Mineral King or Rae Lakes... help me decide!

[gelias96]

idk where in LA you are but you might want to leave earlier than 2am since getting to Mineral King ranger station will take about 5-6 hours. The road in there is very curvy and takes forever. It's shorter by distance than getting to Cedar Grove or Lodgepole but takes an extra hour longer.

Okay great then it'll probably be more like 12-1 AM. Thanks for the heads up.

[oleander]

Aren't the marmots out in force in Mineral King this early in the season? Requiring marmot-proofing of one's car? That's the reason I've always done Mineral King after July 31 - but maybe things have changed?

The Mineral King car campgrounds are popular nowadays. If your start is not till Saturday and you need a car campground on Friday night, you may need to drive into the CG mid-morning and hover next to someone who is packing up their car to leave. That was the situation last time I camped there on a Thursday night. Oh the hungry masses who showed up on Friday morning, waiting to pounce on my campsite and any and all others where people were imminently leaving. And that was on a non-holiday weekend.

[oddtiger]

I did the Rae Lakes loop plus a side trip to the Window Peak lake drainage 6/8-6/10. Snow was not much a concern except for the north-facing cross-country area above 11000ft along the window peak drainage. Glen pass was well-traveled and I believe at this moment everything should be clear after the heat wave last week. All creeks are passable (falling trees in the Paradise valley) as long as you are fine with wet shoes.


I'm actually heading to Mineral King from LA this Friday night, and planing to explore the Farewell Gap -> Silver Lake -> Shotgun pass -> Franklin Pass mini-loop on 6/30 and 7/1. I don't have a detailed plan but my only concerns would be the marmots in the parking lot and the skeeters... a tarp for the car and a bug net for myself should help a bit...

[Gazelle]

I did get snagged for sleeping in my car at the TH at mineral king, so be sly, he told me to find a friend at a campground I got out then he came back and said I could stay as long as my food was in the bear boxes...so be sly!! 1 year early season I definitely tarpped my car better safe then sorry I would say 50% did but I was going to be gone for 7-8 days.