Mineral King was an old silver mining community back in the 1800's. Disney discovered Mineral King back in the mid 60's and thought it was the most beautiful place in the world. It was Walt Disney's dream to turn Mineral King into a world class ski resort, but was thwarted by the first major success of the Sierra Club - Thank goodness. I cannot imagine what our foothill community would look like today if Disney had realized his dream.
Last weekend we headed to mineral King for a great hike and some homemade pie at the Silver City Resort.
About 8 miles out Mineral King Road you will drive across the old historic Oak Grove Bridge. The bridge spans the East Fork of the Kaweah River which is a series of pools and falls as the it drops in elevation from 14000 ft. to Three Rivers. The drive to MK winds along the edge of the canyon overlooking the river and is stunningly beautiful. The drive is winding and rugged and it takes about 2 hours to go 25 miles.
Mineral King is only open in the summer from about Memorial Day until mid September and closes after the first snow. This is the Silver City Resort where you can rent cabins and homemade pies are baked daily. I had rhubarb, mountain berry pie a la mode. It was tart and wonderful.
At about the 6000 ft. elevation we began to see the Giant Sequoia's which always take my breath away. The enormous size and red color make these giants stand out in the forest.
At the end of the road, the canyon opens up with Mt Whitney towering in the distance. This was early June and the wild flowers had not begun to bloom. Cabin owners were just starting to open their cabins from the winter. We hiked a small mountain trail along the stream and in no time at all we were in the snow. What a spot!
