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Mineral King on Thursday?

. . . the saga of a busy Labor Day weekend continues. “Saga” may be an overblown word, but it is fun to use.

There are never enough hiking days, nor is there enough desire to get my hiney moving every time I go up the hill. I feel the calendar shrinking, and decided it was time to fulfill my desire to see the upper part of White Chief this year. There were 4 of us on the hike; one had a bowl of Cheerios, another had a bowl of Crankios, 2 of us had normal food, and we set off.

Within the first mile, we encountered these energetic folks from Ukraine, now Los Angeles. They did Great Big Hikes THREE DAYS IN A ROW! That included climbing Mineral Peak. . . very impressive. They also taught us that our name, Botkin, is famous in Ukraine because jaundice is called “Botkin’s Disease”. Nice, eh?

Mineral Peak
These cabin ruins at the beginning of White Chief canyon had something to do with John Crabtree. I know a man by that name, but he’s not related. That’s okay, because I’m not related to jaundice either.
White Chief as it appears from my position of semi-collapse among the Crabtree cabin ruins.
This Lodgepole pine is leaning from an avalanche, and its branches look like little trees (with a little red fir showing 2nd from the left on the other side.)
Trail Guy went to the falls to refill our water bottles near where the trail crosses the creek. (We live dangerously and are probably overconfident about what water we drink while out on the trails.)
Looking back down over the lower canyon from the trail among the mines, caves and tunnels.
See? mines and tunnels and caves!
Yep, this is the trail. It isn’t scary to me, but I am better at up than down.
See? caves! Be careful. . . Yes, I know, duh.
Trail Guy shared a laugh with some Bay Area cavers who thought they knew secrets that Trail Guy didn’t about White Chief.
This is at the top of the canyon, a peaceful place I love when the mosquitoes aren’t around. They weren’t around on September 2.
I put my feet in the water and then looked down the line of my hiking buddies, as we ate our lunches together in this lovely hard-earned spot.
HEY! This is a miniature Grass of Parnassus!

To be continued tomorrow. . .

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