Breaking the Silence–the Mineral King Road

Because Mineral King was closed to the public all summer, I chose to not post about it. There is nothing polite about rubbing people’s noses in the harsh reality of being forbidden to visit the most beautiful place in Tulare County, and in spite of my natural bluntness, I do my best to be polite.

We closed our cabin on a beautiful fall weekend, shut off the water to our little road, and said goodbye to Mineral King for the year.

Road repairs still had not begun, although the contractor was gathering equipment at the bottom of the road on Highway 198/Sierra Drive. There was also a bit of additional flagging where a few wires cross the Mineral King road.

In June, after Tulare County had their lower piece of the road repaired, Trail Guy and the Farmer volunteered many hours, marking the hazards and making the road passable. The Park gave permission for these two hardworking, capable, generous men to do the Park’s work, for free. They were instructed to not clean up anything, because the Park wanted Federal Highways to see the damage and messes.

This repair project should have been started as soon as the road was passable. In the opinions of those of us who drove the road regularly, at the very least, the Park should have sent up a backhoe operator with a shovel-wielding ground crew person to clean out the culverts and clear the gutters. However, they are extremely short-staffed, and Mineral King is not a priority.

The road to Cedar Grove in Kings Canyon has been closed all summer.

The Park hired a contractor, and all summer we kept hearing warnings to not drive the road because we would be interfering with road work. In reality, there was no road work by either the Park nor any contractors.

We were also warned against driving the road because if there was a problem, there would be no way for emergency vehicles to assist or rescue.

An off-duty Park employee thought it was just fine to drive on the wrong side of the road, even on blind curves. Silver City was able to limp their truck to the lower gate for towing; the park employee’s vehicle was still drivable.

We were warned against using our cabins because if there was a problem, no one would come help us. No propane trucks could deliver, and there was no garbage service. Somehow, the resilient and resourceful cabin community made it through these inconveniences.

Eventually, the phone company made it up the hill, but Trail Guy and I opted to not have a phone at the cabin. Several neighbors have phones, which they made available to us. This was an excellent arrangement, and since Trail Guy helps them out regularly, almost as if he is everyone’s (unpaid) resident houseman, he needed their phones in order to stay in touch. In return, we didn’t have to pay $54/month to keep our phone throughout the entire year for 4-5 months of use. Even more importantly, we didn’t have to hear it ring, interrupting our peace and causing us to wonder if yet another Fireman’s Fund was desperate for our help.

The latest missive from the Park:

A quick update on the Mineral King Road construction project. We’ve just been notified by the contractor that they won’t need to begin full road closures until October 17th. They will begin moving equipment and performing some work along the road beginning on Monday, October 9th. They will have traffic control personnel on site during this first phase of work.

Road work impacts will be from the park boundary up to the top of the construction zone at the Conifer Gate. The closure could be reduced over time but shouldn’t extend beyond that.

Work will take place Monday through Saturday, no work on Sundays.

7am-Noon????Road Closed
Noon to 1pm? Road Open
1-5pm ???????Road Closed
5pm to 7am ??Road Open 

Access will continue to be limited to cabin owners and administrative traffic only. No public access.

In the opinion of the highly knowledgeable Trail Guy, formerly known as Road Guy, the construction zone needs to be extended above the Conifer Gate. You may recall that there was a rather alarming sinkhole in July, which was just 2 miles below the end of the road. We didn’t mention that there were also numerous “tree failures”, and the logs were just moved and trimmed to be one-lane passable.

Although it was mighty peaceful in the summer of 2023, we are not snobs nor are we elitists: we certainly hope that Mineral King is open to the public in 2024.

A Day Trip to Mineral King

In the olden days (last year), it took about 1-1/2 hour to drive to Mineral King from our house in Three Rivers. This was going slow, stopping to talk to friends encountered on the road, maybe stopping to photograph something.

On Thursday, it took almost 3 hours* to get to Mineral King. This involved a stop to visit with the crew working on the lower section of the road.

I was prepared for a long drive with knitting.

There is a lot of greenery on the way up. Lots of wildflowers too, but I didn’t want to add to the time by asking for photo stops.

This was on the county section. 

Although there wasn’t any active road work after going through the lower gate, Road Guy wants to keep this sign in place so that people who drive the road will be alert. Besides, there could be some road work. There certainly needs to be.

We stopped to talk to a couple of walkers, to rake out a few drainages, and to pick up many traffic cones. Why were so many knocked over? We don’t know. And we stopped at the maintenance barn to visit with the two guys working in MK this summer.

The knitting grew.

This is the background that is overexposed in the knitting photo. It is just above High Bridge, where we stopped for more raking.

There are lots of narrow spaces along the road, but not so much in the upper sections. There is a lot of water running along, under, and across the road, just seeping from the hillsides, running down drainages that aren’t normally running at this time of year. The water is mostly on the paved sections.

Standard photo of the Crowley cabin and Farewell Gap.

