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 wildflowerThis 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.
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).
