Hello all, I figured since I'm posting around for trip advice I'd start contributing in a way hopefully you folks will appreciate. I dragged myself and a few of my friends up to Mineral King for our first hike out of the heralded hiker's valley last weekend. I had lofty goals of climbing Mount Kaweah that I vaguely knew might be unattainable given our schedule and the early season snow. Needless to say, we didn't make that goal but still had a very pleasant time up in the Sierra.
We travelled to Blackrock Pass the second day after a nice night under the stars at Pinto Lake and decided that instead of pushing ourselves to the limit in descending to the HST/climbing Mt. Kaweah, we’d enjoy a long lunch on the pass and then take a side trip to Spring Lake on the way out. Snow and ice on the backside of Sawtooth Pass was visible as well as on the northern side of Blackrock Pass through Little Five Lakes, even Spring Lake had some residual ice, though that just made for even more appealing scenery at this pleasant lake.
Also of note were the persistent marmots at the trailhead, I learned that the old groundsheet I used to cover the engine block was likely not large enough, though thankfully the Cirque de Soleil moves that this marmot had to have achieved only lead to some damage to the heat shield on the bottom of my hood. Lesson learned, though graciously not the hard way!
All in all it was a great trip. Big mountain scenery and the chance to view the High Sierra with what little snow remains in this drought year. Hope the links to the photos below function, that way maybe sharing the spherical panoramas will justify the weight of carrying all the equipment up with me.
View en route to Blackrock Pass:
Blackrock Pass:
Spring Lake:
Above Timber Gap:
TR: Timber Gap to Blackrock Pass 5/30/14-6/1/14
- MN2CAPisco
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- maverick
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Re: TR: Timber Gap to Blackrock Pass 5/30/14-6/1/14
Thank you for posting this helpful TR and pictures, it gives fellow members an idea of the
conditions in the Mineral King area.
conditions in the Mineral King area.
Professional Sierra Landscape Photographer
I don't give out specific route information, my belief is that it takes away from the whole adventure spirit of a trip, if you need every inch planned out, you'll have to get that from someone else.
Have a safer backcountry experience by using the HST ReConn Form 2.0, named after Larry Conn, a HST member: http://reconn.org
I don't give out specific route information, my belief is that it takes away from the whole adventure spirit of a trip, if you need every inch planned out, you'll have to get that from someone else.
Have a safer backcountry experience by using the HST ReConn Form 2.0, named after Larry Conn, a HST member: http://reconn.org
- cahikr
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Re: TR: Timber Gap to Blackrock Pass 5/30/14-6/1/14
Love the 360 deg. pics
Thanks for the report.
Thanks for the report.
- ndwoods
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Re: TR: Timber Gap to Blackrock Pass 5/30/14-6/1/14
Thanks for posting.
Man even less snow than I thought...
Man even less snow than I thought...
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Re: TR: Timber Gap to Blackrock Pass 5/30/14-6/1/14
Certainly less snow than is common that time of year...though at least at that point if you were to cross Sawtooth Pass crampons/ice axe were recommended and the cornice on Glacier Pass was pretty visible from our vantage at Blackrock.ndwoods wrote:Thanks for posting.
Man even less snow than I thought...
We had another group camp at Pinto Lake near us and they reached the pass a little after us with aspirations of looping around over Sawtooth Pass back to Mineral King. They didn't have traction or self-arrest equipment, so when we saw a ranger patrolling on our way back I was happy to hear that he strongly discouraged that idea and gave them pointers on potential contingency plans should things get dicey.
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