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MINERAL KING TRAILHEAD

TRIP 10

White Chief Canyon

DH, BP, or X

DISTANCE: 7.5 miles, out-and-back

ELEVATION: 7,815′/10,030′, +2,360′/-150′/±5,050′

SEASON: Early July to mid-October

USE: Moderate

MAPS: USGS’s Mineral King or SNHA’s Mineral King or Tom Harrison Maps’ Mineral King

TRAIL LOG

1.0 White Chief Canyon Trail junction

1.75 Eagle Lake Trail junction

3.75 Upper meadow

INTRODUCTION: All trails in the Mineral King area are blessed with fantastic scenery, and the White Chief Trail is no exception. Visitors will experience wonderful vistas, delightful meadows, and off-trail routes to exquisite lakes. To top it off, this trip offers caves, a rare feature in the area. Some of the caves are naturally occurring stone caverns, while others are mines—all are potentially dangerous. Hikers with caving or spelunking on their agenda should contact the rangers in Mineral King before embarking on an adventure into one of the caves. Additionally, some of the mines are private property, requiring the owner’s permission for entrance.

DIRECTIONS TO TRAILHEAD: From the east end of Three Rivers, leave Highway 198 and turn onto Mineral King Road. Follow the road past Atwell Mill Campground, Silver City, Cold Springs Campground, and Mineral King Ranger Station (which issues wilderness permits and has food storage areas) to the Eagle-Mosquito Trailhead parking area at the end of the road, 23.5 miles from Highway 198.

DESCRIPTION: Just south of the parking area, a dirt road heads past the Honeymoon Cabin and climbs gently up the East Fork Kaweah River Canyon through sagebrush scrub dotted with red firs, mountain maples, and a few western junipers. After a quarter mile, you cross Spring Creek on a removable wood bridge. Within earshot of the bridge but out of sight above the trail is Tufa Falls. The creek originates higher up the hillside and then follows a subterranean course through a band of marble before emerging a few hundred feet above the trail.

Just beyond Spring Creek, pass an unsigned lateral descending toward the river and proceed up the canyon, with good views of Crystal Creek cascading down the slope across the valley. Hop across willow-lined Eagle Creek and shortly arrive at the signed White Chief Canyon junction, 1 mile from the parking area.

From the junction, head south on the White Chief Trail. If you thought the mile-long climb to the junction was tough, just wait; the next stretch of trail is as steep as any section of maintained trail in the parks. The excellent view of the canyon and the peaks above may temporarily distract you from the grueling ascent.

White Chief Meadow from the White Chief Canyon Trail

Eventually the grade moderates, as you head across sagebrush-covered slopes dotted with junipers and pass outcroppings of dark metamorphic rock. The grade eases even more on the approach to White Chief Meadow, 2 miles from the trailhead.

The ruins of Crabtree Cabin, on a low rise just west of the lower end of the meadow, is all that remains of a structure built by John Crabtree and used as a bunkhouse for miners working the nearby White Chief Mine. The trail soon crosses the creek and proceeds along the fringe of the flat. Over the years, numerous avalanches have swept the slopes above clean and littered the meadow with snags. The trail soon climbs a rib to a bench overlooking the meadow, where campsites nestle beneath red firs and lodgepole and foxtail pines. A resident deer herd can often be seen here around dusk.

Quickly leaving the trees behind, head across open, view-filled slopes, carpeted with wildflowers in season, including gentian, yarrow, and bluebell. The creek plays a game of cat and mouse in the canyon below, frequently disappearing and then reappearing; the seemingly erratic behavior is common for streams in areas of marble and limestone. At 2.75 miles, the trail crosses the main branch of the creek.

Ascend the far hillside beyond the creek and pass through tailings directly below the White Chief Mine, which was blasted out of a huge vein of marble. Do not explore the privately owned mine without permission from the owners.

Past the mine, ascend rocky slopes across the west wall of the canyon. The tread may be hard to follow here, but cairns should help to keep you on track. Continue up the canyon, passing numerous mine shafts, sinkholes, and caves to another creek crossing. Moving away from the creek on the east side of the drainage, you climb a grassy slope before returning to the creek and following it to a meadow-rimmed tarn at the head of the canyon. The upper canyon has ruins from old mining cabins and natural marble caverns.

WHITE CHIEF MINE

John Crabtree and two companions claimed that a giant Indian spirit led them on an all-night vision quest to a natural marble cave with veins of pure gold. As ridiculous as the tale may seem now, their relation of their experience in San Joaquin Valley sparked the first wave of gold rush fever in Mineral King. Despite all the hoopla and the millions of dollars in investment capital, the mines never produced a single bar of either gold or silver.

To reach lovely White Chief Lake from the upper meadow, strike out on a straightforward cross-country route northwest 0.75 mile across the talus-filled slope beneath White Chief Peak. The remote lake has a few windswept campsites. Confident hikers can easily ascend White Chief Peak from the saddle directly northwest of it. A challenging off-trail route from the same saddle provides access to the broad pass (approximately 10,650 feet) 0.3 mile south of Eagle Lake, from where you could descend to the lake and then follow the Eagle Lake Trail back to the trailhead.

Beautiful, isolated Ansel Lake can be reached from either White Chief Lake or the upper meadow. Although many conclude the lake was named for famed photographer Ansel Adams, the name refers to Ansel Franklin Hall, a Sequoia Park ranger from 1916 to 1917.

Wilderness permits are required for overnight stays. Campfires are prohibited.