The weird piles left from the 2021 fires remain. Road Guy thought the fire crews would return to remove them last summer because they appear to be piles of kindling. Of course they didn’t return.

The juniper tree escaped. It appears in many old photos and was marked to be removed, but better sense prevailed, and this piece of living history remains in the last parking lot.

The daffodils I planted last fall are struggling upward.

Looking alongside the back of the cabin.

I meandered down to a neighboring cabin and was so happy to see all the green growies and flowing water.(Almost said “water flowies” to rhyme.)

The knitting grew.

We walked up to the pack station. Clearly there had been an avalanche, with trees snapped off and bent over, along with a lot of debris on the road.

Chihuahua was running, so I did a little waterology to get it off the road.

Finally, on the way back down, we stopped just above Sky Hook to see the gabion baskets begin to rebuild a major road failure. The construction crew is doing a fabulous job with temporary repairs on the county’s section of the road.

A final thought: if the Mineral King Road normally makes you nervous or jittery, this would not be the year to drive it. (And we still don’t know if/when the Park will open it to the public).

*This wasn’t actual driving time. We stopped to unlock/open/close/relock the two gates, to visit with people, to pick up knocked over traffic cones, to take a few photos, to rake a few culverts . . .

Tomorrow I will return to posting about my artwork. If more Mineral King news occurs, I’ll do my best to post the information. You can also look on the Mineral King website, although the writers there are not as chatty, opinionated, or actually taking photos (but I let them use mine whenever they ask).

 

Mineral King Road

This will be a long blog post in two or three parts, because there is much to show and much to tell. The main thing you probably want to know is if you can drive to Mineral King. If you have a cabin at Silver City or Cabin Cove and have a smallish vehicle and are a careful driver, then yes. Otherwise, no.

On Friday, June 9, Trail Guy (currently Road Guy), the Farmer, Hiking Buddy, and I went up the Mineral King Road. Road Guy and the Farmer spent 3 days working on the road, and they invited The Wives to accompany them to see how things were progressing.

The assignment for these two determined and intrepid volunteers was “passable and marked”; this was a little hard on Road Guy who took pride in keeping that road in top shape before he was retired. However, the road. . . sigh. Never mind. “Passable and marked” is a tremendous improvement over washed out, collapsed, piled with boulders, tree messes, mud slides, etc. 

They couldn’t begin until the County had the lower parts passable. Once that was done, the Farmer and Road Guy made their way up to the rented backhoe which had been stranded at Lookout since the February storms.

Lest you forget, Road Guy and former roads supervisor volunteered the first 2 weeks of February working with that backhoe to clean out culverts, establish some berms, and get the road somewhat passable. Then the February and March storms came, and it was a very good thing that they had done that prep work. It saved the road. (DO NOT TELL ME I AM EXAGGERATING—instead, pat those guys on the back!)

Alrighty then, let’s begin our tour.

The County Section

Remember the blowout at mile 4.5? It now has a wall and a bridge of planks.

Here is the second washout at SkyHook. The fill has begun; those are gabion baskets on the left and the road will be filled up to the level of the top of those.

The Park

This is above Lookout: passable and marked.

Road Guy said they had been watching that boulder above the road for many years, speculating that all it needed was a little nudge to drop to the road.

See the notch where it was?

Narrow and scary but passable and marked.

It rained very hard the night before and there were new deep mud slicks across the road. Road Guy had his doubts for a brief moment about whether or not we would be able to cross those messes. The trick was to lock in the hubs, then keep rolling, don’t stop.

Narrow, but passable and marked.

A closer look.

Coming to Redwood Canyon, narrow, passable, marked, and look at the next mess!

A “tree mess” is a tangle of multiple trees and roots, unlike a single tree lying across the road. 

The creek at Redwood is roaring. First time I remember ever actually hearing it.

 

These are redwood cones (not to be confused with pine cones or traffic cones.)


Look how many trees were involved in this tree mess.

The mountains beyond, in case you were wondering how things looked.

It is rare to see what the needles of a sequoia tree look like because they are usually many feet above one’s head. (Sequoia=redwood=Big Tree)

We finally made it to the backhoe where it was parked the day before at Cabin Cove. Fancy!

And I got a little demonstration of all the levers and tricks. Road Guy is skilled, experienced, knowledgeable and capable.

Of course I climbed up and sat in the throne. Intimidating piece of equipment.

This has gone on long enough. Tomorrow I will show you what this impressive machine did under the guidance of the very capable Road Guy, all for no pay, all to serve the needs of the Silver City Store and all the cabin folks, and we hope (but do not know yet), the public.

 

Walk on the Mineral King Road

If you receive these posts in email and the pictures in the post don’t show for you, tap here janabotkin.net. It will take you to the blog on the internet.

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.

Chasing the Water on the Mineral King Road

Yesterday we turned around at Lookout Point after walking up the steepest section of the Mineral King Road, and headed back downhill. 

