Hiking Mineral King – Farewell Gap

Two days after Trail Guy went to Farewell Gap via a loop, we returned together with our new best hiking buddy Jessica. The point of the hike was to see Sky Pilot, an elusive high-elevation flower that we’ve never seen anywhere except Farewell Gap (not that we go anywhere outside of Mineral King. . .)

Here are my photos of that trip.

The flowers are still great at the “Junction Cafe”. This time we didn’t stop here for lunch but just kept heading up and up and up.

A previously-ignored or never-before-noticed, not-in-the-books yellow wildflower
This reminded us of marigolds, and if I can’t find it in any book, I will simply title it myself: Mountain Marigold.
I think this is the same thing, looking down from the top. Most of them had 3 sections of petals.
Stonecrop? Nope, that’s yellow. This is an unknown high-altitude succulent.
More unknown high-altitude succulents.
Blue Lips are still in bloom up high. This is late for them!
Identify yourself, Unknown Shrub!

The lupine up on Farewell Gap have white accents, and the penstemon is a color I’ve never seen it in before.
Sky Pilot – THIS is why we hiked 6.7 miles one way, uphill.
I was thinking of this hat as a Lupine-head, but Jessica wore it in honor of the Sky Pilot.

I felt sort of tired, and thought, “How disappointing, I’m out of shape”. It later occurred to me that middle-aged people who are truly out of shape don’t hike 13+ miles in one day at high altitudes (or low ones either).

Sorry, Trail Guy – no one will come by to give you a lift back down to the cabin.
Jess and me with the Golden Trout Wilderness/Forest Service land behind us.
Jessica and me with Timber Gap in the background.
Franklin Creek continues to flow strongly, but it is easy to ford now.

Hiking Mineral King – Peculiar Sights

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MELISSA!!

When I hike, I think. When I think, I ALWAYS have questions.

 

What is this and why can’t I find it in any of my books? It is growing by the  lower trail crossing of Franklin Creek.
What is this and why can’t I find it in any of my books? It is a yellow flower I always wrote off as “too similar to all the rest of the boring yellows”. This year I am learning as many new flowers as possible – new to me, previously ignored.
Being a color junkie, I HAD to know if all these flowers are the same color. The largest petal is from a Jeffrey Shooting Star, the middle petal is from Fireweed, and the one on the left is Rock Fringe.
On the Franklin/Farewell Trail above the lowest Franklin stream crossing but below the junction is this odd view of Farewell Gap.
Remember when Trail Guy went into the snow tunnel?

Here are his photos from inside the tunnel:

About a week later, the tunnel looked like this. He walked in it a ways, and then climbed out onto the pinkish algae-clad snow.

Red-handed.

The more he rubbed and tried to wash off the algae, the redder it became.

Is this Laurel or Heather? I believe they are twins, not quite identical but very close.
Meet Lousewort. Why is he in the flower books and so many other prettier flowers are not?
You’ve seen this in a previous post – it is a YELLOW Violet. Say what? I thought yellow and violet were complements on the color wheel. What’s next – a blue orange??

 

Hiking Mineral King – A Loop

Trail Guy prefers to loop hikes to up-and-backs on the same trail. While I was reuniting with Redwood High School Class of ’77, he was making a loop from White Chief over to the Farewell Canyon and up into Farewell Gap. Here are his photos.

I think these pure yellow columbine are called “Sierra Columbine”.
These 2-colored Columbine might be called “Alpine Columbine”. It all depends on which wildflower book one refers to.
The elusive and rare “Sky Pilot” can almost always be found on Farewell Gap in July.

Hiking Mineral King – Eagle Meadow

Eagle Lake is about 4 miles from the Mineral King valley floor, but the trail is steep and rough. In spite of that, it is probably the most popular destination. Trail Guy doesn’t like going there and I haven’t been in several years. The last time I was there, the lake was almost empty, because some stupid hon-yock opened the gate on the dam.

This is no excuse to miss out on Eagle Meadow below the lake or the sloping meadow below Eagle Meadow.

Another unknown white flower, low to the ground and with a distinctive leaf pattern – I WILL find the name!
Labrador Tea, but not the true kind of the northeast.
Lousewort – this strikes me as a true Why Bother, but it is in my favorite flower book by Steven Stocking.

One also encounters a mysterious sinkhole, where water continually flows into and yet it doesn’t fill up. The trail looks positively bucolic, but there are armies, platoons and relentless swarms of ravenous bugs. There is a meadow before you begin climbing to Eagle Lake, and it was full of Jeffrey Shooting Star and Knotweed. (and bugs that bite.)

Hiking Mineral King – Farewell/Franklin Junction

Where the Farewell Gap trail splits off toward Franklin Lakes and Franklin Pass, one can always count on fabulous flowers. Why my photos don’t adequately reflect this is a bit of mystery, but I hope you enjoy today’s sweatless hike all the same. (I’m happy to do the work for you.)

