Mineral KIng

     If you have never completely believed a road sign in your life, and come upon this one....BELIEVE!!  To cap off our last day visiting Sequoia, we decided to venture off the grid a little and take a ride up to Mineral King.  In 1873, a small amount of gold was discovered in the mountains surrounding Mineral King, and the community of Silver City, CA became mostly a summer/fall community.  The 25 mile long, 2 hour journey, really begins shortly after crossing the Kaweah Bridge originally built in 1923.

 The gorge below shows evidence of massive amounts of water passing through the gorge, as there are some pretty big "bowls" carved out of the rock below,  From here the road get interesting, and can be described as a single lane road containing multiple switch backs, bearing 2-way traffic.  It did tend to get exciting meeting mostly Park Service vehicles "racing" down the mountain.  In addition, there are no guardrails, and over the edge means a drop of a few hundred feet, at least.  Got Debbie's attention a few times.      

     At about the 12 mile mark, we arrived at the pay as you go Ranger Station, where honest people pay the fee and get their pass to enter Sequoia National Park.  Since we are America the Beautiful Pass holders, we stopped only to stretch and read the local information sign.  It is really here that you get the first opportunity regain some sanity and seriously consider turning around.  But don't fall for the trick.  It's going to get better!
     Continuing onward and upward, we started moving out of high desert and into the forested area.  Through the trees we could see some of the vista waiting for us at the top.

     Soon we spied the Giant Sequoia's before us.  Though not as impressive as the colonies we'd seen previously, they were some pretty massive trees.  We passed a few primitive campgrounds operated by the Park Service, but most were already closed for the season.  The road is not maintained in the winter, and if you happen to get caught up here in an early snowfall, you may be on your own.  At about the 20 mile mark we stumbled on to the small community of Silver City.  There were numerous cabins scattered among the Sequoia's, some being pretty primitive and others under new construction.  We're not really sure how you can purchase land in a NP and build a camp, but it was being done up here.

 I pulled up in front of the only restaurant on the mountain after spotting something I had not seen since traveling up to the wilderness of Quebec as a child to go fishing.  I don't believe Debbie had any idea what it was.  If you're still wondering, it's a hand operated gas pump.  The lever on the side pumps the gas up to the glass cylinder on top which measures the amount of gas, and the gas is then gravity fed into your vehicle via the hose and nozzle.  There was a bucket of windshield washer fluid on the side, so i would have to guess that it's a working pump.

 I honestly can't imagine how they get a fuel delivery up this far.  I wouldn't want to drive that truck!
     Isn't that a beautiful baby Sequoia at the end of the porch?  Can't be much older that 1000 years or so!  The girl inside advised that the end of the road was only a few miles further, so we pushed on.  We soon cleared the forest and entered into the mountain meadows before us.  We were pushing the edge of the treeline, being just above 7000 feet, but we could see Sequoia's clinging to the rock faces of the mountains above us.

As we enjoyed a quiet picnic lunch, 2 deer flushed from the brush a short distance from us, and casually walked past us, looking a little disturbed by our presence.  Everywhere there were warnings of bear country, and fortunately we didn't have any close encounters.
     The Aspen had changed to a bright yellow, and the leaves were falling, reminding us of the Fall colors at home.

 Of course, nothing could compare to the brilliant reds and blazing oranges that cover the Adirondacks this time of year.       High up, we could hear the screeching of some sort of raptor, and after retrieving her binoculars from the Jeep, Debbie spotted 3 likely suspects.

 I think I pushed the limits of the zoom on my camera, but finally captured a picture of what I believe to be 3 Golden Eagles in the dead treetops above us.  How cool is that!  We spent an hour or so enjoying the views around us as I continued to work the camera.  Glad I don't have to develop any film.  Here's a few more shots of the scenes around us.

     So I guess the moral of the story is that sometimes it's OK to get outside of your comfort zone, The road up here is challenging but the reward at the end was well worth it.  I guess that's the point of being Rondackers on the Road.  Hope all is well with everyone.