Once Again Ascending the High Sierra Heaven: Day 1 of my 2021 Backpacking Trip, from Mineral King to Franklin Lake

Mineral King Valley, view north from the Farwell Gap/Franklin Lake Trail Junction

 

 

Date: June 16, 2021
Place: Sequoia National Park, Three Rivers, California
Coordinates: 36.448789, -118.595395
Length: 6.2 miles
Level: strenuous (3060 ft elevation gain)

A week before I went on my Mount Shasta expedition I felt that I was in good shape for that trip. I stuck by a healthy training routine which included regular strenuous hikes and a local backpacking trip on the Ohlone Wilderness Trail. There was only one more thing for me to do to increase my readiness and that was to get some altitude acclimation. I therefore had a backpacking trip planned out, to the High Sierra. I was going again to my favorite playground in the Sierra Nevada range - to the Mineral King area of Sequoia National Park. Because it was important to me to complete this trip for the altitude acclimation I decided to go by myself. 

COVID had changed the way things were. On my previous trips to Mineral King I would arrive there by evening and spend the first night in the established campground near the wilderness center there, and set out in the morning. When I arrived there however, I found that the campground was converted to a 'reservations only' place and that it was completely reserved. I had to drive back all the way down the mountain to the town of Three Rivers where I was lucky to find what was probably the last available room in town. I had a bed and a shower that evening, but I had to forfeit the first night I had planned to spend above 8000 ft.  

I woke up early in the morning, drove all the way up to Mineral King and arrived in time for the opening of the wilderness center. At the wilderness center I listened to the wilderness rules (which I already knew by heart), picked up my permit and drove off to the trailhead's parking area. There I left all my excess food in the bear boxes, wrapped my car in a large tarp to protect it from marmots, and then had to unwrap it to take out my backpack, which I had forgotten inside the car. I then wrapped the car once more and at last, I was ready to get on my way up the mountain. 

The trail to Farwell Gap

The first time I visited Mineral King I was with my family. The chikas were little and we had Grandma Quail with us, so we didn't get much hiking done at the time. When I returned there in the summer of 2015 it was for my first backpacking trip in that area, and my companion was my young chika, then 8 years old. On that trip it took us two days to reach Franklin Lake, where I had planned to get to that evening. It wasn't a long distance - just over six miles, but the elevation gain would be over 3000 ft, much of it at a steep slope.

The first part of the hike as captured by my GPS. 4 miles to the trail split

I started south on the Farwell Gap Trail which goes south along the East Fork Kaweah River , and almost immediately I run into one of the would be vehicle nibblers, a yellow-bellied marmot. He didn't look very eager to chew plastic tubing though.

Yellow-Bellied Marmot

The beginning of the trail shows none of the difficulties to be. It was almost flat, and very soothing to the soul.  large field of California corn lilies stretched from the trail to the Kaweah River, which in that place is but a creek. Years ago when we first visited Mineral King as a family when the chikas were little and with Grandma Quail along, we went to sit by the creek. The chikas played in the water and we relaxed and rested. It would take me several long years before I'd be up there again, with my young chika.

Between the corn lilies bloomed bluebells and other flowers. It was a truly lovely scene.

Ciliate Lungwort, Mertensia ciliata

On the other side of the trail under some large bushes I spotted my first botanical excitement of the day - the Sierra mariposa lily. This delicate, plain-looking flower is the smallest mariposa lily species I've seen. It might not be as fancy as other mariposa lilies but it was great to see. 

Sierra Mariposa, Calochortus minimus

Almost without noticing, the trail begun ascending. It was still flat for long stretches, but small ledges and steps were taking it somewhat higher in short lags. I was also moving away from the river. Tall poplars blocked the rest of the trail from my view. 

Farwell Gap Trail

I was happy to meet one of my regular floral friends of the Sierra Nevada - the Sierra beardstongue penstemon. I saw many of them throughout my day's hike and indeed, on the entire trip. 

