Mineral King - July 2006

July 2006
Eagle Lake Mineral King, Sequoia National Park
7 miles, 2,200 elevation gain
Bill and Julie

This was a gorgeous hike in Mineral King. You felt like you were in the backcountry even though you were day hiking. The lush meadows still had abundant wildflowers in July. There were beautiful views to the mountain ridge across the valley.

This hike had a lot of elevation and you kept thinking we’re here! The lake is right up there – but no - so the lake must be right behind those trees – but no. etc. etc. We had to climb across a large boulder field. At the top was a giant Sequoia that had recently been felled by lightening.

Finally we reached the lake which was lovely. Snow banks still fed the lake. We sat down for lunch. I pulled out my avocado which was completely black and rotten. I was going to pack it out, but Bill said, “Just toss it here”. I threw it and it landed SPLAT against a giant sequoia tree where it just hung. Immediately there was a flash of lightening followed by a clap of thunder – close.

This was not the place we wanted to be in a lightening storm – exposed on rock next to a lake. The other folks at the lake started heading down. Even though we hadn’t had time for lunch we hightailed it out of there. We zipped across that boulder field. In about 10 minutes we were through what had taken us forty minutes to climb. It rained lightly as we came out, but the thunder storm passed once we were off the mountain.

Lesson Learned: Don’t anger the Thunder Gods by throwing avocados. Pack it out!