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This is your photojournalist reporting in from an excursion taken today, Saturday, March 18, 2023. Trail Guy, The Farmer, and I drove about 4 miles up the Mineral King road, then continued on foot. There will be many many photos (I took 92 but will only show you 47—you are welcome), and a little explanation or commentary.
The Road Closed sign is barely visible here below Mile 4.
A friend was doing a similar excursion and began the same time we did. Trail Guy advised him to climb up to the flume for easier walking, because his destination was farther up the road than ours.
Common sight.
Ho-hum, another big rock.
Mud, road a little bit gone.
And yet another rock.
And another chunk gone.
Wait, are you telling me we could have driven another 1/2 mile up?? Apparently so.
Whoa. This is the big washout. I bet Mineral King folks will forever refer to this as Washout Corner, or Washout Canyon.
We had a little bit of boulder scrambling to do.
Then some water to cross.
Looking back at the mess.
About 1/2 mile farther up from the mess.
Standard mud-on-road.
Oh-oh. Are we finished? The road certainly is. This is at Skyhook.
Nope, we are not done. The Farmer scrambled up the bank to the flume, pronounced it doable, and we followed.
Our friend caught up with us on the flume, and we pulled aside to let him pass because he was on a mission to check on a man who lives farther up the road. We were just ogling, on a mission to see things.
We climbed down.
And headed down a paved road to the real road…
…only to discover we were on the uphill side of Skyhook. The flow went right through the center of the property.
I want to go to the bridge.
In the days before the flood, this would have been considered a disaster. Now, it’s merely another blip on the screen of the Winter of Water.
Bear Canyon survived. It appears to be abandoned, so even if it got washed away, no one would care. (what a waste)
Another muddy section.
And yet another one. I waded through this one in barefeet.
By the time I got to this muddy mess, I just walked through in my trusty hiking Crocs.
Such a beautiful flow of water in this canyon after too many dry years.
MY FAVORITE BRIDGE IS FINE!!
Rocks, mud, no big deal.
Happy Centennial, Oak Grove Bridge!
Looking upstream.
Looking downstream.
Just looking.
And looking.
Time to turn around and head back to the pick-em-up truck.
Whoa. Is this a new disaster waiting to happen to the flume just below the bridge? Or are we seeing with new eyes, filtered for impending doom?
Here’s the abandoned Bear Canyon.
Climbing up to the flume just above Skyhook.
I really like walking the flume. Not supposed to do it.
Our friend told us that the flume had blown apart or been smashed by a tree, so he had to do some scrambling and crawling. We got to this yellow tape, and climbed down the steps to the access road.
This is the access road onto the flume, opposite the very wide spot in the road below the bridge.
We walked back without incident, happy to be alive, thankful for rain, thankful to be able to walk 5 miles, thankful for springtime, thankful for friendship, just thankful.
And looking forward to seeing repairs by the Tulare County Roads Department. But I bet the people at Skyhook and those on above are looking forward to that road work even more than we are.
Thanks for coming with me on this tour. Batten the hatches, because there is another storm coming our way tomorrow.