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 is very easy.

There are rewards: this is “Heather”.

After the rocks, there is another section that I forgot about. It isn’t too hard, but you have to watch your step because of all the roots. Trail Guy said there needs to be more “trail checks”, which are things that catch rocks and dirt when water is flowing down the trail; otherwise, all the fill dirt washes down the trail, exposing the roots of the trees (none of which show in this photo- you’ll have to trust me on this.)

Eagle Lake is one of 4 lakes dammed by the Mt. Whitney Power Company so they could control the water flow for producing electricity. Trail Guy is heading out over the dam; doesn’t it look like a lovely inviting path?

Welcome to Eagle Lake. Wish I’d brought some M&Ms. We earned them.

Trouble is, now we have to retrace our steps.

I think of the Eagle Lake Trail as “roots and shoots”, because there are zillions of roots to trip over, and all those rocks required lots of shooting with explosives to make the trail. The evidence is in those star-ish shaped dealies on the rocks.

“Ridiculous!”, said Trail Guy, about the condition of the trail.

The vertical meadow below the sinkhole and above the trail junction to White Chief was still full of a variety of wildflowers.So interesting that Eagle Lake is the most popular Mineral King hike destination, and it is probably the very worst trail. Our conclusion is that people like the name, have no idea what they are getting into (it’s only 2.4 miles one way – how bad could that be?? Try 2+ hours to walk it and then decide for yourself!), and most people want to go to lakes.

Trail Guy’s Favorite Mineral King Hike

Sometimes I have to be down the hill, feeding Samson, watering the yard, blogging, drawing, taking care of business, fulfilling promises. Meanwhile, Trail Guy the Retiree is in Mineral King, hiking and taking photos for me to put on my blog.

His favorite place to go is White Chief. Mine too, unless it is the junction of the Franklin/Farewell Gap trails, or Farewell Gap itself. The lakes might could be, but we don’t go there much so I can’t remember. (I might could go there, but I’ll prolly be down the hill at the liberry instead.)

And sometimes Trail Guy comes home, especially if the Giants are on teevee.

Not the Giants; Samson wants to know why the Giants’ games are blocked out in our zip code.

Drawing in Mineral King

Back in the olden days when I could see without cheater magnifier glasses or a giant magnifying light, I used to draw at the cabin. I even had a drafting table upstairs underneath a north-west facing window for light.

It has been quite a few years since that was an adequate arrangement. I sold the table and stopped trying to work without electricity.

However, last week I wanted to get some work done and be out of the triple-digit heat. Since a 2018 calendar printing deadline is looming, I decided to give drawing at the cabin another try. The calendar will be all about water in Tulare County, and water doesn’t require a T-square or precise measurements, the way architectural subjects do.

It has been so long since I drew up the hill that my favorite brand of pencils has changed from Turquoise to Mars Staedtler. I had no Mars, so I used a Palomino Blackwing. 

Grandpa’s magnifying glass helped. I took the drawing home, and perfected things under the giant magnifying light before scanning and doing the Photoshop prep for the 2018 calendar.

 

This was definitely a successful experiment, so we celebrated with a BBQ’d pizza for dinner. No way was I cooking that in the woodstove – it would get as hot in the kitchen as it is down the hill!

Curious about Palomino Blackwing pencils? I got them through Amazon, of course.

 

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. . .)

Here are my photos of that trip.

The flowers are still great at the “Junction Cafe”. This time we didn’t stop here for lunch but just kept heading up and up and up.

A previously-ignored or never-before-noticed, not-in-the-books yellow wildflower
This reminded us of marigolds, and if I can’t find it in any book, I will simply title it myself: Mountain Marigold.
I think this is the same thing, looking down from the top. Most of them had 3 sections of petals.
Stonecrop? Nope, that’s yellow. This is an unknown high-altitude succulent.
More unknown high-altitude succulents.
Blue Lips are still in bloom up high. This is late for them!
Identify yourself, Unknown Shrub!

The lupine up on Farewell Gap have white accents, and the penstemon is a color I’ve never seen it in before.
Sky Pilot – THIS is why we hiked 6.7 miles one way, uphill.
I was thinking of this hat as a Lupine-head, but Jessica wore it in honor of the Sky Pilot.

I felt sort of tired, and thought, “How disappointing, I’m out of shape”. It later occurred to me that middle-aged people who are truly out of shape don’t hike 13+ miles in one day at high altitudes (or low ones either).

Sorry, Trail Guy – no one will come by to give you a lift back down to the cabin.
Jess and me with the Golden Trout Wilderness/Forest Service land behind us.
Jessica and me with Timber Gap in the background.
Franklin Creek continues to flow strongly, but it is easy to ford now.

Hiking Mineral King – Peculiar Sights

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MELISSA!!

When I hike, I think. When I think, I ALWAYS have questions.

