Recent fires all over California made it quite difficult to choose backpacking destination. After all considerations we went to Mineral King in Sequoia National Park.
- Day 1 - Hiked to Spring lake via Glacier pass.
- Day 2 - Cyclamen lake -> Columbine lake -> Sawtooth pass -> Sawtooth Peak (12,343 ft) -> Crystal lake.
- Day 3 - Hiked out
Good weather and only minimal smoke later in the day.
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| Wild currant |
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| Glacier pass |
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| Glacier pass looking east |
Down climbing from Glacier pass looks scary from the top, but not harder than class 3.
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| Descending from Glacier pass |
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| Spring Lake |
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| Trout |
Path to Columbine lake is from the left side of the picture just above the lake to the middle, you want to stay on the left side all the time.
We had an interesting event near top of Sawtooth Peak. I was trying to take a picture at the top when suddenly cloud of electricity materialized around my hand with phone. I was very lucky lightening did not strike. I turned phone off immediately and we went down as fast as we can.
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| Waiting in the cave for rain to pass |
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| Near Sawtooth Peak |
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| Sawtooth Peak |
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| Upper Monarch Lake |
Happy to go through the pass, we was not sure we can make it or not, not much information was available beforehand. Looking at easy descent to our last camping spot near Crystal lake.
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| Crystal Lake |
