10 miles of hiking • 3750' elevation gain •
This was long overdue. I'd been up King, been up Elk, and even had attempted the traverse years ago when I first moved to Portland. (It was winter without much daylight, and we had turned around at the rope and went down the gentler Elk Creek Trail instead of finishing)
In my head, I wanted to see if I had grown enough as a hiker to finally complete this mental and physically exhausting adventure.
I knew that I didn't want to have to complete another 3.5 miles on the Wilson river trail after all the work off the traverse, so we began at Kings trailhead and got that part out of the way first. We only ran into one other group, who were starting from Elk and doing it in reverse. That section of trail is not as flat as one would think, and started us gently upwards towards the beginning of Elk.
Anyone who has been up Elk knows that it is punishing. Not only does it climb something like 2000 ft in 1.5 miles, but a lot of it is scrambling. I put my poles away when going up Elk, they just get in the way. I did have my leashed dog in my hands, which proved to be doable, though somewhat annoying.
We took a much needed lunch break on top of Elk, only a couple of other hikers shared the summit. After the summit, is where you begin the much more serious section of the traverse. Coming down is a moderately intimidating steep downwards scramble. (You certainly wouldn't die if you fell, but it wouldn't be a pleasant tumble.) More scrambling along the ridge, more cliff edges, until you finally come to the only really pleasant and respectable section of trail. The trail becomes a nice stroll through the forest. It was full of snow, but all of it was hard packed and made for easy walking. The trail then opens up to a junction with the Elk Creek, and you come out of the woods to see your next summit (King) in view. This section would be absolutely stunning since it is treeless, if it wasn't for all the clear cuts that come with the view in the coastal range.
At this point I was really regretting not pushing my initial point to my partner, that it would be smarter to leave the dog behind on this one. Repeated rounds of, she is way better at being steady than both of us with her 4 legs, and I had agreed to let her come along. Sometimes I really need to just put my foot down.
We didn't run into anyone except for the other group doing the traverse the opposite way during the section between Elk and King. We reached the roped section, and made a plan that from now on, the dog would be unleashed and we would guide her between us until we reached the top of King. This section was the most technical part of our day.
Zane went down first, taking full advantage of the rope, then dog, and I stopped at the branch that serves as a mid point to the big drop. I handed the dog to Zane, and they continued down to wait for me. At that point I felt the rope was more in my way than a help, and I just used hand holds on the roots around me to get down. Once that was over I naively thought the worst was over. WRONG. Lingering snow still on the trail, hard packed and somewhat icy, and next to us a cliff edge with just enough vegetation to make me think I cold grab onto something if I started to fall.
Microspikes were an incredible help during this section. The snow had nice footprints in it, probably from a warmer day when the snow had started to melt out. The footprints were perfect for me to step into and I felt relatively okay though still concerned for the dog. Her toenails seemed to work in her favor, and she climbed up between us. We soon ran into at least 3 trail runners through this section, heading the opposite way. Not the best place to try to get around other people, both for covid but also it is damn narrow.
Zane and I have never felt so happy to reach a summit, we had the top of King all to ourselves and were thankful we had safely made the traverse. What a day! Coming down King is a kneebuster. We had initially talked about taking Coronary ridge down to avoid people, but I had had enough, and was ready for pizza and beer. Glad I did it, but I really wouldn't recommend doing the back section of King with snow.
