Part 1: Driving to Mineral King
Since its the fourth of July weekend and I’m in Nepal not doing anything outdoorsy for the weekend, thought I’d reminisce about another weekend 2 years ago...
The year - 2013: Since we had a good break ahead of us, we decided to capitalize on the 4th of July weekend. In retrospect, I think capitalizing on the 4th of July weekend is a lost cause because there are just sooo many people out and about. No matter where you decide to go, there is guaranteed to be a crowd! This weekend we were going to Sequoia National Park!
Our plan was to leave early morning on the 5th of July (Friday), find a campsite in the Sequoia’s for car camping for the first night, Mineral King the next night, and generally spend 2 days exploring the area.
As far as my plans usually go, this one went awry even before it began. Thanks to a drunken celebration the night before we were supposed to leave, the main driver spent most of the night of the 4th in the bathroom unable to stand and puking into the toilet … half a bottle of champagne does that to people I guess :-/
Since that was the only experienced driver, we had to wait until the person could get sober and stand on their own two feet. The effects of alcohol finally wore out around noon the next day. Ergo, the plan to leave early morning was definitely shelved.
We set out in our rental car but it was slow going given the 4th of July traffic and by the time we finally got there it was early evening. There was no way we were going to manage to get a free campsite in the main section of Sequoia national park.
Change of plans! A friend suggested we could do Mineral king instead… he is usually good at improvising our messed up plans, so, I said, "Sure!” Mineral King although a part of the Sequoia’s is a section complete in itself and the pass that you buy to enter Mineral King does not work for Sequoia’s. At first, I could not understand why that was the case. But once we actually headed in the direction of Mineral King, I soon realized why that was the case.
But there was worse news to come! At the foot of the road/climb that would take us to Mineral King, we found sign posts telling us that the camp sites were full! Mineral King has two camp grounds - Atwell Mill and Cold Springs. Now what? Well, our friend was still hopeful… So, we threw caution to the wind and decided that we will just go check it out. Que sera sera… We could always come back and find a motel. We were so wrong about that!
The short 19 mile distance to the campsite was made extra long because of the fact that the road was a steep climb uphill, too narrow for an inexperienced driver and the valley on one side was definitely not reassuring given that the sun was going down fast. At first I thought it was a single lane road because there was no way two vehicles could pass each other at the same time. When we encountered an oncoming vehicle, I realized my folly!
I realized belatedly that we should have done our homework about this area! So, the sun is setting and we are driving uphill to get to a campsite that may not even have an open space. I don’t know what made us so optimistic!
After almost 3 hours of what should have been an hour long drive, we finally made it to the Atwell Mill camp site. Lo and behold! There was just one open campsite and we snagged it in the nick of time because just a few minutes after we arrived another group came along, only to turn around dismally because the campsite was now full! Luck and its myriad manifestations… touchwood :)
Well, the night didn’t go too well because we realized we did not have bug spray and the campsite was overflowing with mosquitoes. Needless to say, it wasn’t a happy night. But the next day made up for all the misadventure!
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Part 2: Hiking up to Monarch Lake
Thanks to the prior drunken revelry, the two day trip had now become a one day trip because we would be setting out early the next morning. I really wanted to do a hike, so we decided to hike up to Monarch Lake (a 4.2 mile hike) in the Mineral King area. And it was one of the most beautiful hikes I had done in a long time. Steep in some spots but quite a moderate level hike. But first, check out this marmot protection!
At the parking lot at the trail head we found cars covered in tarp and other paraphernalia because marmots have a proclivity toward nibbling their way into cars and their engines. I had no clue about that and it was a good thing our campsite was a mile or two below the trailhead and we’d left our car there since we didn’t know the parking situation at the trailhead. Marmots though look really cute and we encountered a few along the trail. Even chanced upon some deer.
The hike up was pretty tiring but there weren’t a lot of people around. I was a bit surprised given the amount of cars we saw parked at the trailhead. But I think most hikers/campers came on the 4th of July itself (and this was the 6th!) and were now packing up to leave. So, thankfully, we missed the crowd! And could take in the sights in tranquility!
When we finally reached the lake, it was a gorgeous sight.
And there were loads of people around. I hadn’t brought a swimsuit along because I didn’t realize the lake would be swimmable. It was really cold. But I was too tempted by the beauty and serenity that I jumped in nonetheless and it was lovely! There were quite a few campers around and families with little kids. I have really loved how (some) Americans take their fitness seriously and take their kids outdoors at every chance they get.
The Monarch Lake swim was definitely the highlight of the trip and I’d do it all over again just to enjoy the peacefulness of being at the top of a mountain and soaking in a freshwater lake. Not much can beat such an experience!
Given the fact that the swim was not preplanned, we did end up hiking down in partially wet clothing. But it was warm and there was a slight wind, so we were dry pretty quickly. The beauty of lightweight moisture wicking clothes may be…
On our way to our campsite, we found an awesome restaurant for dinner and bought a giant bottle of bug spray! Needless to say, it was a good night :)
The next day we realized our car was due back at noon! So, after a quick awesome breakfast at Three Rivers (at a place whose name I cannot recall!) we rushed back home… and that was the end of our trip. Although our original plan was a trip to the Sequoia’s, we ended up only visiting Mineral King!
Plans have a way of messing themselves up but somehow it is always worth it!
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