Some friends were visiting and had never been to Empire. We planned to go, woke up to horrible smoky conditions, waffled a bit, and then went anyway.
Hiking Mineral King – White Chief Part 2
White Chief might be the most beautiful place accessible by foot from Mineral King. Short hike, steep, lots of variety. Any time Trail Guy encounters someone along the trail below the Eagle Lake/White Chief junction, he tells them they will be happier if they choose White Chief. Here are more photos from our Eclipse Day […]
Hiking Mineral King – White Chief
The eclipse. Big deal. Lots of chatter. Lots of ideas. Lots of rah-rah. What to do about it in Mineral King? Easy! Poke a hole in a piece of cardboard with an ice pick, get a piece of white paper, and walk to White Chief. I say “walk” because I elected to not carry a […]
Hiking Mineral King – Eagle Lake, part 2
The rock section of the Eagle Lake Trail is very challenging if you were just expecting a little walk in the woods. Sometimes you have to wiggle your feet between some boulders, sometimes you have to just guess where the trail might be, sometimes you walk on a slab of granite, and none of it […]
Hiking Mineral King – Eagle Lake
Remember that I said the last time I saw Eagle Lake it was empty because some stupid hon-yock opened the dam? I didn’t want that to be my last view of the place, so I told Trail Guy I wanted to go there, and I hoped he would join me. He consented. I asked why […]
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. . .) […]
Hiking Mineral King – Peculiar Sights
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MELISSA!! When I hike, I think. When I think, I ALWAYS have questions. 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. The more he rubbed and tried to […]
Flower Show in Mineral King
My favorite place and time in Mineral King is a flower show in the first half of July at the junction of the Farewell Gap and Franklin Lakes trails. First, we had to get there. It is 4 miles one way on a well-graded uphill trail. Some parts are flattish, some steeper than others. There […]
A Mineral King Day Hike
Trail Guy led a group hike up to the Empire Mines last year. It was fun, informative, and a good time was had by all. So, he was asked to lead it again this year. I only took a few photos this time, because all my photos are looking repetitive. You can see more of […]
Mineral King Photos As An Escape
I hit a bit of a bump in the road with the book The Cabins of Wilsonia and I don’t want to talk about it. So let’s put our hands over our ears, shout LALALALA in a loud monotone and run away to Mineral King. These are not in any particular order – I’m just speed […]