US 395 (#0459)

That's Mt. Tom on the right, named after (IIRC) the local rancher who climbed it in the 1870s or so. The prominent drainage just off the photo to the right is Pine Creek, site of the largest (and now mothballed) tungsten mine in the US. There's also hiking access to the Sierra crest. I thought it went into Yosemite Natl Park, because we were thinking we couldn't take our dogs in, but evidently it's just USFS wilderness. The well-defined ridges going out into the flats from the right are lateral moraines out of Pine Creek. There's an old company town, Rovana, about where the moraines flatten out.

Stayed at the BLM campground out in the flats there once--

It's a dramatic view and makes you want to explore, but I seem to recall David saying that it is largely inaccessible.

There's not a lot of _vehicle_ access, but there's a fair amount of hiking access. The road is open up Pine Creek until the locked gate at the old mine:
www.ipernity.com/doc/289859/22512469/in/album/431275
I assume the mine and its old roads are closed to public access, even for hiking, but I didn't try to find the watchman to check! The road makes a right-angle turn to the right to cross Pine Ck and go to the mine. Just before that turn, tho, there's a big trailhead parking area that's not well marked IIRC. The trail continuing up Pine Creek is open; as I said, you can go all the way to the Sierra crest, at Pine Creek Pass, and connect with the trail network there. One of these days...we only got partway up due to lack of time. You're mostly following old mine roads which are not open to vehicles any more. You pass the Pine Creek Pack Station right at the base, but it doesn't block the trail. Here's the view of the mine from about where we turned around:
www.ipernity.com/doc/289859/22512699/in/album/431275
and here's the trail (the old mine road) continuing up to Pine Ck Pass:
www.ipernity.com/doc/289859/22742801/in/album/441457
and here's the view back out the canyon, with the snowcapped Whites in the distance.
www.ipernity.com/doc/289859/22512705/in/album/431275

There's also a trail on the south to Gable Lake; we started it once with some friends, but gave it up because my wife couldn't deal with the exposure about a mile in. Here's the view of the mine from about where we turned around there:
www.ipernity.com/doc/289859/23022909/in/album/441457
The drainage behind the mine to the right (Morgan Creek IIRC) runs up to Morgan Pass, which is accessible from the trailhead at Rock Creek, but again I assume the old mine roads along Morgan Ck are closed to the public. It looks to be very spectacular in the middle, above the switchbacks!

Per the map, the Gable Lake trail also connects to other trails, and maybe that's how you climb Mt. Tom.

Btw, you find ruins from the ghost town of Scheelite right by the trailhead. Scheelite = CaWO4 = the main ore of tungsten (W), so the source of the name is not obscure! ;)

Thanks for those links, the shots of the old mining area indicate that it would fit in perfectly with my photography agenda. The one hazard of being a solo traveler is that I'm not comfortable doing hikes like that without some company.

Glad you liked them! With your interests, you'd probably also like to stop in Rovana on the way in. It still looks like the old company town it was, with all the ~identical cottages. (And they say _suburbs_ look all alike...) The cottages are still in use; apparently it's now a low-income bedroom for Bishop.