Mineral King Loop
Sequoia National Park · near Three Rivers · Sierra Nevada / Yosemite
Hiking
At a glance
- Difficulty
- expert
- Route type
- loop
- Distance
- 32 miles
- Elevation gain
- 9,000 ft
- Time needed
- multi-day · long-haul
- Best season
- Mid-July–September
Permits and booking
- Permit required
- Yes
- How the permit works
- Sequoia & Kings Canyon permit via Recreation.gov, 6 months ahead, picked up in person at Mineral King Ranger Station before 10am on your start day. Timber Gap clockwise recommended. Bear canister mandatory.
- How hard the permit is to get
- 3 of 5
What is here
- Features
- High granite basins & lake-studded valleys · Sawtooth & Black Rock Passes · Big Five Lakes solitude · Famously wild access road
Worth knowing
- Dogs
- Not permitted
- Good for a first timer
- No
Hiking detail
- Nights
- 3–5
- Resupply
- None needed. Bear canister required; note marmots chew car brake lines at the trailhead (wrap your car).
- Intl tip
- Go clockwise from Timber Gap so you climb the gentler side and descend Sawtooth rather than grinding up its loose sand. Big Five Lakes is the sleeper highlight — build in an extra night there. Sleep near Three Rivers the night before; there's essentially no legal car camping along the Mineral King Road, and you must pick up your permit before 10am.
The guide
Mineral King is Sequoia National Park's high, hidden corner — a glacially carved valley ringed by jagged peaks, reached by one …
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Mineral King Loop — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 36.452, -118.596