Sierra Beardstongue, Penstemon heterodoxus 

On wetter spots along the trail bloomed the marsh checker mallow. Yes, it is a relative of the European marsh mallow. I assume that the Kaweah people had uses for this plant as well. 

Marsh Checker Mallow, Sidalcea ranunculacea

A flash of shine to my left had me look over there. There was a creak there, Eagle Creek, that cascaded in a short series of steps down to the valley. Shorty after I passed the watery spot where it crossed the trail on its way to the Kaweah River. 

Eagle Creek 

Yellow-flowered buckwheat shrubs added their intense sulfur color to the lovely summer scene along the trail. These flowers are fairly odorless. I was thankful they didn't smell like sulfur. 

As expected, with all the flower festival going on, the insects were all over the place. There were multitudes of butterflies swarming in the air and other six-legged beings that might not be as colorful but beautiful and interesting as well. There there were the less visible but noisy insects too, like the cicadas/ I could hear them all around but saw only the empty shells of their final metamorphosis. 

Cicada Skin

Some insects were very small. I am pleased that I got this tiny metallic-green bee in reasonable focus. Later that trek I got to see another one and didn't get better photos although that individual was stationary. 

A bee visiting lupine flowers

The butterflies however, were the true insect celebrities of that hike, and the large swallowtails were the celebrities of the butterflies. 

Swallowtail Butterfly, on Erysimum perenne 

Other butterflies might have been smaller, but no less pretty. The flower this one is siting on is also a very common one in the mountain. It's called wall flower but grows just about everywhere, not only on walls. 

Checkerspot Butterfy, on Erysimum perenne 

After crossing Eagle Creek the trail's slope became more noticeable. It was still in the 'easy' range, though, and I was making good progress without much effort. The view of the valley ahead was still mostly blocked by tall vegetation but Tulare Peak remained in view nearly the entire time. 

Farwell Gap Trail

My backpack was heavier than I needed it to be and that was purposeful. The load I was expected to carry on the Mount Shasta expedition would be even heavier, so was written in the outing's online description. Carrying heavy packs was part of the recommended training, a part which I had not done all too seriously. All and all, there were only a few extra 'luxury' items that I brought with me on the Mineral King trip, but they did weigh down my pack with an excess of nearly two kilograms. I could walk just fine with the heavy load but it did make it more difficult for me to stoop down for tiny little flowers. Oh, well. 

Large gooseberry bushes were much easier to photograph, with the flowers being right in front of my face. 

Gooseberry, Ribes sp. 

Bees are also celebrity bugs in my eyes. They are very charming and are no less beautiful than the celebrated butterflies, in my humble opinion.  

Bumblebee feasting on a Large-leaved Lupine, Lupinus poliphyllus

The soft, honey fragrance fo ceanothus filled the air. Sure enough, I saw ceanothus bushes blooming next to the trail. I've hiked in places where ceanothus was the most dominant plant, but here it was just one humble member of a highly diverse plant community. 

Ceanothus sp. 

There were many grasshoppers along the trail. The jumped off the trail when I approached, filling the air with their click sound and flashing the colors of their wings - orange or red. Most of them disappeared in the vegetation but a few of them were nice enough to pause within my view and stay there long enough for a photoshoot. 

Grasshopper

The trail was going steadily up now, though still at a mild slope. It was also curving more and around one of the curves after I cleared some of the poplar stands I saw Crystal Creek up ahead. I remembered it from my 2015 backpacking trip with my chika. On that trip we needed to wade in the water in order to cross it. I also remembered it as an excellent resting stop with many wildflowers. I remembered a large, red California fuchsia that was blooming near the creek crossing. 

Crystal Creek 

The fuchsia was nowhere to see. I wondered if it died , or just wasn't blooming and I failed to recognize its foliage. The mountain pride penstemon however, was proudly blooming there, just as I remembered from my previous hike. 

Mountain Pride, Penstemon newberryi 

The rock ledges near the creek crossing were beautiful on their own right, but many wildflowers decorated them in perfect adornment. 

Paintbrush, Castilleja sp. 

