ABOVE: Crown Basin, a very large meadow with a large shallow lake. Beyon is the country leading to Crown Valley.
Crown Basin
If you have spent any time in the mountains and in the national parks, the meadows will remind you of something. It struck me as I wandered among the meadow grasses and the glacier polished pavements: Tuolumne Meadows! These meadows seemed almost as large, and best of all, no road! In the meadow below Portal Lake is a wooden sign near the trail pointing the way to Crown Basin, only...no trail! If you walk in the direction the arrow suggests, you will find ducks, then a faint trail that grows ever more pronounced, and finally a good trail that leads to Crown Basin before it fades away.