Corn Lily
The water is still flowing strongly, but the creeks are mostly crossable now.
Boring unnamed yellow flower not quite in bloom
Lupine!
Where are you going, Trail Guy?
He made it back out of the snow tunnel.
Indian Paintbrush and Yarrow – pinkish Yarrow!
Looking back over Timber Gap from the junction of Farewell and Franklin trails
Ditto
Aster – these are lavender with a yellow center
Bushy Leptisiphon (excuse me??)
Forget-Me-Not or Sierra Stick-seed?
Glacial Daisy – these are white and larger than the asters.
At the Junction. . . I must have had a reason for this photo, but it eludes me now. It had to do with lots of white flowers – “knotweed”? – that barely show here. Guess you had to be there.

Hiking Mineral King – Franklin Creek

Because of the high water this year, we haven’t gone to all of our normal places. Franklin Creek has been a little scary, although by the time you read this post, it probably won’t be. Two weeks ago we took a reconnaissance walk to see if the creek was crossable. We were joined by special friends, who will remain anonymous because this is the World Wide Web, and I am a respecter of privacy.

Franklin Falls, probably most crossable above the trail. Probably not this raging now. Probably feels fantastic on hikers’ feet.

Two of the most important people in my life.
Two more Very Important People. (Wait – didn’t I see one of you in Israel??)

After our hike, I went to the bridge with some neighbor girls. This is too precious to not share:

Then, I got a HUGE SURPRISE! A woman approached me with a funny smile and said, “Think way way back in time”. She waited with that smile, and my mind finally landed on the right person. Such a fantastic addition to an already great day! (If I was the president, I’d say it was “beautiful” and “tremendous”. It actually was those things.)

A very old (as in longevity, not age) friend from childhood and her entire family came about 3000 miles to spend their vacation in Mineral King and just hoped they might run into me. What a privilege to meet her family and to reconnect with her! 

If you went to Ivanhoe Elementary School and you recognize this beautiful lady, we can discuss it via email.

Hiking Mineral King – Empire Area

To get to the area of the Empire Mines, it is best to leave early in the morning. The lower part of the Sawtooth/Timber Gap trail is HOT and STEEP; with its exposure, morning is the only sensible time to walk it. We met our friends at 8:30 on the bridge, which is early in Mineral King.

Those trees are Timber Gap.
The tram tender’s cabin ruins are visible from the trail just before leaving the trees (one more switchback to go!)
Jessica was on duty – making visitor contact, learning about trails, answering questions – she is an expert and a joy to hike with! This father/son team was hiking from Lone Pine (below Mt. Whitney) to Yosemite. Yes, you probably do have a car, but on foot is the another valid form of transportation. 
What happened to this tree?? Inquiring minds need to know.
Trail Guy found the remains of a cabin near Timber Gap. One reason for our hike was to show the area Archeologist.
The Archeologist has very specific rules, tools and methods.
The Ranger surveys her territory.
This Foxtail was another reason for our hike.
In case you can’t read the faint writing scratched in at the bottom, it says “10-19-67”. Largest Foxtail Pine on the ridge? In Mineral King? In Sequoia? In California? In the whole world?? It measured 25′-27″ around, probably bigger than in 1967.
The top splits into three, a Biblical tree, perhaps?
Our plans were thwarted by the threatening sky, and although 3 of us made it to the bunkhouse ruins below the Empire Mines, it was a hasty visit. We got a little bit wet, but no one melted.

 

Hiking Mineral King – The Nature Trail

This hardly qualifies as hiking – a one mile walk up a trail from Cold Springs Campground in Mineral King. There is always a great variety of wildflowers, and there are aspen trees, a little area of conifers, views of Sawtooth Peak, and a desert-ish area of sage, along with plenty of places to get your feet wet.

This sort of trail bed is called “rip-rap”. It is hard to walk on, both up and downhill.
Sawtooth is back there, but the light was not conducive to capturing it with my Press-Here-Dummy camera.
Sawtooth’s Peak is just out of sight in the back on the right. (yes, poetry, I know. . .)

Trail Guy along the Nature Trail that ought to be called the “Wildflower Walk” (thanks, Melissa!)
Someone was very vocal and visual about his opposition to Disney building a ski resort in Mineral King. Wow – carvings on aspen last a very long time.
There’s Sawtooth! (different day, different light)

 

Hiking Mineral King – Three Falls Below the Gate

About 1-1/2 miles below the end of the Mineral King Road, you can see a roaring section of falls over the edge, waaay down there. Trail Guy and I went exploring, following a friend’s vague instructions: “I just drop off those rocks below my cabin”. Oh yeah? I followed Trail Guy and trusted him to get me there and back in one piece. He did not fail.

Umm, yeah, we’ll just drop off this rock.
Hey Trail Guy, where is a trail??
A big snow avalanche came through here. The tall tree is missing branches very high up. The lower shelf is dirt-covered snow.
I came all this way to have a dead tree in my view??
Very powerful water – cool mist, scary edge, thundering roar.
Can you see the snow shelf here?

There were some flowers to take the edge off.

Some variety of Bro-dee-uh (spelled brodeaia or some such reckless combo of vowels)