area’s customarily mild winters and long-lasting snowpack prompted the Tulare County Board of Supervisors to sponsor a snow survey in 1947, which recommended that the board develop Mineral King as a winter sports destination. In 1949, the board solicited proposals from potential developers, but progress stalled until 1965, when they selected Disney Enterprises of Burbank as the contractor. Disney had ambitions to turn Mineral King into the foremost ski destination in the world, with a resort and amenities catering to more than 10,000 skiers per day. With eager cooperation from the Forest Service, Disney proceeded with their ambitious plans.
Plans for the megaresort ran headlong into the budding environmental movement of the 1970s. Protracted legal battles, negative public opinion, the excessive costs of constructing an all-weather road, and increased awareness of the area’s avalanche potential combined to create forces too extreme for Disney to overcome. In 1978, President Jimmy Carter signed a bill incorporating the majestic Mineral King area into Sequoia National Park. Today, the park manages the area with the same sleepy atmosphere that prevailed much of the 20th century.
ACCESS: This area is open from late May until November 1. Between November and May, weather permitting, the road is open for the first 16.5 miles to a locked gate, 2.5 miles before Atwell Mill Campground. Access to Atwell Mill, Silver City, and Mineral King is via Mineral King Road, a sometimes steep, always narrow, often winding, partially dirt road that proceeds up the canyon of East Fork Kaweah River. Drivers must be constantly on alert for oncoming traffic, particularly during weekends. Plan to drive about an hour and a quarter to cover the 25-mile, 6,700-foot climb from Three Rivers to trailheads in Mineral King. Gas is not available beyond Three Rivers.
Mineral King as seen from the Sawtooth Pass Trail (Trip 13)
AMENITIES: The tourist-based community of Three Rivers, 37 miles east of Visalia and immediately west of the park entrance, offers a modicum of services, including motels, restaurants, gas stations, and stores.
The family-run Silver City Resort is usually open from late May into October, providing comfortable lodging in chalets and cabins, a limited selection of supplies (no ice or alcohol), dining, public showers, and ranger-led campfire talks on Thursday evenings. Many consider their fresh-baked pies to be the resort’s highlight. Call (559) 561-3223 in summer, or (805) 528-2730 off-season for more information, or visit their website at www.silvercityresort.com.
RANGER STATION: The rustic Mineral King Ranger Station, usually staffed from late May to late September, is located 22 miles from the junction of Highway 198 in Three Rivers. Backpackers can get wilderness permits during normal business hours (with reduced hours after Labor Day weekend). A limited selection of books and maps are available for purchase, and bear canisters can be rented. Call (559) 565-3768 for more information.
GOOD TO KNOW BEFORE YOU GO: Backpackers leaving vehicles overnight at trailheads in Mineral King should place all food and scented items in the storage shed directly opposite the ranger station because bear boxes are not available at the Tar Gap, Eagle-Mosquito, or Sawtooth-Monarch Trailheads.
Some of the plentiful marmots in Mineral King have developed a peculiar hankering for munching on car parts, such as radiator hoses, fan belts, and brake lines. Fortunately, this proclivity seems to be limited to early in the season (May and June), and by July these rodents turn to more nutritious fare. Check with rangers about current conditions. If your trip coincides with car-munching season, you may want to encircle your vehicle with chicken wire.
If you plan to camp at either Atwell Mill or Cold Springs Campgrounds, check the board at the Mineral King and Highway 198 junction in Three Rivers or at the Lookout Point Entrance Station for availability. Doing so could save you from a fruitless, time-consuming drive if the campgrounds are full.
ATWELL MILL TRAILHEAD
TRIP 4
East Fork Grove
DISTANCE: 5 miles, out-and-back
ELEVATION: 6,600′/6,240′, +525′/-820′/±2,690′
SEASON: Late May to November
USE: Light
MAP: Silver City
INTRODUCTION: Most hikers and backpackers who endure the rigors of the drive on Mineral King Road are bound for the high country above the valley, overlooking some of the lesser-known treasures along the way. Some of these neglected riches are found along the Atwell-Hockett Trail, which leads to a picturesque river canyon and a nearly forgotten grove of giant sequoias. On this 5-mile hike, visitors will enjoy the turbulent East Fork Kaweah River, which cascades through a narrow cleft of granite and a fine selection of Big Trees sans crowds.
DIRECTIONS TO TRAILHEAD: From the east end of Three Rivers, leave Highway 198 and turn onto Mineral King Road. Follow the road for 8 miles to the Atwell Mill Campground entrance and then continue another 0.2 mile to the signed trailhead parking area, which has a bear box, at the east end of the campground.
DESCRIPTION: Walk down a road toward the campground, which has water and vault toilets, for about 250 yards to the beginning of the signed Atwell-Hockett Trail. Follow a path past redwood stumps to a small meadow filled with relics from the long-abandoned Atwell Mill.
Through a mixed forest of black oaks, white firs, sugar pines, ponderosa pines, incense cedars, and sequoias, you veer away from the old mill site and descend around a hillside, soon dropping to diminutive Deadwood Creek. The descent continues through forest another half mile to a stout steel-and-wood bridge spanning the granite cleft of East Fork Kaweah River, 1.25 miles from the parking area. The bridge offers a picture-postcard view of the cascading river plummeting over slabs and boulders down a narrow, sequoia-lined gorge.
ATWELL MILL
In the 1870s, the Atwell Mill provided the town of Buelah (now Mineral King) with lumber for buildings and mines, also supplying a million board feet for a flume between Oak Grove and a hydroelectric plant in Hammond. The high cost of transporting lumber to the San Joaquin Valley eventually doomed the mill, but not before many stately giant sequoias near the mill succumbed to the logger’s axe. Ironically, the brittle sequoia wood proved to be useful only for shakes and fence posts.
Cascade on East Fork Kaweah River
Beyond the bridge, proceed through the East Fork Grove on a mild to moderate climb away from the river to Deer Creek, a good turnaround point for dayhikers. From the creek, the Atwell-Hockett Trail continues to the unceremonious southern end of the East Fork Grove.
ATWELL
