Spending a few summer days at a rustic Silver City cabin in Mineral King is one of the more quintessential family traditions from my childhood. At the end of a long and very curvy road is Mineral King Valley. Once nearly a Disney ski resort, the valley instead is outpopulated by marmots and the occasional hiker willing to brave the drive over the nearby highway through the core of Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. The valley always fascinated me with its interesting metamorphic rocks, minerals, mining relics, caves, karst, and top notch trails. My parents, aunt, sister and her family rented a couple cabins. Heather, Claire, and I opted for the budget option of camping 5 minutes away at Atwell Mill, a fantastic spot among ferns, middle-aged Sequoias, and giant tree stumps of the big ancients that were logged. My most recent trip to Mineral King might have been 2015 so it was nice to have a family meet-up excuse to spend a few relaxing days.
Heather, Claire, and I stopped in Visalia for lunch then drove on past the park entry gate, stopping just beyond the Marble Fork for a couple hour detour to one of my favorite Sequoia swimming holes. Despite the low snow year, it was suitably early season that my favorite swimming hole, the "toilet bowl", was too rambunctious for swimming so we instead carefully clambered down to the calm pool below the gauge and low head dam. The water was cold, not quite frigid with a wetsuit top, refreshing for the heat of the day. We played in the small hydraulics, climbed slippery rocks, and snorkeled to check out all the fish. After we drove further to Hospital Rock to briefly check out the grinding stone platform and pictographs.
Despite recent improvements to the road, the road into Mineral King still took longer than I expected, as is typical. As we drove through chapparal, oak woodlands, and burn scars, Claire became disillusioned as we promised trees and forest. It was not until we were nearly to the campsite that she finally became convinced, jumping out of the car the second we arrived to climb up the nearest large tree stump. We ended up having nearly the most idyllic campsite (#13), about as far from the road as we could get, overlooking a sloping meadow, tent site intimately surrounded by Sequoias, ample shade, and our own private tree stump to climb. As an unexpected bonus, the mosquitoes were nearly nonexistent. After setting camp we drove up the road to catch up with my family in the cabins. I enjoyed watching my niece and nephew instantly get wet and dirty in the small creek, followed by a nice family dinner on the patio and then a campfire complete with smores.
The plan for the first full day was a family hike 1.5 miles to the waterfall and bridge on the Atwell Hockett Trail starting a couple stone throws away from our campsite in Atwell Mill. This was every bit as slow as expected, finally starting the hike at 11am with the pace largely determined by upset kids with one-foot strides. A standout large Sequoia marked the first-third of the hike and the Deadwood Creek crossing marked the second-third. Eventually we arrived at the bridge. I set up my hammock to provide some entertainment for the youngsters and Claire bravely went for a brief dip in the frigid pool beneath the bridge. We made it back shortly before 4pm, then had a nice family dinner at the restaurant. After, the kids were excited to go fishing so we drove on to the roadend, every bit as picturesque as I remembered it. Somehow I got roped into helping kids fish and so soon was coated in worm guts, fish blood, and even had to wade into the creek to retrieve a stuck fishing line. The kids had a lot of fun though and Claire was eventually satisfied with the three fish she caught, only disappointed they were not large enough to keep and eat. It was late by the time we returned back to Silver City so the campfire activities were brief.
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| East Fork Kaweah from the bridge |
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| The picturesque roadend fishing spot |
For the second (last) full day in the valley my dad and I got an 8am start on the 3 mile hike into the White Chief Valley, one of my favorites. The creek coming out of the Tufa Falls karst spring was roaring near the start of the trail. A little further on we saw a pair of deer, otherwise we had the entire approach to ourselves and appreciated the shade. Once we turned the corner into the hanging valley of White Chief, past the sentinels of gnarled foxtail pines, we spotted flowers everywhere. There were carpets unlike I had ever seen here of more than 20 varieties - paintbrushes, lupines, columbines, shooting stars, daisies, and many others I was previously unfamiliar with like sulphur buckwheat and mountain pride (bright pink in frontispiece). Past the meadows, I detoured off the trail to follow the Bogaz stream, the little creeklet that cuts through the marble half as a cave but mostly as a filled in slot canyon. The scalloped marble and crystal-clear waters were stunning in the filtered light. We clambered up a nearby scree slope then followed marble bands covered in yellow columbine over to the higher portion of the White Chief Mine area. Here we enjoyed checking out some of the green garnets, colorful metallic minerals, and sugary marble before continuing on to White Chief Cave.
I first led my dad down the nearby Shower Cave, which required downclimbing around a plug of remnant snow. Beyond, we enjoyed the cool shadows of the unique skylight chamber with dripping water.
Next we went in the main entrance of White Chief Cave as a curious marmot watched on. I led my dad into the standard tilted room I usually go into, but on the way out I decided to detour down towards the sound of rushing water. I came to a sizable room, then the creek, then spotted an additional nice walking passage and prompted my dad to follow me in further. We checked out a little more of the upstream portion of the creek then returned back to the entrance, happy to see a marmot had not snacked on my salty sweat-soaked hat.
We stopped a little longer at some of the lower mine tailings, then began our hike back through the wildflower meadows and then down the side of the main valley. We were the only car in the parking lot not to be diapered up with a tarp to protect from marmots. A marmot popped out of underside of the car but thankfully we did not see any damage.
Back at Silver City we found everyone else on the restaurant deck and I got a slice of fruit of the forest pie with ice cream. After, Claire and Noelle were itching for some more fishing so we drove back down to the road end, this time fishing at the bridge. Claire again caught three fish (and many near-catches) before losing her hook and us calling it good. We at dinner at our campsite then returned to Silver City for a nice final campfire until quite late. We said our goodbyes, with the plan to break camp and head out fairly early instead of more family shenanigans.
On the drive out we stopped at the historic East Fork Bridge and did a short detour up the slope to walk a short distance along the log flume. The rest of the drive was fairly unpleasant, detouring us through Tehachapi and then backroads behind the San Gabriels, around the Cajon Pass, and back down into our local smog. It was fun to spend time with kids, my aunt, and even get a hike in with my dad. Thanks to Heather for organizing our food and camping gear. Thanks to my dad for the hike and family meals.
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