Surrounded with all this floral splendor it was easy to forget that I was there in mid-June and that it was a bad drought year. I saw the same fancy display on my 2015 trip there, but then it was near the end of August, nearly two months later in the season. 

Crystal Creek drops into the valley in a series of small and pretty cascades. On August 2015 we had to wade in the water to cross Crystal Creek. This time I simply hopped on a few stones to get across, with only the bottom of my shoes wetted. 

Crystal Creek 

On my 2015 trip with my chika we stopped there to have lunch. This time I got there fairly quickly, too early for lunch. I did stop there however, to fill up on water. 

While I was filtering my water I noticed an unusual thing stuck underneath a rock ledge not far from where I was sitting. I went over to check it out: I think this might have been the nest of a wasp but I'm not sure. There was no activity inside or near the structure. 

 I looked down and suddenly realized that I was already pretty high above the valley floor. The trail's slope was mildly deceiving. I knew that after the creek crossing the slope would get much steeper. Soon I'd be 'stitching' my way back and forth through a series of switchbacks that will take me much higher by a much shorter trail length. 

Shortly after resuming my hike I found my second mariposa lily species. It was also the last of the hike, but I didn't know it at the time. 

Leichtlin's Mariposa Lily, Calochortus leichtlinii

There was a change in altitude, as well as in the landscape. Accordingly, there were different wildflower species blooming along this part of the trail.  The neurons in my brain were firing up memories of these very same wildflowers, having seen them 6 years before. 

And then there were the first timers, those incredible wildflowers that I never seen before in bloom, like this pine woods checker lily.

Pine Woods Checker Lily, Fritillaria pinetorum

There were other, less happy changes from what I remembered. These two trees were both living when I was there on 2015. Now one was dead, possibly a combination of drought and pathogen attack.

View down on the Mineral King Valley.

The twisted old Sierra juniper that stands in the corner of one of the switchbacks was still there and still alive. It looked exactly the same as it looks in its 2015 photo.

Sierra Juniper, Juniperus grande

On a small ledge of a rock outcrop I found a small dragon figurine. It was so out of place that I burst out laughing. If I wasn't on the way out I might have taken it with me because as funny as this may be, I don't like seeing these things in the wilderness, they don't belong there. As it was, I didn't want to carry any more so I left it there hoping that whomever placed it would take it on his/her way down.

Dragonus californianus

I ascended steadily up the trail. The switchbacks became shorter and tighter and my view kept switching from the down view of the Mineral King Valley where I had come from, and the Farwell Gap, the origin of the Kaweah River. I didn't need rest pauses but I did go slow, measuring my steps by my breathes. Looking at wildflowers helped me keep my pace slow and steady.

Mountain Wax Currant, Ribes cereum var. inebrians

Large flies were present as well, doing their share in pollinating the multitude of wildflowers. I don't normally fancy flies but this one looked interesting, even cute.

Fly

Away from the creek I was no longer going through stands of poplars, but through loose groups of conifers, most of which I believe were firs. There were some pine trees as well, and junipers too, but the firs were the tallest and seemed to be the most numerous at the altitude I was at the time.

It was around noon time when I almost reached the highest switchback of that set. I was alone on the trail so far but then I became aware of voices way down below me. That by itself didn't alarm me, I expected to see other hikers on that trail. The voices however, were agitated. It took me a few moments but I spotted them - two people, man and woman, stood facing each other on the lowest part of the switchback set, having a vocal argument accompanied with wide arm gestures. I was too far and high and they didn't see me. There was no physical contact and no threatening gestures as far as I could tell, but the situation was so out of place and it made me feel uneasy. I couldn't make out the words so I've no idea what the argument was about. Snapped a few shots of the pair hoping they'll never be needed as testimony, and continued on.

Farwell Gap

Farwell Gap seemed much closer now. I knew I was getting near the trail junction where I would go east toward Franklin Lake. The Farwell Gap trail continues on though the gap and beyond, into the Wilderness of the Sequoia National Forest. Perhaps next time I backpack in the area I'll go through Farwell Gap and see what lies beyond.

