22-23 June 2020 Mineral King to Windy Gap/Franklin Lakes Trail junctions and back (8 miles, +2,000/-2,000 feet). Ahhhhh. Another trip to Mineral King! My buddy MixMaster has never been here before, and I was eager to show him how beautiful it is. We planned to meet in Visalia and then from there carpool up the crumbling…
Tag: MixMaster
Last Little Bit
Cora Lakes to Isberg Pass Trailhead (5 miles, +200/-1,700 feet). Today was pretty simple: a downhill hike back to the car. But it still had its moments. Here’s a map of the whole trip:
Isberg Pass
Switchbacks above Lyell Fork to Cora Lakes (15 miles, +1,900/-3,100 feet). We awoke to beautiful light on the Clark Range in the distance. And below we could hear the Lyell Fork rushing down to the Merced over steep, vast, and impossibly smooth granite slabs. Soon we packed up and headed into the woods. Today we…
Lyell Fork
Lake 10217 to Lake 11311 and back then downstream to Isberg Pass Trail (10 miles, +2,300/-2,700 feet). Today we started with a day hike to explore the upper Lyell Fork. I’ve mapped it on caltopo, along with our trip yesterday through Bench Canyon: For the most part route finding was straightforward, except the path from…
Bench Canyon
Hemlock Crossing to Lyell Fork of the Merced (10 miles, +4400/-1800 feet). I was hoping a cold morning would reduce the bug pressure, but we didn’t really have one. The temperatures only dropped into the high 50s so the little bloodsuckers were more than happy to greet us as we exited our tents. We had…
Hemlock Crossing
Isberg Pass Trailhead to Hemlock Crossing (9 miles +2400/-1900 feet). Ever since we had to alter our Sierra High Route section hike last year, MixMaster and I have wanted to go to Bench Canyon and Lyell Fork. It is supposed to be one of the most remote and beautiful parts of the Sierra. This summer,…
Sand Point Loop
West Ridge Trail to Aptos Creek Fire Road (12 miles, +2400/-2400 feet). My buddy MixMaster recently moved to NorCal, so I went up to see him and his family after they got settled in. And of course we had to hike! He showed me a nice loop in Nisene Marks State Park. It was so…
A Surprisingly Beautiful Low Route
Dry Lake to San Bernardino Peak Trailhead (18 miles, +3,000/-6,100 feet). When we woke up this morning, we finally got to see a little better where we ended up in the dark last night. Oh well. We were pretty careful to avoid vegetation and I packed out an old tent pole we found nearby to…
Dry Lake
Onyx Summit to Dry Lake (19 miles, +4,000/-3,200 feet). MixMaster and I were planning to head up to Kernville to do a Spring Hike/brewery combo today. But the road to Forks of the Kern Trailhead is still closed today with the monster snows we’ve had this year. So we decided to keep it local. I…
The JimmyJam Hiking Club 