the top of the world. I then asked two young men to take my picture, I then proceeded to take a small video of the surrounding terrain to show those back home the beauty of the sights. Then not taking the time most take to eat a light meal and enjoy the sights I started back down the trail at a jogging pace skipping from rock ledge to ledge to again be with Mike to help him with his descent. When I arrived he had cried out his frustrations and humiliations for not finishing a climb he had accomplished the previous 2 years, he looked like death warmed over with tears in his eyes. I grabbed his day pack and as we descended at a slow pace he began to shiver and shake (he never gets cold, he loves it.) I was very concerned for his health, yet, when we had gone no more than a half mile color returned to his face and his pace quickened and his voice was stronger.
He had picked out an easier return route that skipping across the bolder field, it was a little longer but much better for him at this time. I could not help but wonder how I would feel if the roles were reversed and I had not been able to finish the climb due to the altitude sickness. I don't think I would want anyone to know and would be very disappointed in myself for not fulfilling a goal that I want to mark off my bucket list.
Well we made it back safely to camp and we were spent. Mike was still to ill to eat his dinner and he never goes without food. So we used the cooking pot to try and catch squirrels in our home made trap, if the pan was any heavier we could've added squirrel to add to our dinner menu. After I had dinner we climbed into the tent and began to play that night's game of GOLF (I won). Mike was very sensitive to smell being sick and I had the acidy burps I get due to the stomach surgery's I've had, this did happen to play to my advantage as throughout the night I had a bad case the Monte zuma revenge. Mike snores like my dad and it's awfully loud and I could not sleep. I remember feeling bad that he probably doesn't recieve much oxygen so he probably gets little sleep. However, I wasn't getting any sleep and the only way out've the tent was over Mike and the only way to wake Mike up was to breath my nasty burps into his sleeping bags 2 inch hole he used for his fresh air. I would then get the biggest kick watching him sputter awake with a choke and yelling: "I'd kick you out've this tent if you didn't need to get out every hour." Then he would laugh and be a good sport. About 2:30 AM still could not sleep, I layed curled up in the fetal position when Mike shifted and cuddled to my back as if I where his wife. Well, I didn't waste any time in turning around and blowing into his fresh air intake to wake him the heck up. He sputtered and shouted but I told him what had happened and he gave me the old adenum that: 'What happens in the tent stays in the Tent!
The next morning we broke camp and walked withing 30 feet of a bull moose, a spike, and a cow. Wow it was an epic sight and it finaly put a smile back on Mike's down trodden face. We then ran into a 77 year old Morgan man that had finally drawn a bull moose tag and with his 2 sons and 2 friends we pointed the way to the 1 we had seen off the path 1.5 miles up the trail. He was happy and promised us a dinner when he got back home for he knew both my parents and Hillari's.
It was a beautiful day in the mid 50's that we returned to my wonderful Truck at the trail head to take us home to a hot shower and a warm bed.
I would love to make this hike again for the pure fact that it will always be a memory held close to my heart. Mike planned this trip and I was lucky enough to be invited to watch the high's and the low's of an adventure of a life time.
