What's wrong with my Mineral King 50ish-mile itinerary?

[wildhiker]

Kpeter - you plan to go past Little Claire Lake and camp on Soda Creek or Lost Creek. Little Claire Lake is hands-down a much more scenic place to camp. It has an amazing view both up the basin to Sawtooth Peak (all white granite - beautiful in the moonlight) and down Soda Creek and over to the Sierra crest. I saw the most amazingly colorful sunrise ever over the Sierra crest from Little Claire Lake.
-Phil

[maverick]

Kpeter - you plan to go past Little Claire Lake and camp on Soda Creek or Lost Creek. Little Claire Lake is hands-down a much more scenic place to camp.

Lake 10470 at the headwaters of Soda Creek on the way to Amphitheater Lake

Also, the FLL area around Lake 10410 are well worth visiting and spending the night.

[kpeter]

Kpeter - you plan to go past Little Claire Lake and camp on Soda Creek or Lost Creek. Little Claire Lake is hands-down a much more scenic place to camp. It has an amazing view both up the basin to Sawtooth Peak (all white granite - beautiful in the moonlight) and down Soda Creek and over to the Sierra crest. I saw the most amazingly colorful sunrise ever over the Sierra crest from Little Claire Lake.
-Phil

Such painful decisions! Maybe I have to figure out how to stretch this to 8 days Now, if I could get from Little Claire to Little Five Lake 10410 in a day without destroying my 58 year old body, then it would all fit! It is 12 miles and 3000 feet, so perhaps I can manage it.

[kpeter]

I just got off the phone with the Mineral King rangers--they were VERY nice and helpful. My trip is still 6 days away so I will check in again, but at the moment there is an iceflow between Precipice and Hamilton that some folks with ice axes and crampons are turning away from--and people without that gear shouldn't consider it at present. But it will be another 10 days before I arrive there. If it remains too sketchy for me, the alternative would be for me to turn around and go out via Black Rock Pass. That wouldn't be a half bad idea anyway

Black Rock has some snow on the switchbacks, but fortunately the steep switchbacks are clear.

On Franklin Pass she said there was still quite a lot of snow on the east side, but people are getting over it with no special equipment. Traction and ice axe would be good safety measures, though, she said.

It looks like my pack just got heavier.

But here is a pretty plausible alternative itinerary. I might like it better, actually, and it would avoid the iceflow.

1) Mineral King to Franklin Lakes.
2) Franklin Lakes to Little Claire. Get in early enough for a dayhike from Little Claire to explore 10569, 10469.
3) Little Claire to Little 5 Lake 10410 (long).
4) Layover. Dayhike the Little 5 and Big 5 basins.
5) Lake 10410 to first lake in Nine Lakes Basin.
6) Layover. Dayhike over Kaweah Gap, see Precipice lake, look down on Hamilton. Dayhike 9 Lakes Basin
7) Nine Lakes Basin to Blackrock Pass to Pinto Lake (long).
8) Pinto Lake to Mineral King and home

[sparky]

Crescent Meadow to Mineral King would be SUCH a great trip, without having to drop to the Keweah River.

I did that exact trip with my two kids (11 and 14 yr old) and one of their friends back in 1999. Crescent Meadow to Kaweah Gap to Blackrock Pass to Glacier Pass to Mineral King.

I did this trip with a hitch back to lodgepole. Except instead of blackrock, I went from the uppermost little 5 lake to the upper big 5 lake basin, and then took ?bunny ears pass? to spring lake then to Glacier pass.

I would definitely do it again if the logistics weren't so difficult

[Harlen]

With reference to the post just above, an option that avoids the tough logistics is to go in via Sawtooth, up to 9 Lakes Basin, climb something with a beautiful view, (Black K. - Red K., Triple Divide Pk., ...) and then come back via Black Rock and Glacier Passes? It's a great little circle.

I guess one would lose the High Sierra Trail sights, which I can't really comment on, having hiked the last, best miles from Crescent Meadow to Hamilton Lake in the dark. Kaweah Gap is a great area, and it can easily be explored from 9 Lakes basin.

Heading into 9 Lakes Basin from Big Arroyo

Heading down the west side of Blackrock Pass

Beautiful lake below Glacier Pass