Lewis' Flax, Linum lewisii

A second set of switchbacks leads to the Farwell Gap/Franklin Lake trail junction. Just below the switchback set there's a relatively flat area near the creek. It was there that my chika and I stopped for the first night of our backpacking trip on August of 2015. Then we got there late in the afternoon and I decided to make our camp there when I realized that my chika won't make it all the way up to Franklin Lake that day. Now I looked down at the place with nostalgia and continued right on - today I would go all the way up to the lake.

1st night on 2015 trip with my young chika

The second set of switchbacks that leads to the trail junction is etched in an exposed slope with little vegetation coverage and magnificent view of the Farwell Gap ahead and the valley behind. I noticed that the creek bottom was completely dry already, and it was mid June.

Farwell Gap Trail

The small scree of that slop supported many small plants, nearly all were blooming, to my delight. I was slowing down now, the altitude beginning to have its effect on me, but the wildflowers made a great excuse for frequent pauses. 

The slope I was ascending at the time seemed unchanged at all since the last time I hiked there on 2015. It still looked like having had a recent landslide, with very little plant recovery and gravel stability.

Spreading Phlox, Phlox diffusa 

When I reached higher there was more plant coverage and the soil was covered with dead plant material with only large rocks poking through. The slop became milder and I crossed moist areas that supported more wetland type flora.

Meadow Deathcamas, Toxicoscordion venenosum

At some point I was overtaken by the two hikers that I saw arguing far below me earlier. The were walking fast, the man ahead and the woman a few steps behind him. They wore somber expressions on their faces and they didn't say anything, but they did nod to me as they passed me. Soon they vanished around the curve. I wondered if I'd see them at the Franklin Lake camp area.

Farwell Gap Trail

When I reached the trail junction I sat down for a short break. I had a small snack but although it was lunchtime but the junction was in a too exposed a place and there was no open water nearby so I decided to wait with the longer break until I reached the meadow before that final ascend to the lake. I couldn't see that meadow because the trail disappeared behind a curve shortly after the junction but I did have a grand view of the Mineral King valley down to the north, and the winding trail which I just ascended. (Header photo at the top of this blog post).

Torrey's Collinsia, Collinsia torreyi

One more thing I did at the trail junction besides resting and snacking was to reset my navigator. On my 2015 trip my daughter and I hiked in two days what this time I was doing on a single day. I had a different navigator then and I wished to compare the lags of that trip with what my current instrument was measuring. The major altitude gain would be on this second part, and it would span a much shorter distance, meaning a much steeper ascent.

The second part of my hike as captured by my GPS, 2.2 miles

A shorter distance however, doesn't mean less things to see or less photos to show, of course. I was heading into the higher regions where I knew there would be grand sights and many alpine wildflowers that I wouldn't have seen in the lower valleys. 

Except for the crimson columbine. That one blooms everywhere, from sea level to the High Sierra. It is very lovely wherever I see it. 

Crimson Columbine, Aquilegia formosa

To get to Franklin Lake the trail does a big curve around a protruding mountain slope. In the beginning the trail was fairly level and I progressed quickly.

Franklin Lake Trail

The rock there wasn't granite. I don't know what type of rock it was but it was colorful and gorgeous. From far the rock outcrops looked bare but as I walked by I saw many tiny flowers blooming wherever there was some soil accumulation.

Davidson's Phacelia, Phacelia davidsonii

Really tiny flowers, but many of them.

Sierra Nevada Leptosiphon, Leptosiphon oblanceolatus

A short segment of the trail is cut through the rock in a way that has a wall on one side and a sharp drop on the other. I remembered having to help my chika through this segment during our 2015 trip because of her fear of heights. Now I was on my own and I could pay more attention to the beautiful rock patterns.

Franklin Lake Trail

I took many rock photos in that short trail segment and it was very hard to choose which to post here. I didn't want this post to be too heavy so I'm only posting one of these that was the most interesting to me.

As the trail curved around the slope I came upon more and more moisture, and even crossed a few above-ground trickles of water. \these were accompanied by the expected change in vegetation.

