Vandever Mountain (11,947')

On labour day I headed up to Mineral King for a solo hike up Vandever mountain, a fairly obscure peak near Farewell gap.

Vandever Mountain on the Right

I arrived at the trailhead around 9 am and headed off towards Farewell Gap. As it was a long weekend, all the car-camping campgrounds were full, but surprisingly I didn't really see very many people on the trail. 

It was a fast easy hike up to farewell gap. The snow as mostly gone, and there were plenty of wildflowers. The raging water in the creeks had also subsided compared to the last time I was there!

Residual snow

wildflowers galore

 
Once arriving at Farewell gap, the wind picked up to maybe 30 MPH, I was almost blown over! From the gap its a short class 2 scramble up talus to the summit. 

Talus Mt Florence in the back

Summit selfie

From the top, I could also see the Pier fire burning off in the distance.

Pier Fire

A quick jaunt back to the car. Total trip was maybe 5 hours, with around 12 miles of hiking with 4500' of elevation gain. Not an exciting summit, but a lovely, easy day hike. Its nice to stretch the legs!