I have a theory about summer’s heat: when a summer starts out gradually and kindly, it lasts forever. We are living out my prediction this “fall”. On our most recent trip down the hill, it was in the 90s and then the low 100s. So fun in the Botmobile without A/C.

Not.

The road construction continues. On the way up, the lower flag zone was at Cabin Cove, 1 mile below Silver City.

Trail Guy, who used to be Road Guy, did some explaining about the road while we waited for the Pilot Car.

It’s very important to be there when the Pilot Car arrives, or you will have to wait 3 hours for the next one. It’s kind of interesting to watch the process as we crawl past in a line.

It can be kind of dusty too.

But it is always worth it to arrive in the Mineral King Valley.

It was another working weekend. I helped neighbors finish painting their cabin, another neighbor helped us cover the woodpiles from the fuels reduction project, we emptied out the Honeymoon Cabin (Mineral King Preservation Society museum), and Trail Guy helped close a few neighboring cabins. Our little neighborhood is very interdependent.

The cabin belonged to Disney (yes, THAT Disney), which recently donated it to the Park. The MKPS doesn’t know if it will be allowed to continue using it as a museum, so Trail Guy, The Farmer, Hiking Buddy, and I transported all the contents to an office down the hill.

On the day we headed back down the road, there were no flaggers or pilot cars, but we still encountered huge rigs and an area of ongoing work.

These newly paved parts are probably the smoothest in the entire Tulare County.

And the lower part of the road, which is the county’s responsibility, is probably the roughest. It has been rough for many years (decades??), but now it is worse with all that heavy equipment up and down for the past many months.

Still, it is always worth the drive.

MINERAL KING TEE SHIRTS NOW AVAILABLE!

Would you like a Mineral King tee shirt? You can preorder now, here: https://mineral-king-preservation-society.square.site/ Trail Guy and I designed these a number of years ago, and then turned it all over to the Mineral King Preservation Society to use as a fund raising method. This year I got to help choose the shirt colors. 😎