Trail Guy Hiked up the Farewell Canyon

I was in Gilroy. Trail Guy hiked anyway. I’m glad that my feet aren’t sidelining him. It has been a couple of years since I made it to the Franklin/Farewell junction, a place we refer to as the Wildflower Cafe, since it is a nice destination for lunch, particularly in early July when the wildflowers […]

Mineral King Road Thoughts (and photos, of course)

When I first worked at the Silver City Store (4 miles below Mineral King) in 1985, at the end of the summer my car stereo fell out whenever I drove uphill because the rough road vibrated the screws loose. (1977 Honda Accord, my first car, because I know you care about such things.) The road […]

Learning, Working, Hanging Out in Mineral King

Learning Trail Guy and I accompanied Laile, who is an archaeologist/historian (I think those are her titles) to show her something we found. She cleared up a mystery about a rock platform that we always thought was a cabin foundation. Nope, it was a ride-by bar! George Thurman and his wife Hattie had a bar […]

Mineral King Road (and Men at Work)

The road is under construction, and the schedule keeps changing. The two men on Sequoia’s hazard tree crew came to do some work on the most recent red fir dropped by our place. We always stop by the dumpster on the way down. Trail Guy rearranges the bags of trash so we can get the […]

Odd Sights in Mineral King

This first one isn’t odd. I’m just warming up here. It is a plant called Coulter’s Fleabane, which I misidentified in Mineral King Wildflowers as snowberry. Maybe. Still trying to figure it out. The cottonwood was prolific, abundant, and fascinating. Very soft to the touch, but elusive when one tried to gather it. Once again, […]

Meandering and Socializing in Mineral King

Mineral King is very social for this pair of introverts, Mr. and Mrs. Trail Guy. This is how it goes: any trail we walk includes running into people we know. Sometimes we run into people we know in the parking lot, then other people are waiting for us back at the cabin when we’ve been […]

White Chief Again

White Chief is our favorite destination in Mineral King. Most people want to go to a lake, and they are welcome to struggle to Eagle up that lousy trail. We’ll wave goodbye as they turn that direction, and then head up the steeper but shorter trail to White Chief. It’s hard to calculate the distance, […]

All About Mineral King

This time of year I spend lots of time in Mineral King, AKA The Land of No Electricity or Internet (unless you have StarLink, which we do not). So, my posts might be a bit erratic. Today’s post is simply photos from a walk down the road to Cold Springs Campground (now open after several […]

Busy Weekend in Mineral King

Sometimes I need to leave Mineral King for the peacefulness of Three Rivers. MK is a very social place, and although I have decent social skills (please allow me this illusion), I am an introvert who needs a copious amount of solitude. The hazard tree crew has been working in our neighborhood. I love the […]