 

What is this and why can’t I find it in any of my books? It is growing by the  lower trail crossing of Franklin Creek.
What is this and why can’t I find it in any of my books? It is a yellow flower I always wrote off as “too similar to all the rest of the boring yellows”. This year I am learning as many new flowers as possible – new to me, previously ignored.
Being a color junkie, I HAD to know if all these flowers are the same color. The largest petal is from a Jeffrey Shooting Star, the middle petal is from Fireweed, and the one on the left is Rock Fringe.
On the Franklin/Farewell Trail above the lowest Franklin stream crossing but below the junction is this odd view of Farewell Gap.
Remember when Trail Guy went into the snow tunnel?

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.

Red-handed.

The more he rubbed and tried to wash off the algae, the redder it became.

Is this Laurel or Heather? I believe they are twins, not quite identical but very close.
Meet Lousewort. Why is he in the flower books and so many other prettier flowers are not?
You’ve seen this in a previous post – it is a YELLOW Violet. Say what? I thought yellow and violet were complements on the color wheel. What’s next – a blue orange??

 

Hiking Mineral King – A Loop

Trail Guy prefers to loop hikes to up-and-backs on the same trail. While I was reuniting with Redwood High School Class of ’77, he was making a loop from White Chief over to the Farewell Canyon and up into Farewell Gap. Here are his photos.

I think these pure yellow columbine are called “Sierra Columbine”.
These 2-colored Columbine might be called “Alpine Columbine”. It all depends on which wildflower book one refers to.
The elusive and rare “Sky Pilot” can almost always be found on Farewell Gap in July.

Hiking Mineral King – Eagle Meadow

Eagle Lake is about 4 miles from the Mineral King valley floor, but the trail is steep and rough. In spite of that, it is probably the most popular destination. Trail Guy doesn’t like going there and I haven’t been in several years. The last time I was there, the lake was almost empty, because some stupid hon-yock opened the gate on the dam.

This is no excuse to miss out on Eagle Meadow below the lake or the sloping meadow below Eagle Meadow.

Another unknown white flower, low to the ground and with a distinctive leaf pattern – I WILL find the name!
Labrador Tea, but not the true kind of the northeast.
Lousewort – this strikes me as a true Why Bother, but it is in my favorite flower book by Steven Stocking.

One also encounters a mysterious sinkhole, where water continually flows into and yet it doesn’t fill up. The trail looks positively bucolic, but there are armies, platoons and relentless swarms of ravenous bugs. There is a meadow before you begin climbing to Eagle Lake, and it was full of Jeffrey Shooting Star and Knotweed. (and bugs that bite.)

Hiking Mineral King – Farewell/Franklin Junction

Where the Farewell Gap trail splits off toward Franklin Lakes and Franklin Pass, one can always count on fabulous flowers. Why my photos don’t adequately reflect this is a bit of mystery, but I hope you enjoy today’s sweatless hike all the same. (I’m happy to do the work for you.)

Corn Lily
The water is still flowing strongly, but the creeks are mostly crossable now.
Boring unnamed yellow flower not quite in bloom
Lupine!
Where are you going, Trail Guy?
He made it back out of the snow tunnel.
Indian Paintbrush and Yarrow – pinkish Yarrow!
Looking back over Timber Gap from the junction of Farewell and Franklin trails
Ditto
Aster – these are lavender with a yellow center
Bushy Leptisiphon (excuse me??)
Forget-Me-Not or Sierra Stick-seed?
Glacial Daisy – these are white and larger than the asters.
At the Junction. . . I must have had a reason for this photo, but it eludes me now. It had to do with lots of white flowers – “knotweed”? – that barely show here. Guess you had to be there.

Hiking Mineral King – Franklin Creek

Because of the high water this year, we haven’t gone to all of our normal places. Franklin Creek has been a little scary, although by the time you read this post, it probably won’t be. Two weeks ago we took a reconnaissance walk to see if the creek was crossable. We were joined by special friends, who will remain anonymous because this is the World Wide Web, and I am a respecter of privacy.

Franklin Falls, probably most crossable above the trail. Probably not this raging now. Probably feels fantastic on hikers’ feet.

Two of the most important people in my life.
Two more Very Important People. (Wait – didn’t I see one of you in Israel??)

After our hike, I went to the bridge with some neighbor girls. This is too precious to not share:

Then, I got a HUGE SURPRISE! A woman approached me with a funny smile and said, “Think way way back in time”. She waited with that smile, and my mind finally landed on the right person. Such a fantastic addition to an already great day! (If I was the president, I’d say it was “beautiful” and “tremendous”. It actually was those things.)

A very old (as in longevity, not age) friend from childhood and her entire family came about 3000 miles to spend their vacation in Mineral King and just hoped they might run into me. What a privilege to meet her family and to reconnect with her! 

If you went to Ivanhoe Elementary School and you recognize this beautiful lady, we can discuss it via email.