The second day's hike is from four to six miles and quite strenuous. The first of many breathtaking views of the wilderness is exposed at the pass. The course drops from Gunsight Pass into Painter Basin, around an unnamed peak and climbs back up to Anderson Pass, losing, then regaining several hundred feet. A poorly marked shortcut can save the two-mile trip into and out of the basin. This course, only recommended for hikers with advanced skills or very few brains, heads southeast from Gunsight Pass along an exposed rock face.
Some cairns occasionally point the way, but they are unreliable.
Eventually, the plateau is reached by careful scrambling over the rock ledge. No special climbing gear or technique is required. Now the hike becomes an ankle tiring, leg straining, hop back to the main trail and on to Anderson Pass. The west face of the King is exposed from here. As if sliced by a knife, this towering back half is a sheer, sculptured 1,500 foot wall.