The Elk King Loop

Activity Notes

This is the eighth and climactic final conditioning hike in my series I'm hoping to lead!

PLEASE READ.

This is a very challenging loop in the coast range. We will start from Kings Mountain Trailhead, do the Wilson River section first, then ascend an incredibly steep 2000' over 1.4 miles to the summit of Elk Mountain. The fun isn't over! We will do a steep 200' gain over some ups and downs before getting a break on an old logging road. After that we will ascend another steep 700' over .75 miles to the summit of Kings Mountain. When I scouted this loop in March with my woodland firefighting friend, it took us 9 hours to complete.

This loop features several brief moments of scrambling and 2 sections of longer downclimbing, one of which will involve a maintained rope. Please bring your sense of adventure and be ready to use your hands!

To make things more challenging, there are almost no water sources on this loop, which means we will need to carry a lot of water with us.

We will carpool from Sunset Transit Center at 7:00A.M. or you can meet us at Kings Mountain Trailhead at 8:00A.M. Suggested gas contribution is $9/passenger.

11 miles, 3900' gain, 2700'/3200' summits

***One of my motivations for leading hikes is to provide opportunities to improve mental and physical health and build community. There's a lot of evidence that spending time outside in nature and socially engaging outside of work is good for the body and mind. Minorities tend to experience more stress, especially in today's political climate. Therefore, I invite all races, ethnicities, genders, sexualities, economic classes, religions, languages, and all other minorities to join me on my hikes!