Originally Posted by
ranles
... We will spend the night in Visalia (from Las Vegas), departing for our first day in the park facility about 9am. The drive to the park in about an hour. The drive to Mineral King and back is about 3 hours, plus a walk up to the view site!? (so I am told). While a few issues make it difficult for me to "hike" much, I can stroll around some, but slow and limited.. .
When you mention "Mineral King," "view site" and "stroll ... slow and limited" all in the same sentence, it causes a little concern.
Mineral King is certainly pretty but any "view site" would be up one of the trails leading out of the valley. They are all quite steep and rather difficult hiking - at altitude. I don't want to rain on anyone's parade, but if you aren't camping or hiking, you might find the return on investment (long, narrow, rough road) to be a bit thin after arriving at MK. Then, you have to turn around and drive back down the same bad road. An alternative few hours might take you to the little community of Three Rivers just before you reach the Park entrance. If you are not into antiques or art galleries, you might drive across the bridge over the river on the North Fork Road back in time to the tiny community of Kaweah. The old post office is over 100 years old.
Back on the highway, you can then drive up the highway to Crescent Meadow and the short but strenuous hike up to the top of Moro Rock for the view or a strolling walk around the nature and historic trails criss-crossing the meadow area. The ranger at the entrance station will give you maps of these areas. The rest of your first day - Giant Forest, General Sherman Tree, Congress Grove Trail are all further up the highway toward Lodgepole.