TR: Mineral King Loop over Labor Day Weekend
Posted: Thu Sep 11, 2014 9:18 pm
Here’s a trip report from the Mineral King loop we did over Labor Day weekend. Thanks again to everyone on HST who lent advice!
We ended up as a group of eight, with one person who had never been backpacking before, one person who had been on one previous single-night trip, and one person who hadn’t been backpacking since he was a teenager. Our overall route was Timber Gap Trailhead - Pinto Lake - Black Rock Pass - Little Five Lakes - Free Day at/around Little Five - Big Five Lakes - Lost Canyon - Columbine Lake - Sawtooth Pass back to the car over five days on the trail.
We drove down to Mineral King on Wednesday night, camped at Cold Springs Campground, picked up our permit and hit the trail Thursday morning around 10 am – a little later than we had wanted. It was roughly 2,000 feet up in about 2 miles, followed by about 2,000 feet down and then another 2,000 or so back up to Pinto Lake. What a day.
On Day 2 we slogged up Black Rock Pass. Remembering that we had gone clockwise because someone had told us it’s better to go up Black Rock Pass rather than Sawtooth made us wonder exactly how bad Sawtooth would be (which we’d find out later). Hard as it was, we had excellent views of Spring Lake and Cyclamen Lake heading up to the pass, and when we got over we were treated to a great view of the basin.
We headed down towards Little Five Lakes and camped at the large site close to the bear bin where we were able to fit four tents easily. We were lucky that there were bear bins at Pinto Lake and Little Five Lakes—we have a bad habit of carrying a LOT of food weight. We all had lemons (in hopes of fish), and other fresh produce. That evening we fished at the next lake over and pulled in about 25 rainbow trout in an hour or so. We threw most of them back and had a small fish feast back at camp.
We had decided to camp at Little Five Lakes for two nights so that people who wanted to go to Nine Lakes Basin and Kaweah Gap could do so as a day hike, and those who just wanted to hang out could stay and enjoy Little and Big Five Lakes. Maybe it was the feeling that nothing could be harder than Black Rock Pass, or maybe it was the fact that we were already all the way out there and we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to swim in Precipice Lake -- three of us hiked out to Nine Lakes Basin, Kaweah Gap and Precipice Lake on a 14 mile (roundtrip) day hike. We were handsomely rewarded with stunning views of the Kaweahs, Big Arroyo, and Nine Lakes Basin. Precipice Lake, we all agreed, was one of the most stunning lakes we had ever seen. The water was so clear, blue and pristine and the lake was so dramatic with the plunging mountain. We had a great lunch and swim before heading back to Little Five Lakes. And we were sure to pump some of that magical water to drink on the hike back.
The rest of our group had fished the day away. One friend, who has been fishing in the Sierras his whole life, proclaimed it to be his best fishing day ever.
On day four we hiked Lost Canyon to Columbine Lake. Lost Canyon was practically glowing and the hike up to Columbine wasn’t bad.
When we got to the top we got to take in all the beauty of the Canyon on one side and Columbine on the other. It was just another instance of us feeling incredibly lucky to be in the Sierras.
We fished and swam in Columbine and watched the sunset over the martian terrain. There were actually a lot of campsites open and we picked one with a view of Black Rock Pass – if you look closely you can see the trail.
The next morning we had a late, lazy breakfast and a final swim before tackling Sawtooth Pass. It was a relatively easy climb to the top, with excellent trail markers. We spent quite a bit of time at the top, knowing that once we started the descent we would be on our way out of the mountains. More than one of us remarked, who knew when we would be able to return to Columbine.
The trail down was nuts. Inconsistent marking and lots of sliding gravel on steep terrain made us realize why we had entered through Black Rock Pass instead of Sawtooth. Our group split in two on the way down and one group ended up taking what we’ll call the scenic route. We met back up at Monarch Lakes where we had a final swim and lunch. The last few miles back to the trailhead felt like some of the longest miles ever, only to be followed by a 5+ hour drive home. The end of our trips are always bittersweet but we always manage to squeeze in a traditional victory beer at the end.
