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Final Mineral King Weekend

This will be a long post with lots of photos, and then I might run out of things to post about Mineral King for awhile.It didn’t have to be the final Mineral King weekend, because the Park gates stay unlocked until October 25. But, life down the hill beckons, fall is very full of events for us, and we need to close things up when the weather is still good during a season of unpredictable weather.

We have taken on the responsibility of closing the Honeymoon Cabin for the past several years. This is a little cabin left after Disney destroyed the resort in advance of building their ski resort, which never happened. The cabin is now a mini museum of Mineral King history, open all summer to anyone who wanders in. It is at the beginning of the Eagle/Mosquito/White Chief trail.

This is the interior. It is about 10×10′.

After our chores, we had time for a final walk.

Sorry to disappoint you, but this is a juniper tree, not a redwood. Mineral King is too high for redwoods.
The yellow tunnel isn’t very bright this fall.
This deer reminds me of Samson
Cowboy Bert listens to an animated Trail Guy explain something important.
It was a smoky smoky smoky day. There was a wildfire south of us.
My favorite ranger of all time!
These are cottonwoods.
These are juniper berries

And then we made time for one final pass down the Nature Trail. It goes through so many changes in such a short season. . . in July it was packed with all variety of wildflowers. Now, just look at this:

Sawtooth

The Captain

Three weeks ago these were goldenrods.

This was an unusual summer in Mineral King for several reasons. Perhaps I’ll make a list for you next Friday.

7 Comments

  1. Beautiful fall colors, and intriguing historical cabin scenes!

    Jennifer

    • Nice to hear from you, as always, Jennifer!

  2. Nice collection of “end of season” photographs. The few times I’ve been up in September, I’ve loved seeing the aspen along the Nature Trail in their golden splendor!

    Who’s the Ranger–Jessica?

    I thought the 1968 avalanche destroyed the resort, not Disney Corp?

    Sad that summer is over; already looking forward to next year!

    • Thank you for liking my pics, Sharon! That is JBarr. And after the avalanche, Uncle Wally finished the destruction.

      • Right–I remember coming up the following summer to see everything bulldozed into a huge pile of old lumber, broken dishes and glass, and feeling very sad.

        • Seems like such a waste.

          • Yes, it does, but when you’re going to build a mega-ski resort, you don’t want those little historical buildings to clutter up your development, you know?

            Also, I won’t mention the number of intact dishes and bone-handle utensils that someone might have retrieved from the rubble, ahem.

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