Feathery False Lily of the Valley, Maianthemum racemosum.

There was also the expected surge in mosquito density and I took a minute to pull out my bug repellent and apply it thoroughly. All in all, the mosquitos weren't as bad as they were on my previous hikes in the area.

Alpine Shooting Star, Primula tetrandra

Around the trail curve the view of upper Franklin Creek opened up. The creek was running, the water dropping in a series of cascades down to the valley. I could hear the sound of the whitewater and I thought that it would have been fun to go all the way up to the creek. I knew the trail would catch up with it just below the lake.

Franklin Creek

I was getting hungry and I increased my pace. The trail was going steadily up but at a very mild grade and I was making good time, despite stopping for wildflowers. The place where I wanted to stop was not far and I told myself that I'd have a long break there.

Sanddune Wallflower, Erysimum perenne

Looking down I saw an odd looking rock, shaped like a leaf's stomate. It looked very much out of place and according to members of the California Geology group, this rock was likely to have been displaced by either glaciers or landslides or both. At home I realised that I had photographed the very same rock from theat very same view point on my trip there with my chika 7 years ago.

The trail was no longer going by the rocky cliffs but through a series of large slopes of scree. The scree was fairly stable - I concluded that from the numerous plants that grew between the rocks. On the other hand these were pretty small plants so perhaps the scree was unstable after all. Eiither way, I didn't linger there but moved on quickly.

Ledge Stonecrop, Rhodiola integrifolia

When I finally reached thesmall meadow just below the final ascent i was ready to eat a horse (not really ...). I crossed Franklin Creek and dropped my backpack next to that bouler in the photo. I sat there for a good long time, having the first long rest today and enjoying a lengthy meal. Then I filtered more water and watched the butterflies and other insects zoom by me. I was surprized at how few people I saw on the trail today. There were these two hikers in a conflict and a couple of others coming down the mountain and that was about it. I was alone on the trail nearly the entire time.

Franklin Creek

Blue butterflies were the most common insect around (thankfully not the mosquitos). They came in hoards to suck the moisture from the wet soil near the creek.

Blue Butterfly

Those blue butterflies that were not busy on the ground kept busy on the flouwers all around. Many of them were busy chasing one another, too.

Groundsel, Senecio sp.

I stayed at that little meadow nearly an hour but eventually it was time to move on. I hoisted my pack and started up the trail, up the last set of switchbacks to Franklin Lake.  About a third of the way up I turned around and looked down at the little meadow where I stopped to rest. It looked like a lovely gem, standing out against the gray rocks surrounding it.

The concept of 'treeline' means the altitude above which trees don't grow anymore. It is a bit deceiving because this altitude changes from place to place, even within the same general area. Moreover, even above that 'line' some stubborn trees can be found, usually stunted and weather-worn. High altitude trees are usually conifers, but aspens are also found in high altitude. I haven't seen elderberry this high though. This elderberry I saw growing happily at about 10,000 ft.

Red Elderberry, Sambucus racemosa

On my part, I was glad to have come up to that altitude with no signs of altitude sickness. I did walk slowly, but that's normal for me even at sea level. I had no problems breathing, no nausea, no headaches, nothing. I was very happy to be up there, and I was happy to have brought the heavy camera with me because there was so much to see and to photograph.

Mountain Butterweed, Senecio integerrimus

Approaching the basin of Franklin Lake the trail leveled. Knowing what lies ahead I slowed down my pace and took in the view with my entire being. Last time I hiked this trail I was too busy encouraging my young chika to go on and reach the camp site. This time I allowed myself to blend with the surrounding and let my spirit expand and fill it.

Franklin Lake Trail

Another marmot was waiting for me on a rock near the trail. Like a sentinel at the gates of heaven, it eyed me as I passed through.

Yellow-bellied Marmot

I wasn't above the treeline yet but there were much fewer trees growing along the trail there, nearly all of them Sierra Junipers or Foxtail Pines. Closer to the ground the trail side was decorated with buckwheat, groundsel, and cinquefoil.

