Mineral King is an alpine glacial basin encompassing an area of more than 400 acres and is the headwaters for the East Fork of the Kaweah River. Located within Sequoia National Park, the Mineral King valley is in the Mineral King subdistrict of the park. The narrow valley is approximately two miles in length and rises from an elevation of 7,400 feet at Faculty Flat to more than 7,800 feet at the end of the road. The valley is surrounded by steep inclines rising to elevations greater than 12,000 feet.
The upper image (FACULTY FLAT) shows a small clearing amidst a group of historic cabins in the western portion of the Mineral King Valley. A ten-foot tall pole with black and orange bands one-foot in length is used to determine the snow depth. An image is acquired every hour on the half-hour between 8:30 am and 4:30 pm daily, and will be displayed when the comunications circuits out the Mineral King area are functioning.
The lower frame (FAREWELL GAP) is the last image obtained before a hardware failure at the equipment site on January 8, 2021. It is a view looking south along the axis of the Mineral King valley. The East Fork of the Kaweah River is in the foreground. Farewell Gap, at 10,586 feet, is in the center of the image with the Little Kern River valley beyond. It is framed by West Florence Peak at 11,783 feet on the left , and by Vandever Mountain, at 11,947 feet, on the right. Bearskin Patch, a nearly year-round snow field is seen on the upper western slope of Vandever. Farewell Gap was the path taken in 1862 by Harry Parole when he 'discovered' the Mineral King valley . This webcam is located 3.7 miles from Farewell Gap at an elevation of 7,830 feet. The Crowley Family is greatfully acknowledged for hosting this webcam.
The regular display showing near real-time images of Farewell Gap and Timber Gap (and the NPS corrral) will return when the hardware failure is corrected when Spring arrives in the valley.
Mineral King has a rich history with mining activities in the valley dating back to the 1870's when a community of several thousand people worked in the area. Because of the mining interests, the valley was excluded when Sequoia National Park was created in 1890. In the decades that followed, mining and prospecting declined and other commercial interests began to take aim at developing this pristine area of the Western Sierra. In order to preserve the valley it was annexed into Sequoia National Park in 1978.