Dale Matson
Click On Photographs To Enlarge
Hike Route
The Mitchell Peak (10,360') trailhead is
about 2 hours from Fresno CA. The route begins on Highway 180 and once in the
park it is a south turn on the General’s Highway into Sequoia Park. After a
drive south of 7 miles, turn left on Big Meadows/Horse Corral Road. Stay on the
paved road. After 5 miles is a junction after the end of the Big Meadows
campground number 5. Go right toward the horse stables. In another 4 miles
there is a junction. Right goes to the horse corral but go left over a one-way
bridge continuing on the pavement. In 1.3 miles you will see a small sign that
says, “SHSC” to your right. Turn right and you will soon see a road marker
(Forest Route) “13S12”. Follow it until it turns into a dirt road. There is a junction at 2.4 miles. Go right
following the sign toward SHSC. You will end at the trailhead for Marvin Pass
in another .4 miles.
The trail to Mitchell Peak is about
7 miles round trip with about 2,000’ of gain outbound. The trail goes through
the woods most of the way with two junctions along the way marked by posts that
no longer have signs. Turn to the left each time. You will need to carry all of
the water you use. There is no place to resupply along the trail this time of
year.
When the trail gets near Mitchell
Peak, it is less obvious but there are several rock cairns to help guide you.
Once the trail breaks out of the woods, the final climb is in front of you with
lots of boulders to climb over and around. We left our trekking poles below
which made climbing less difficult. There are some cairns at the beginning
which help guide you but eventually you are on your own to pick a route to the
top. This is not an exposed climb. There is a concrete slab near the USGS
marker.
We are old and slow. It took us
2:45 outbound and 2:15 inbound. We spent about a half hour on top for lunch and
photos. Mosquitoes were not a problem but there are bees at the top. They are
there every year.
I used my Sony a7R3 and the Zeiss
Batis 135mm 2.8 lens. Some shots were cropped in-camera to 200mm. I also post
processed the photos to remove the haze. The photos are essentially sequential
from north to south.
I believe the photos include Mt.
Brewer, North and South Guards to the east, Triple Divide Peak to the southeast
and the Kaweah Ridge and Black Kaweah to the south south east. Someone who
knows their mountains can probably pick out features near Kearsarge Pass,
Center Basin and north toward Rae Lakes.
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