Trail Guy, formerly known as Road Guy, explained that the old road above sloughed off and caused the disturbance that stopped our forward progress. This spot is ABOVE the gate and BELOW Lookout Point.

While he was puttering in the water and mud, I photographed these bay leaves. Too bad we can’t do scratch-and-sniff here.

This weird boulder with its odd indentations is just below where we stopped driving. AGAIN: Above the gate and below Lookout.

I walked down to White Rock, formerly known as Bird Poop Rock, which I explained at the beginning of this post.

Still ABOVE the gate and BELOW Lookout.

We encountered some folks along the way back, and while the dudes were shooting the breeze, I photographed this tree with peculiar bark clusters. (I have no idea. . .)

Ahead is a typical slump of a saturated bank, and beyond that are “the potholes”. This is BELOW the gate.

This is Squirrel Creek, AKA “The Potholes” in this location; it has big holes in the slippery rock face, normally visible and very enticing to folks driving down the hill. Fantastic water flow!

This section of road could be a bit of a problem for a HumVee or other wide vehicle. The county road department certainly has its work cut out for next few weeks (months?). This is BELOW the potholes.Here is another mess. Also below the potholes.

Look at what is happening along the gutter side of the road. I wanted to get out and play in the water, but we’d been gone long enough. 

All the rest of these photos are below the potholes above the Oak Grove Bridge

These folks will have some difficulty accessing their driveway for awhile. It isn’t a primary residence, the owners live far away, and I doubt if they will be too troubled or even know about it. “Whose drive this is, I think I know; his house is in the city though. He will not see us stopping here to watch his drive slide down the road.” (With apologies to Robert Frost)

What is going on here? That plant is shooting up out of the pavement. And so much for last summer’s pothole patching efforts.

Messy, messy, messy.

Let’s conclude this weird little road trip with a look at my favorite bridge. It has been quite a few years since I have been able to see the water because of all the growth obstructing the view. 

Thank you for joining us on this tour. Maybe next week I’ll get some work done and show it to you.

FOR CLARIFICATION: WE DID THIS LITTLE ROAD TRIP THE DAY BEFORE THE PARK ISSUED THEIR ROAD CLOSED DECREE.

One of the Mineral King webcams is working again: mkwebcam.

Mineral King Road

Road update from Sequoia Roads Supervisor:

The current plan is for the Sequoia Road Crew to return to maintenance on the Mineral King road as soon as the current road center and fog line striping project is completed through the Giant Forest area this week.
Mineral King road maintenance will consist of spot brushing priority areas, pothole patching, drainage maintenance, shoulder damage repairs and regrading of the washout above Cold Springs and spot grading of the remaining unpaved sections of roadway, not necessarily in that order. Tentatively starting date of 7/15.

Today’s post isn’t very fun, but it is informative if you or someone you know is planning a trip to Mineral King this summer.

I’ve been driving the Mineral King Road regularly for 35 summers, sometimes weekly. This year it is the worst I have ever experienced.

There is no attempt to smooth it, no pothole patching, no erosion control, and no brushing. None.

Several times I wondered if I should stop, get out of my car, and eyeball the route on foot to find the safest way through the obstacle course. Instead, I crawled along in first gear, sometimes riding the brake to go even slower, and I made it without breaking anything.

My non-objective view is that since Trail Guy (AKA Retired Road Guy) retired 7 years ago, there has been a cumulative effect of his not working on the road. The Park roads department is headed up from an office in Grant Grove, which is in Kings Canyon National Park rather than from Ash Mountain in Sequoia. When Road Guy was there, he made certain that the Mineral King Road was not neglected. As a retiree, he still volunteers many hours on a (borrowed) big yellow machine to clear away the winter snow to get the road opened sooner than if folks waited for the Park or for nature.

The Park’s view might be that the road will be redone in a few years. Do they think that it won’t deteriorate further until that time??

I counted 60 potholes in the paved sections on the four-mile stretch between Silver City and Mineral King.

It would be easy to prune these cottonwoods that obstruct vision on this little stretch.
When potholes are full of water, it is impossible to judge the depth.
Just a random sampling of the potholes on the final stretch of road.

2019 was a real winter, which delayed the opening of the Mineral King road, campgrounds, and our own cabin. Atwell Mill Campground is open, but Cold Springs won’t be opened until July 10. (Most of the passes are snow-covered, but people are backpacking and day hiking anyway.)

Drive carefully. If you find the road to be a problem, it might not hurt to write a letter to the acting superintendent, whose name I do not know. (Woody is away, working at the Grand Canyon this summer.)

You Know You’re A Dork When. . .

. . . you’re in love with a bridge.

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We drove our bikes to the 3 mile marker on the Mineral King Road on Sunday afternoon and rode the 3.5 miles to the Oak Grove Bridge. It was up most of the way, but not horribly upical.

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 The light wasn’t great on the bridge, but it was quite fun to have it be our destination and to just hang out on foot.

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