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Sierra Nevada Bear Boxes
Details for MK06

Updated 21 Jun 2008, see revision history for details.
CORRECTIONS WOULD BE APPRECIATED! contact Steve Eckert.
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For bear box data, including maps and location instructions, you can jump to:
  • the main Bear Box Page or a clickable Bear Boxes Map
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    Bear box 'MK06'
    (Pinto Lake)

    Detail Map: (scroll down for directions, waypoints, and area map)

    1. MK06 is a large box, at about 8700 feet, in the Mineral King Area region.

    2. Note: The old 15' maps do not show Pinto Lake at all, and show the trail crossing Cliff Creek in this area. The new 7.5' maps show Pinto Lake in a separate parallel creek on the north side of the valley, NOT drained by Cliff Creek. The trail goes between the two creeks (so south of the trail is a long ways from the lake).

    3. Directions from Steve Eckert, with GPS waypoint, June 2008:
      One box 20 feet south of the trail on the up-canyon (east) side of a rocky knoll. You cannot see Pinto Lake at all from the bear box or from the nearby campsites. Approached from above, the trail crosses a meadow and the bear box is just before the trail climbs over the right shoulder of the rocks. From below, the trail tops out to the left of a knoll and drops slightly to the bear box before reaching the meadow.

    4. Directions from Gary Craig, Aug 2002:
      The coordinates I took were very close to those given by Paul. This box is not very close to the lake itself, which is pretty inaccessible due to brush.

    5. Directions from Paul Buehler, with GPS waypoint, Aug 2001:
      The box at Pinto Lake is on the south side of the trail, just west of the small stream that joins Cliff Creek and Pinto Lake, not right by the lake. It is at at the spot where the trail turns to ascend due east.

    6. Directions from Mineral King ranger info sheet, dated 1991:
      One box on the south [typo??] side of the trail in the main camp area at Pinto Lake, in the transition zone between granite and meadow/brush vegetation.

    7. Find waypoint MK06 in region waypoints or all waypoints file.
      (NAD83 decimal degrees or NAD27 UTM data suitable for TOPO! software or Waypoint+ software)
        (lat,lon) = (36.4850800, -118.5807100) in decimal degrees, NAD83.
  (zone,east,north) = (11S, 358486.0, 4038718.0) in decimal meters, NAD27.
    8. Previous box is MK05: Timber Gap Junction.

    9. Next box is MK07: Monarch Lake #1.

    10. Scroll down for a regional map of the entire Mineral King Area region.

    11. Use Google Maps or Google Earth to view this region overlaid with roads and trails on satellite images or maps.
      (Click on any icon to get details in a popup, double-left-click to zoom in, double-right-click to zoom out.)


    Map exported from TOPO! software, used with permission.