A short hike to Mosquito Lakes

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lambertiana

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Late last night I discovered that what I had committed to doing today wasn't going to happen, so I took advantage of a free Saturday and went up to Mineral King in Sequoia NP. I went up to Mosquito Lakes basin on the west side of Mineral King.

First, looking at the upper part of Mineral King valley:
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As I got higher I came to the Eagle Creek sinkhole. The creek just above the sink looks like this:
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And immediately downstream from there, the creek drops into a cave system in marble at this sinkhole:
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And downslope it re-emerges:
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I also got good views toward the east side of Mineral King; here is a view of Sawtooth Peak (light granite) and Mineral Peak (dark limestone). Both are great summits, I highly recommend them:
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Eventually I got to Mosquito Lake #1:
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It has a healthy population of pan-sized brookies:
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The trail ends at Mosquito Lake #1, but I went up the drainage cross country to get to Mosquito Lake #2. First, a view looking back down on #1:
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And some views around Mosquito Lake #2. There is a fire just below Mineral King, so it was a bit smoky today.
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And a few more views around Mosquito Lake #2. There are great campsites all around the lake, I will definitely be heading back for a longer stay.
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And a shot of the forest by Mosquito Lake #1:
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WOW, that is absolutely a beautiful area! Great pictures and thanks for sharing...man, those brookies look great as well:thumbup:

ROCK6
 
It's clear why you like it up there so much. I could happily roam around there for weeks let alone days. Sorry, but I've come to make a habit of importing some of your photos into my maps. Gorgeous.
 
Gorgeous shots Lambertina - as usual :) Now I'm really hungry for some fish. I will have to settle for yellow perch though.
 
Man, that place is awesome! I love seeing pics of the Sierras, and fish. Nice brookies!!!


P.S. How populated do those lakes get? They aren't too far from me, well, far enough I'd want to stay for a weekend at least. I'm always looking for good new fishing/camping lakes within 5 hours from the Bay Area, that aren't quite as popular as my favorite lakes, Courtright and Wishon.
 
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Nice photos!

It's been nearly 25 years now, but I've been there! I've also been to Eagle Lake, Monarch Lakes, White Chief Peak, etc, which are all in that general area if I recall correctly.

I miss those days.
 
This time of year the traffic is pretty light there. I saw two other people at the lower lake (one being the guy who caught the fish), but no one else was at the upper lake. And there are more lakes higher up, which I will have to visit when I go back for an overnighter. I also saw two other people either heading to or coming back from Eagle Lake.

It took me 1 hour 45 minutes to drive from my house to the trailhead at Mineral King. The lower lake (#1) is 3.5 miles in with only about 1600' total vertical (lake #1 is just over 9000', and #2 is almost 9600', so they aren't as high as the ones on the east side of Mineral King), so it is pretty accessible. There is no trail to lake #2 (a faint use trail can be followed most of the way) so it looks like it does not get much traffic at all. You can't camp at lake #1, but lake #2 is a lot nicer and has a lot of great places to camp. I did not see any fish in lake #2.

This was my first hike on the west side of Mineral King. I usually go up the east side - Monarch Lake, Sawtooth, Franklin Lake, Florence Peak, etc.

The road to Mineral King will stay open until the first snow, so you might be able to get up there this year. I know of a lot of places with red hot fishing, but most of them are far in the backcountry and require at least two days on the trail to reach them. I even saw one place where all we had to do was dangle the lure above the water and the trout would jump out of the water to take it.
 
Man, thats gorgeous. I'd have loved catching those trout too. Fantastic pics!
 
Thanks---those pictures bring back good memories. I used to visit Mineral King a lot to backpack and to rent burros, back when the pack station existed. In addition to those lakes, I've gone over Timber Gap and Black Rock Pass to Big Five/Little Five Lakes, Moraine Lake, etc. Also over Franklin Pass to the Little Kern. Not to mention Farewell Gap, Sawtooth, etc. In addition, Ansel Lake, Hockett Meadows, and that loop. Pretty country up there but I wish it were forest service rather than national park land.

DancesWithKnives
 
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