On January 2, Michael and I drove to Mineral King. That is weird for this far into the snow season. The drive up was seasonless – is this late October? early May? Then we walked to Monarch Lake on a mostly dry trail. That is immensely weird.
Okay, I lied a little bit. Michael went to Monarch Lake. I climbed and struggled and finally say “I’m done”.
You can see the lack of snow, but what was there was glistening on Farewell Gap at 9 a.m.
We chose the old trail beneath the spires of Empire. It isn’t maintained, sometimes isn’t visible, is overgrown, disappears under rockslides, splits into multiple choice, but eventually gets you to the destination.
Can you pick out the new trail over there in the ice, snow and shade? That is why we chose the south-facing old trail.
Monarch lake is beneath Sawtooth. Nice “trail”, eh?
As I struggled along, I entertained myself by devising a numerical system to rate walking. #1 is going out to my garage. #10 is “I’m done”. This walk began at a 6-7, which is “this is sort of hard but I can do it and it is even sort of fun”. It became a #8 after about 2-1/2 miles when we were on the non-maintained trail for about a mile. This number is “this is hard and it isn’t fun anymore”. I decided #9 was “this is almost too hard but I can do mind over matter” and that when I hit #10, I’d quit. Gotta save some juice in my legs to get back to the parking lot!
I hit #10 just below the lake. When I emerged from my semi-comatose state, I was able to enjoy the sunshine and this view. I am married to an animal, and he proceeded on toward the lake. He said it was “only 5 more minutes” and I said, “not for me!”
To be continued. . .
4 Comments
To the bestest blog lady ever! Loved the pics of Monarch lake, I have not been there since college. Be thankful you have an animal that will hike with you! You get the prize for even attempting to hike to Monarch. Maybe I will try next summer. Loved also the pics of Kaweah Lake. Suggestion, do a walk-about on the old road to Mineral King. It runs through part of Lake Kaweah and you can only see it in the winter when the water is low. It would be an awesome hike for a day or two! Hugs.Mel
Thank you, Melissa! Back in 1987 Michael and I walked the old MK Road from Oak Grove (the adobe house with the windmill) 4 miles down to Old Bear Ranch. It was the first excursion of the newly formed MKPS. And those old roads in the bottom of Lake Kaweah are exactly where we were on Monday. Pretty astonishing to see evidence of buildings, swimming pools, and the intact bridges after they have spend 50 seasons fully submerged under many many feet of water!
Diane, I’ve never heard the phrase “Foreman Trail”! But I do know that lying trick of “just one more bend/climb/pull/switchback/ridge” and have been guilty of it myself!
I can hear my dad now … “It’s just over the next rise.” And if you have never heard the phrase “Foreman Trail”, let me know … 🙂
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