Jun 15 2012
Mineral King
As promised, Fridays are for Mineral King.
White Chief is a short but very steep hike.
The largest patch of snow is called “Bearskin”. It is on the side of Vandever Mt. and probably won’t make it until the snow falls in Autumn this year. Some years it does, and other years it does but binoculars are required to prove it.
Perhaps Retired Road Guy should now be called "Trail Guy".
White Chief sink hole
There are about 5 of these in the White Chief canyon. In person, they are quite interesting (maybe it is the lack of oxygen there that makes me think so). They photograph poorly, as you can see. If Trail Guy was down in the hole, you’d get a better idea of the scale, but you can see in the photo above that he was busy with lunch.
Pussy Paws
These are boring flowers that seldom show up against the dirt and gravel. The Artspeak explanation is that they are the same value as the dirt, so there is no contrast. This particular patch was unusually bright.
This photo took forever. The flutterby was a bit too fast for my shutter-finger, and I was thankful to not be wasting film!
Did you head up there already this year? White Chief is one of my favorite walks — so beautiful.
Sure did, Jenna! Isn’t that the steepest trail in the world? I’m always surprised, no matter how many times I walk it, because I don’t think peoples’ feet bend at that angle!