One last note – we did not encounter a single mosquito during our trip. A sign of the apocalypse?
We ended up as a group of eight, with one person who had never been backpacking before, one person who had been on one previous single-night trip, and one person who hadn’t been backpacking since he was a teenager. Our overall route was Timber Gap Trailhead - Pinto Lake - Black Rock Pass - Little Five Lakes - Free Day at/around Little Five - Big Five Lakes - Lost Canyon - Columbine Lake - Sawtooth Pass back to the car over five days on the trail.
We drove down to Mineral King on Wednesday night, camped at Cold Springs Campground, picked up our permit and hit the trail Thursday morning around 10 am – a little later than we had wanted. It was roughly 2,000 feet up in about 2 miles, followed by about 2,000 feet down and then another 2,000 or so back up to Pinto Lake. What a day.
On Day 2 we slogged up Black Rock Pass. Remembering that we had gone clockwise because someone had told us it’s better to go up Black Rock Pass rather than Sawtooth made us wonder exactly how bad Sawtooth would be (which we’d find out later). Hard as it was, we had excellent views of Spring Lake and Cyclamen Lake heading up to the pass, and when we got over we were treated to a great view of the basin.
We headed down towards Little Five Lakes and camped at the large site close to the bear bin where we were able to fit four tents easily. We were lucky that there were bear bins at Pinto Lake and Little Five Lakes—we have a bad habit of carrying a LOT of food weight. We all had lemons (in hopes of fish), and other fresh produce. That evening we fished at the next lake over and pulled in about 25 rainbow trout in an hour or so. We threw most of them back and had a small fish feast back at camp.
We had decided to camp at Little Five Lakes for two nights so that people who wanted to go to Nine Lakes Basin and Kaweah Gap could do so as a day hike, and those who just wanted to hang out could stay and enjoy Little and Big Five Lakes. Maybe it was the feeling that nothing could be harder than Black Rock Pass, or maybe it was the fact that we were already all the way out there and we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to swim in Precipice Lake -- three of us hiked out to Nine Lakes Basin, Kaweah Gap and Precipice Lake on a 14 mile (roundtrip) day hike. We were handsomely rewarded with stunning views of the Kaweahs, Big Arroyo, and Nine Lakes Basin. Precipice Lake, we all agreed, was one of the most stunning lakes we had ever seen. The water was so clear, blue and pristine and the lake was so dramatic with the plunging mountain. We had a great lunch and swim before heading back to Little Five Lakes. And we were sure to pump some of that magical water to drink on the hike back.
The rest of our group had fished the day away. One friend, who has been fishing in the Sierras his whole life, proclaimed it to be his best fishing day ever.
On day four we hiked Lost Canyon to Columbine Lake. Lost Canyon was practically glowing and the hike up to Columbine wasn’t bad.
When we got to the top we got to take in all the beauty of the Canyon on one side and Columbine on the other. It was just another instance of us feeling incredibly lucky to be in the Sierras.
We fished and swam in Columbine and watched the sunset over the martian terrain. There were actually a lot of campsites open and we picked one with a view of Black Rock Pass – if you look closely you can see the trail.
The next morning we had a late, lazy breakfast and a final swim before tackling Sawtooth Pass. It was a relatively easy climb to the top, with excellent trail markers. We spent quite a bit of time at the top, knowing that once we started the descent we would be on our way out of the mountains. More than one of us remarked, who knew when we would be able to return to Columbine.
The trail down was nuts. Inconsistent marking and lots of sliding gravel on steep terrain made us realize why we had entered through Black Rock Pass instead of Sawtooth. Our group split in two on the way down and one group ended up taking what we’ll call the scenic route. We met back up at Monarch Lakes where we had a final swim and lunch. The last few miles back to the trailhead felt like some of the longest miles ever, only to be followed by a 5+ hour drive home. The end of our trips are always bittersweet but we always manage to squeeze in a traditional victory beer at the end.
One last note – we did not encounter a single mosquito during our trip. A sign of the apocalypse?