Mineral King

Backpacking in Sequoia & Kings Canyon

By Bharath Srivatsan

December 5^th, 2021

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I visited Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks twice this year - first as part of my Utah roadtrip, and then again on a backpacking trip in the early summer. The park was stunning on both visits, filled with epic vistas, ancient trees, and pristine backcountry trails.

After weeks of hesitation, I decided to bring my camera on the backpacking trip. I chose a Nikkor Z 14-24mm f/2.8 lens (on my Nikon Z6 body) in the hopes of capturing some great wide-angle shots. The setup added almost four pounds to my pack weight, but given how stunning the scenery was, I definitely don't regret it.

Backpacking the Sawtooth Pass and Franklin Lakes Loop

Day 1 We set off from Mineral King ranger station early on a Sunday morning, after first tarping up the cars to protect them from marmots. We'd spent the previous night at elevation at the Mineral King campground, hoping to acclimate to the conditions, and for the most part the morning felt fine. We kept the first day short - after about six miles of hiking, we reached our campsite by Franklin Lake in time for lunch.

Franklin Lake, our campsite for the night, was stunning. At around 8,000 ft, we were almost at the tree line, and so most of the scenery around us was barren and rocky. Even so, the turquoise lake and deep green patches of grass contrasted beautifully with the alternating rust and grey colored peaks.

Day 2 Early on day 2, we completed our first pass crossing, over Franklin Pass. At 11,800 ft, the pass had fantastic views of both the Mineral King region behind us, and the rest of the Sequoia backcountry ahead. From the pass, we proceeded downhill, stopping at a stream for lunch and eventually setting up camp by Forester Lake shortly afterwards.

Left: Martin reaches Franklin Pass. The larger lake in the background is Franklin Lake, our campsite for day 1

Day 3 Short days and long swims two days in a row meant we had more ground to cover on day 3. We woke up around dawn, quickly downed our staple breakfast of oatmeal and instant coffee, and packed up camp.

Day 3 was incredibly varied. Highlights included more untouched lakes, gorgeous, tree-filled valleys, quiet forests, and stream crossings.

Our 10 miles of hiking on day 3 were stunning - even by the standards of the trip so far - and our campsite was no different. After nestling our tents under a rock to protect them from the wind channel in the valley and rinsing off in a stream nearby, we settled down to read and watch the sunset.

Day 4 We packed up camp and prepared to head home. Most of the morning was taken up by a steep climb up Sawtooth Pass, but the hours-long, even steeper descent (3,800 ft!) to Mineral King was more grueling. At the very least, our route direction meant that we weren't attempting the scree- and boulder-filled final segment as an uphill climb.

Looking back towards the valley we camped at on night 3

We finally got back to our cars in the late afternoon and drove off in search of lunch. In total, our route (link - though we did it in reverse) was around 28.8 miles in length, and included almost 8,000 ft of elevation gain. By splitting that up over four days we were able to go at a leisurely pace (and had a lot of time left over to read, swim, and play cards at camp each night!).

Exploring the Parks

Outside of the backpacking trip, I had a lot of time to explore Sequoia and Kings Canyon this year. Both are among my favorite national parks, in large part because of their diverse terrain across different elevation ranges.

Sequoia is famous, of course, for its trees, and in that respect the park certainly does not disappoint. It's hard to grasp the immense scale of a giant sequoia; I heard a park ranger say you could hide a bus behind General Sherman, the largest tree by volume in the world, and it isn't even the widest Sequoia in the park! As mind blowing as that is to grasp, it's even harder to capture in photographs. Comparing a sequoia to a human or a "regular" pine tree gives some sense of scale.

Equally as stunning is the drive through the park. In the Spring, Sequoia is awash with color, and you can still pick out snow on the peaks beyond.

Footnotes

Follow me on Instagram (@barrystravels) and subscribe (https://stories.bharathsrivatsan.com/site/subscribe)! You can also find prints of some of the photos in this post at my store (https://society6.com/bharath). Coming next: photos from a backpacking trip in Redwoods National Park.