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Short Mineral King Walk

There is a trail in Mineral King called “The Nature Trail”, a one mile route that connects Cold Springs Campground (near the Ranger Station) to the Mineral King valley itself.

There was a meeting in the area near Cold Springs Campground, and I took the Zapato Express*, choosing to go down the trail instead of the road. We normally walk down the road and back up the trail, but I thought I’d probably be catching a ride back up and I didn’t want to miss the progression of summer along the trail.

The river is flowing steadily, a lot of water for August.
Many yellows look alike, in spite of the name of the yellow chapter in my book. I might be able to identify this, eventually.
Aster? Glacial Daisy? Something else? It was pale lavender, not the white it appears in this photo.
These are a bit different. Smaller, and a clump instead of a long stem, and growing in a dry area instead of a wet one, also lavender.
It wasn’t a requirement to wear a straw hat to the meeting, but you wouldn’t know by this photo.

Someone in her upper years of life requested a ride home in the 2-seater Botmobile, so I got to walk back up the trail, not a hardship by any stretch of the imagination.

Yarrow in the foreground; Black Wolf falls (Monarch Creek) in the fuzzy background.
I never tire of the aspens.
Almost back to the cabin. The flowers are just endlessly fabulous this year. (Nope, not my cabin in the photo. This is the World Wide Web, and I try to maintain a teensy bit of privacy.)
100 page paperback, flowers in photos, common names only, lots of chatty commentary, $20 including tax.
Available here
Also available at the Three Rivers Historical Museum, Silver City Store, from me if I put them in my car, or Amazon.

*This means I walked; “zapato” means shoe in Español.

2 Comments

  1. Looks glorious there, Jana. Don and I spent a couple of weeks in CO in July so we go to enjoy the mountains and lots of wildflowers. It was wonderful!

    • Cheryl, I would love to see the wildflowers of the Rockies, particularly the state flower of the blue Columbine.

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