Buckwheat, Eriogonum sp.

And there was this plant that looked like cinquefoil but wasn't. My guess wasn't far off though, they are relatives.

Sierra Woodbeauty, Drymocallis lactea

I was very near the lake now. The map listed three campsites near Franklin Lake, the first of which was located near Franklin Creek just below its spill from the lake. That campsite was where I stayed with my chika on the second night of our 2015 trip. I toyed with the idea of staying there again but when I arrived right above the place I saw a tent there. It was already occupied. There was plenty of space there. I could have stopped there and pitch my tent distant enough to not crowd the people there. But there was still plenty of daylight left and although I was ready to stop, I wasn't fatigued. I decided to go on to the upper campsites.

The meadow below the Franklin Lake spillway

Going on meant climbing yet another set of switchbacks to a level high above the lake. I took a deep breath of thin and pure mountain air and started up the trail again. Little violets smiled to e from the rock crevices, approving of my choice.

Pine Violet, Viola pinetorum

I followed the trail up and up and up. When I finally saw Franklin Lake I was far above it. I hoped the camp site would be closer to the water. the map had them marked near the far end of the lake so I needed to walk some more. 

As on my previous trip, I noticed the dam on the lake. I assume the original lake is natural and that the dam was placed there to raise the water level. What was the reason for it I don't know.

Franklin Lake

The walk above the lake was simply magical. Leaving the trees behind me I had the full lake in my view. When I was there on 2015 we did go up until that viewpoint, before deciding to go back down to the lower campsite. Going on from there and I was going further than I went before on that route. 

 

Franklin Lake is small, small and perfect. It was also a sad view because it was mid-June and the surrounding mountains should have had a lot of snow on them. The lake and its surrounding peaks looked exactly as they did on my 2015 trip, a trip that took place in the later part of August. The positive side was that the air was clear, without any sign of smoke. I also didn't worry about being too cold up there.

Franklin Lake

I kept looking for the campsites marked on the map. I saw a couple of tents mid way between the trail and the water. Some distance ahead were a few flat areas where it was clear that people have camped before. Then I spotted a single bear box. There was no tent near the box, and without thinking twice I set foot over there.

Foxtail Pine, Pinus balfouriana

I reached the bear box and opened it. There were a few items inside it, but the nearest tent was a good distance away. I guess my mind was a bit affected by the altitude because my guess was that the items were left there by hikers who might be back later that day. I found  a flat area near the bear box and pitched my tent. Then I faced the challenge of getting down to the lake to fetch water. There was no obvious trail down and I had to improvise a path that involved some scrambling and a bit precarious footing. By then it was getting late and I didn't have too much time to look for a better path. 

When I came back up with full bottles I found a couple of backpackers sitting on the ledge near my tent, cooking dinner. The items in the bear box were theirs and their tent was the one I noticed hidden in the trees further east. These were not the arguing pair that I saw earlier that day, but a couple of honeymooners from the East Coast. We had a nice chat during which two more people arrived - the occupiers of the lower campsite below the dam. They came up to place their food items in the bear box. It was the only bear box near Franklin Lake, I realized. Every camper in the area (there weren't too many of them, thankfully) was storing their food there. Foolishly, I pitched my tent right there, rather than at a respectful distance from that hub. I felt like an intruder in a party, but I was too tired to move my camp so I resigned to being woken up by others' activity in the morning.

It was time to cook my own dinner. When the others finished their business and went away I too wrapped up my stuff and secured my cookware and bear canister inside the bearbox. Then I sat on the ledge and watched the sunset.

It was a perfect ending to a perfect day. I sat quietly, listening to my own thoughts. Tomorrow I'd go up to Franklin Pass and beyond, where I never been before. 

I usually don't sleep well on first nights, especially when alone. This night however, I slept very well. It was a perfect night.

A link to Day 2 of the trip.

Many thanks to members of the California Native Plant Society for their help in identifying plants!

 

Many thanks to members of the California Geology Forum for the information about the local rocks!