Sequoia National Park - North of Mineral King

Backpacking through Sequoia National Park over the 2005 Labor Day weekend was an exhilarating but exhausting experience. This was a three-day trip of approximately 43 miles, broken up into 14.5, 15 and 13.5 mile days, the last day seeming to be the roughest as I was pretty tired by then and I still had to walk through 6 miles of bramble and 3" thorns. The trail started at Mineral King (7,800'), went over Timber Gap (9,600'), down to Cliff Creek (7,100') and made the first night camp in Bear Paw Meadow (7,600'). Next morning I was off over Kaweah Gap (10,700'), down through Big Arroyo (9,400') and camped that evening at Little Five lakes (10,500'). The return went over Black Rock Pass (11,700'), back down to Cliff Creek, again over Timber Gap and into Mineral King.
As I said, I was a bit tired by the time I came around the mountain ranges. In retrospect, the area north of Mineral King seemed to be more beautiful than any other trails to the south, though my memory might be clouded by exhaustion and dreams of softer pastures to walk on. Having the experience of getting far into the backcountry where you are truly alone is worth the small price of fatigue.

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