Over the summer of 2010, I made the epic journey of hiking 50 miles to the top of Utah and back.  I went on a backpacking trip with my church group to King’s Peak, at 13,528 feet, the highest point in the state of Utah. 
          There was a lot of preparation involved.  I had to pack a lot of camping gear, making my pack as light as possible (around 49 pounds).  I had to go shoe shopping and break my boots in before the trip.  I had to have the right kind of clothes.   I should have taken a couple of preparation hikes, but I decided to ignore that step.  I had to choose my menu for the 4 day journey and get the food and drink I would need.  My parents helped me collect the necessary supplies.
          We drove to Henry’s Fork Trailhead where I began the hike.  I was confident it was going to be an easy hike. Day one was easy.  This was only day we saw other groups on the trail.  I caught some fish.  We camped off the side of the trail. 
Day two was not.  Gunsling Pass was not a friendly place to hikers.  It was very steep with lots and lots of very large rocks.   I made it through OK and hiked onto the base of King’s Peak.  We left our packs at the base and prepared to summit King’s Peak.  We made it to the top in about 45 minutes where we enjoyed a fantastic view of Utah.  It was windy.  We hiked back down and out of the basin.  We were hiking out a different path than the one we hiked in on.  We camped near a lake in Atwood Basin where we could fish and enjoy the night.  I set my tent up, crawled in and feel asleep without caring about the luxury of dinner. 
Day Three passed by in a blur.  I caught some more fish and hiked and slept some more. 
Day Four was amazing.  We saw familiar people on the trail who had hiked in to meet us and bring us the most delicious sandwiches I had ever tasted.  One of those people was my dad.  I was thankful to see him.  We finished the hike out and stopped at the first place we saw that had hamburgers. 
Then I went home and took a shower. 
 
I learned I can do hard things.