Big Five / Little Five Lakes Loop

Finally, a well defined trail let to Monarch Lake below Mineral Peak.

Mineral Peak

Big 5, Little 5 Lakes Loop and Sawtooth Pass, August 4th to 7th, 2000.

I continued to pick my way downward, trying to follow the most used parts, meanwhile trending towards Monarch Lakes, where the map said there would be an established trail. Over all, while steep and sandy, the route did not present any real difficulties, or at least nothing more difficult than I have ever done in the past doing cross-country in the Sierra. It just required a prudent amount of caution. At one point the route split, one way going over a sandy granite nose, another down a stair-like gully. I like solid rock and dirt under my feet, so I descended the gully for some of the easiest going of the descent. Eventually the route leveled out, the trail came into focus as a single well used grove, and I was making normal time swinging along a good track.

All of the comforts of home! All here at lovely Monarch Lake!

Eventually I arrived at the lower Monarch Lake with its campsites and lovely outhouse. At the lake outlet the yellow soil of Sawtooth Peak gave way to the volcanic red soil and shale of the nearby mountainside of Mineral Peak. Above the lower lake the black peak loomed over the upper Monarch Lake, which I could not see. The upper lake is supposed to have a man-made dam, but I could not see it from the lower lake. Across the lake I could see white granite on one side and red soil and shale on the other, a classic contact zone that attracts mining and prospecting.