This is the classic view of Mineral King: Farewell Gap, the Crowley Family cabin, the creek (sometimes called “the river”, which would make people in wet places fall down laughing). I snapped this photo as we crossed the bridge at the end of the road. This is one of the easiest routes: down the road, up the Nature Trail.
Although this view from the top of Endurance Grade is gorgeous, the camera is often incapable of relaying that information to you.
Wait, I have a better photo from another day:
On this little walk, Trail Guy explained everything to us, starting with these giant nettles above the Tar Gap parking area. (It ain’t much of a lot, but it is a place to park.)
Do NOT touch that stuff. It will hurt you. We believe the seeds came with feed for the stock that used to be in a pack station that used to be at this site. (Burchell pack station)
These are tracks from a millipede.
This is the source of the cold spring that gives Cold Springs Campground its name. Wait—one spring, but Cold “Springs”? Looks a bit weak and tired, but it never stops flowing.
We also explored the walk-in campground sites at the lower end of the campground. They are downstream from the rest of the campground, farther than I expected. I’d never seen them before, nor had our hiking friends. Nothing much to photograph, but interesting to see in person. With the online reservation system now in place for the campsites, it is pretty difficult to discern how to reserve one of those walk-ins.
It was a hot day, so we abandoned the idea of heading out on the Tar Gap trail a ways.
Instead, we headed back up the Nature Trail. There is a clear sign stating no dogs, but it seems that there are many illiterate folks in Mineral King this summer.
Now Trail Guy is telling the story of installing the water tank that supplies the campground and cabins in the area (he was Maintenance Guy back then). The situation got a bit dicey, and there may be a dent in the tank, but none of us wanted to climb the hill to inspect it.
The Nature Trail deceived us and somehow we were on the mini loop that goes past the garnet mine. I didn’t see any garnets.
We stopped for some fuel at Iron Falls and were thankful that The Farmer carried enough food to share with us all, which made it a hike for him and a walk for the rest of us.
This is how Iron Falls looks when we were plunked on the rocks, looking downstream.
This is how it looks facing upstream, while practically sitting in the stream.
And this is how it looks in an oil painting. (Last time I did inventory at the Silver City Store, it was still there.)
This is some mine tailings.
Here is the site of an old ranger station. The Farmer is “walking up the front steps”. (Use your imagination)
A little ways past the ranger station is this weird bathtub. Looks scratchy and pokey.
And beyond the tub is another trough, or a something else?**
Come back tomorrow for more Mineral King. I wonder if I can stretch it to a week plus a day. . . stay tuned.
**Trail Guy just explained this item. It was a place to cook, an outdoor stove that probably had a sheet of metal with removable plates on top and a chimney pipe at the back.
There was a stray clump of Sierra Gentian by the creek. (A PhD* camera isn’t adequate to the task of exposing the flowers clearly while blurring the creek.)
This little flower has been hanging in there for awhile. I think it is a fuchsia, but I can’t quite tell. It is red, but the color fuchsia is bright pink. Anyone know of a 
