Mitchell Peak Hike 2018

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.