Eric Peterson went hiking May 20, 2011 6 miles 3,000 feet gained

West Ridge Kings Mt and completed Kings Jr Loop finally as well on the way up....

3

Did West Ridge of Kings MT. Scramble harder than any of the areas other off trail scrambles, but has the most views. Also tracked Kings JR, but still was off a bit, but have a really good idea now of how to do Kings JR loop correctly. Will make a more in depth trip report on PDX Hikers, but added captions to all the pictures that I uploaded here. :)

Parking lot empty at 11:30 am I knew I was close seeing sawed off log on Kings JR, never saw before One of the junctions again, similar to last weekend Looking down junction blowdown ,not sure which way I was pointing wrong scree field go this way scotty/dog timber sale tree marker looking down correct scree field, came up this way scree field tops out here and soon connects to Wilson River Trail which I flagged a few weeks ago going up West Ridge somewhere, very slowly trying not to cliff out view of Kings MT ridge that holds the Kings trail, Kings JR might be in this as well viewpoint along West Ridge Kings off trail scrmble Cliffed out, stopped for about 30 minutes, finally went west to get around, very slow here for me... Cliffed out area again from another try, spent at least 45 minutes being cliffed out on this hike view of West side of Kings from West Ridge scramble Another view of Kings MT from West Ridge Another view point, LOTS of views on this scramble once you get out of Lester Creek drainage Yet another killer viewpoint Got up to a point where it finally relented and went down to small ridges in places, you can see from Kings summit this thin ridge thin ridge drops off on right thin ridge drops off on left getting closer to Kings Mt summit area Still another view on this ridge scramble! Up near Kings summit box, looking at West Ridge I just did and those thin ridges... Actually this is the one near Kings summit box, previous picture is on ridge I think... Looking on way down Kings at one of the fields I ascended, went through those downed trees another look of way I came up not sure GPS track Basecamp track of West Ridge Kings

Trail Talk

3 people have hearted this trip.

Jim aka Crusak · May 21, 2011

WOW great work! That looks like a tough scramble. Hopefully I will be up for that kind of exploring before season's end.

Chris · May 21, 2011

This looks like a lot of fun. Isn't there also a very steep trail on the west side, where all your squiggly lines are? Here's the Mazama map section. It's above lester creek:

Chris · May 21, 2011

Well clearly that didn't work. Let's try again:

Chris · May 21, 2011

Okay, maybe just try clicking the link.

Chris · May 21, 2011

And by clicking I mean copy and paste.

Eric Peterson · May 21, 2011

Yeah the West Ridge, but it's just game trails at best, like the other Mazama ridge hikes in the area. I started the west ridge right at Lester Creek from the Wilson Rover Trail and it worked itself out following hoof tracks and poop piles... :)

Chris · May 21, 2011

it worked itself out following hoof tracks and poop piles

I know those Mazamas take big groups, but that's pretty harsh.

Eric Peterson · May 21, 2011

hheh, I wish it was a trail, wouldn't have taken me 4 hours or so to get up there, but I was cliffing out here and there and stopped to take pictures along the way...

Justin Wright · May 21, 2011

Looks like an awesome hike!

Eric Peterson · November 30, 2011

Thanks JJ!

BTW, dude? What happen to you? :) Did you move back east?

Justin Wright · November 30, 2011

Nope, I'm still here :)

Just got distracted the past few months with other sports. One of these days I'll get back out on the trails.