12/9. It's been sunny all week (since I returned). But quite cold early morning. Was 24F. 8 of us gathered at Sunset TC at 7:30. The only man who signed up on this trip wasn't able to find the meeting location. So we were 8 women + 1 dog, but we took 3 cars so we can do a one way hike instead of the entire loop.Very cold at trailhead, maybe because the sun doesn't hit the bottom of the valley. Half an hour into the hike, you can see that the sun rose behind the ridge. I was told it's an inversion: temperature is higher in higher elevation, and it turned out to be true. There were some wind at times, but not bad.
View from the top of Elk is not bad. Can see the Kings Mountain ahead where we were headed, and clear cuts. Someone in the group signed the registry. I didn't bother. Ate lunch here. The trail is short but very steep at times, so hands come in handy. Felicia is very slow on these sections, and they were new to her. We had to wait for her numerous times. At Elk's summit, we decided to split into 2 groups: 5 continue to King, and 3 go down to Elk Creek Trail.
If there were any reserve of completing the hike in Felicia's mind, coming down from Elk wiped it out cold. Then it's a flat traverse for at least a mile, partly on some abandoned logging road. At some point, the trail split. One goes to left (under a big boulder and fallen rocks) to King, one continues slight right on the logging road. 
As you get closer to Kings, you'd have to go down on this steep and slippery slope. There's a rope here to assist. This is the only thing I remembered from my last hike here. It's short. There were some snow left on the trail on the backside of the hill (no sun). There's one steep upslope that had some snow. However, wasn't very slippery. 
The top of King is very woody. There's a registry here too. Shortly before that, there's a flat spot to linger and take photos. We could see Adams and Hood. The sun was bathing, and no wind. We stayed here long enough that I took off gaiters (not useful) and boots to air dry my sweaty feet. My jeans stayed fairly clean and dry the whole time. My gloves got a bit dirty.Coming down King is smooth and easy. Long zigzags. At some elevation, I could feel the temperature drop. When we got to the car (~2:50pm), the other 3 were there. They got to the Elk trailhead 30 minutes ago. The two trailhead is only 3-4 miles apart. Brook wanted to go home directly, so I rode in Anu's car back. They dropped me off at my highway exit, where I walked home.
