Time in Mineral King (instead of just painting it)

A picture is worth a thousand words – here are 11,000 words for you to enjoy. Click on them to see them larger.

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Entering White Chief bowl

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This is as far as we went; still much snow remains

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Lots of Blue Lips out!

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The next day we went to Empire. This is an old road built by the miners and it is a great relief to find it after scrambling up a long steep slope.

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Went high enough to see down into White Chief.

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My goal was this nubbin at 10,500′. Michael went 200 feet higher, but my good sense (and lack of depth perception) caused me to wait. Waiting is seldom a problem for me.

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We love this section of trail leading to Timber Gap (which you can see still has patches of snow). The phlox and blue lips were outstanding!

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Because it was the Fourth of July, I looked until I found a patch of red, white and blue!

 

 

 

Peculiar sight

In Mineral King there are some critters called “marmots”. (Every letter is pronounced unlike “merlot”) To the untrained eye, they appear to be cute.

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To those in the know, they are a PAIN. In late spring and early summer they have a peculiar habit of chewing on wires and hoses in cars. They like radiator fluid and are impervious to its poison that would kill your pet. By the second week of July, they have stopped doing this stupid annoying thing and then perhaps they can be called cute. There are many methods to try and thwart their destructive ways. A number of years ago, a ranger saw that Michael had the hood up on his truck and decided that must be a way to discourage the   creatures. (In reality, the hood was up so he could see if they were in there chewing on things.) Now, many people leave their hoods up in the parking lots which gives the marmots easier access to their preferred snacks. Other things have been tried, but this one is the most effective:

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