Sierra Hiking: Mineral King w/pics

[Good_ol'_slappy]

I managed to see some awesome scenery and trails this past weekend in the Sierras (Mineral King).

We began the trip out of town Friday AM looking to get a short hike in once we arrived and got settled. The drive from town was 5 hours - the lion's share being the winding drive up to 7.8k ft from the valley floor.

Day 1
Easy going on the Franklin Lakes Trail; View from the trailhead


Through Aspen Flat; Vandever Mtn and Tulare Pk lie in the near distance


Requisite macro


After the short hike, headed back to the cabin to chill. Gotta give a shameless plug to Silver City Resort (Silver City Mountain Resort - SilverCityResort.com) for friendly service and excellent home-cooked dinners each night. The cabins were about a 10 minute drive from the main trailhead.


Day 2
This was the main hiking day. The goal was to head up to the Monarch Lakes and up to Sawtooth Pass and possibly bag the peak. Trailhead elevation was 7.8k with the Pass and Peak at 11.6k and 12.4k, respectively.

Sawtooth Peak looms in the distance - going in and out of view on the ascent. Monarch Creek is fed from the watersheds above.


Not sure how this is still alive


A flat section near the lakes gave me time to think how the hell we were going to head up the 2000 ft of scree to the peak


A closer view of the loose cross country route to the pass.


Working up to the pass. Upper Monarch Lake is on the extreme left.


View from the pass looking South. The trail can be seen ultimately down the trailhead at center right.


90 deg Panarama view from the pass looking North and East. Sawtooth Peak juts up on the right.


Looking down at Monarch Lakes. Mineral Peak in the near distance.


We headed further up toward the peak, but it became to gnarly and exposed (at least for me!). We settled for a nice cubicle-sized spot on the ridge to get a 360 view. Here is looking North, down to Columbine Lake and higher Sierra peaks in the far distance.


Day 3

On the final day, we headed up White Chief Canyon Trail to see one of the abandoned silver mines in the area. Another day of great weather - low 70s all weekend.




Entering White Chief Meadows


Looking up at White Chief Peak. The old White Chief Mine on the extreme right.


A closer look


Heading back I couldn't resist a frolic moment


Basically a great weekend

[dstepper]

Very nice, Nick.

Dean

[Permagrin]

Those are great pictures.

[Pain Freak]

Secret hikes,huh? Awesome stuff there Nicky-boy. I can only imagine how exposed it was if you said it was to exposed.

Great shots.

[Good_ol'_slappy]

Thanks. I just noticed that in the picture below you can see the white-banded rock from the mine area in the center-top. Kinda cool for regional perspective, but mostly useless trivia.

[mtnbikerdude87]

Great shots!

[alank]

man thats beautiful!! i want to go there.

[El Salt]

[SIZE=2]Super Great Shots! I love the Mineral King area. I've been a few times myself. Its a "must do" for anyone that has not been. It's relatively quite (relative to Yosemite, Sequoia, etc.), and very rugged. You have to want to go there, as the road dead ends there... Another good spot is Courtright Reservoir, also a dead end road deep in the Sierra. North East out of Fresno - Between Kings Canyon and Yosemite. Lots of granite domes. Great hiking and even some biking. Link
[/SIZE]

[Edog]

Thanks man, some great pictures!

[S54MCoupe]

Thanks for making me incredibly jealous, a**hole.

Beautiful pictures, thanks for sharing.

[Red Ryder]

Wow, you really brought back some memories of my dad and I backpacking through Mineral King a loooong time ago. We were in the back country for two weeks on that trip. That was almost 40 years ago. Of course I was "just a kid". Disney was going to build a ski resort up there. It's a lot more beautiful without it. I think I'm over due to go back.

[Ladd Jasper]

Great write-up and photos, Nick. Just beautiful. Haven't hiked the Sierras since climbing Mt. Langley a few years back. Definitely time for another visit.

Ever feel like you're being watched? Looks like a marmot behind the rock, right side of frame.

[Good_ol'_slappy]

Nice find! Those little guys were everywhere...