The next morning we got up, had breakfast, packed up, and started down the trail for Mineral King. It was an easy hike, a gentle downhill in and out of some creek beds and through some forests.

Mineral King from above.

It took a couple of hours to reach our car, but we did, passing many day trippers out along the lower part of the trail and in the parking lot. We unwrapped our car, happy to see no marmots had gotten through the tarp, donned some clean clothes, and headed back on the long, winding Mineral King Road for Fresno.

All in all, this was a great trip. I had neve been to the Mineral King area and found it very scenic. If only it were easier to reach! If I had to change anything, I think I would have tried to do a more basecamp/climb style of trip rather than doing so much hiking. It definitely would have been nice to get over into the Kaweahs and climb Mount Kaweah, for example. But we didn’t know on the way out that Pants Pass would be a no-go. So, I’ll have to make a return trip to climb all of the impressive peaks along the Great Western Divide and in the Kaweahs, no problem with me.