On May 25-27, 1974 I backpacked on a twenty mile round trip to Ansel Lake with Gordon Lee, Rick Erb, Paul Robotta, Tom Foulds, Larry Miinch and Brian Jordan.
We departed San Diego about 5 p.m. Friday and drove to Kaweah Lake where we found the campground full so drove all the way to Mineral King in Sequoia National Park arriving about 2:30 a.m. and got some sleep.
On Saturday we were up about 6:50 a.m. and hit the trail around 8 a.m. Immediately found snow on the trail which made route finding difficult. We managed to keep fairly well on the trail but the going was slow. Finally made it to Horse Creek about 4:30 p.m. and made camp on bare ground between snow.
The hike had been pretty and the Horse Creek area was pretty. we ran into another group of people who had come our way and another group who had come up from Atwell Mill.
Sunday we moved up to Ansel Lake over firm snow and not too difficult a route. The Ansel Lake area was pretty - few trees and lots of snow including cornices on the ridges. The Lake was frozen solid. Paul Robotta tried digging a hole to go ice fishing but it was too hard.
Rick, Tom and Brian went off and climbed White Chief Peak. Sunday night I got sick - probably the flu - and emptied out of both ends.
Monday morning I felt lousy. Brian helped me carry my pack over the short climb to the top of the ridge and then we glissaded and walked down the canyon. The views were great except I didn't feel like enjoying them. Gordon stayed with me as I made a slow trip out.
At the lower end the canyon and falls were quite spectacular. We finally got on the trail after crossing the stream and eventually made it to the road at Mineral King. Tom had gone ahead and brought the truck up. We took it easy down the steep road - stopping several times to cool the brakes. Ate supper in Visalia about 4:30 p.m. and headed for home via Los Angeles. We arrived about 11 :50 p.m. If I had not been sick, we would have been at least an hour or two earlier, A good spring trip.
Route to Ansel Lake in Sequoia National Park 1974
