Trip to Sawtooth Pass/Peak in Mineral King

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Moondust
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Trip to Sawtooth Pass/Peak in Mineral King

Post by Moondust »

Three of us from Kern River Valley Hiking Club made a day trip to Mineral King last Tuesday (June 26). We climbed up Sawtooth Pass, and then two of us went on to Sawtooth Peak. Here are the photos, which were all taken by Holly and Gre (pron. Gray), since I made a dumb move and dropped my camera off the mountain :angry:

http://moondust.smugmug.com/gallery/3067783

About the marmots - we stopped at the ranger station and asked if it was safe to park at the trailhead. He told us we should still park across the road near the ranger station. We parked, and as we were getting our gear together, a big marmot ran right by us, scurried under a little Ford pickup, and jumped up into the engine compartment! I ran back to the ranger station to tell him, but all he said was that he walked over there throughout the day. He seemed quite unconcerned about the marmot. I went back and we scared the marmot out by banging on the hood of the pickup, but we decided then and there to use the orange plastic fence we had brought to wrap up our vehicle. I figured if the marmot had some easy pickin's it would leave my car alone if it was harder to access. So don't believe that your car is safe next to the ranger station!!

I would like to do Sawtooth Peak again, since we were unable to locate the summit register. It was getting late and we didn't have a lot of time to look. I also suspect there was an easier way to get to the summit. At least one trip report I read said he made it from the Pass to the summit in just over 30 minutes. We took about 90. And KathyW, you were very brave to sit on the summit block!!
KathyW

Post by KathyW »

I've never seen a male grouse out there - I hear them, but I only see the females. Those are great pictures. I know it took me forever to get to the summit of Sawtooth from Monarch Lake when I did it - I'm not very fast. I'll bet the register is missing like a lot of the others - it was right next to the summit block last fall. The Mineral King area is really beautiful. Were the mosquitoes bad?

I'm not so sure I'm real smart sometimes getting on those summit blocks - I thought about that this past weekend when I got up on Brewer's summit block even though the register was down below it.
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Moondust
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Post by Moondust »

The mosquitos were not as bad as I feared. Right after you cross Monarch Creek at Groundhog Meadow they will usually eat you alive, but for whatever reason there were only a few.

This was the first time I had seen a male grouse. Probably time of day had a lot to do with it. I usually get back earlier in the day.
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