Breaking the Silence—Mineral King in Early October

It is normal for us to close our cabin in mid-October. We closed a little earlier this year due to impending road construction.

We stopped at a lower spot so that Trail Guy could move a tarantula off the road.
Baby’s breath, around the Conifer Gate.
A new-to-me flower along the road: stephanomeria.

There was a weird phenomena along the road: white stuff that looked like thick spider web material was stuck in grasses and shrubs almost all the way to Conifer, the upper gate. It felt sticky to Trail Guy; it felt like unnatural fiber such as acrylic or nylon to me, the way it stuck to my hangnails. My camera stopped working on the close-up setting, so it is a little hard to see what this stuff looked like.

There were definite signs of fall, finally.

We walked up to Crystal Creek, and the normally Yellow Tunnel was still green.

We walked down the road to Cold Springs Campground.

A little bit of work has been done on the Nature Trail, which was blocked by fallen trees and snow patches earlier in the summer. The water is still flowing strong, the aspens are still green, and there is some fall color showing in a few leaves.

We saw some interesting things.

This giant red fir was felled in Cold Springs Campground a year or two ago.
This fungus grows on wood and is called “Witch’s Butter”
I didn’t find the name of this fungus.

The berries were abundant this year.

Bitter cherry
Elderberry
Gooseberry
Gooseberry
I don’t know what this is.
Sierra currant
Snowberry (white, hard to see in this photo)
Thimbleberry
Twinberry; has fuzzy leaves (The most thorough book shows 2 varieties of twinberry; this one is new to me.)
More twinberry; the type I am familiar with wasn’t bearing this year.
Wax currant
Wax currant was extremely abundant this year; this is the one I was not successful in turning to juice for jelly-making.

Closing has lots of tasks, not all of which I photographed, because why would you want to see all that?? But here is one, peculiar to our cabin. Not every cabin requires a climb onto the roof.

Closing is bittersweet. It is hard to say goodbye to one’s second home, even if it is a seasonal farewell. There is also the relief of knowing everything is securely buttoned up, putting away one’s duffel-bags, being home, catching up on yardwork, spending time with the cats, going to church again, staying current with emails and various internet activities, getting work done. (Knitting is portable, so I didn’t list this.)

Trail Guy is nostalgic; I just knit, unravel, reknit, and enjoy the final moments.

The drive down took awhile because we stopped several times to share information about sites and road construction, to discuss the locks on the gates, to wish friends a good winter, and to just take in the sights.

The water is still flowing along the road, and scarlet monkeyflowers were abundant this year. We also saw Farewell-to-Spring, yes, in October!

Farewell, Farewell.

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4 Comments

  1. “Impending” road construction? Bwa-ha-ha! This is the gov’ment we’re talking about.
    I “chased” a tarantula off the road several years ago around the place where you can look over the edge and see the beginning of the flume. They move slowly. Tarantulas, not the flume.
    Thank you for including my favorite scene along the Nature Trail: Iron Falls!
    I’m glad to see so many berries this year. This will make the bears happy, and less likely to go after human food.
    How long did you take to drive down the road? I can understand why you would move slowly, leaving your summer home and the place we know and love!

    • Sharon, it takes us about 2 hours and fifteen minutes from our house to our cabin. Used to be 1 hour and 10 minutes.

  2. “sigh”

    • Is that a happy sigh or a sorrowful sigh?

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