One day a friend and I made the 2 mile round trip walk to Crystal Creek to fulfill my overwhelmingly vigorous commitment to exercise. (No need to be impressed.)
We realized that this is the first year we both sort of like goldenrod and concluded it must be the abundance, because it looks better in a mass than as a singleton.
We also admired the tremendous variety of colors and the extraordinary height of the grasses.
The flowers are good if you pay attention, and since I am all about noticing things this year, I am paying attention.
Crystal Creek looks kind of sorry this year, but it is just because we aren’t used to it flowing in a different channel with the main one dried up.
And, heading back is a familiar scene, looking toward Timber Gap. I decided to walk a mile or so up that trail for my next “excursion”.
Instead of hiking, I am taking short walks of about 2 miles round trip.
I thought I was seeing a new flower; after some careful study (about 5 seconds), I realized that it is sulfur flower as it is aging.
Sulfur flower, young-ish sulfur flower, aging
I love the intense greenery of the thimble berry bushes that grow so faithfully across the Spring Creek bridge.
This might be known as Eagle Creek. You can count on fireweed in early August at Spring Creek.
By the Honeymoon Cabin
The Honeymoon Cabin sits at the beginning of that trail, the tiny museum of the Mineral King Preservation Society. There is a tree that confounds me each time I paint it, and I decided to study it. It is a large juniper, with a smaller (comparatively speaking) branch coming out of it on the side, not 2 separate trees. In between the 2 parts is a weird growth, with a board on top of the weirdness.
The big old juniper just downstream has a wonky top. My friend said there used to be a footbridge across the creek in the vicinity, and we both thought that when the juniper falls, there will be a footbridge again.
This time when I tried to photograph my mystery flower, I had a dime in my pocket for comparison’s sake. And I decided it made a nice photo of greenery with a blurry Farewell Gap in the distance.
This painting is inching forward. It wants wildflowers (fiddleneck) next, maybe some distant shrubs.
That:
The book about TB got sent to the publisher/printer and then put on hold because it needed “hyperlinks” in order to be an e-book. Hunh?? I learned how to do this, then after 2 hours, I remembered that the manuscript could not be sent from my laptop because the Mac scrambles the index (Word and Mac are not very good teammates.) This meant a trip to Visalia and 1-1/2 hours of fumbling around on the author’s HP to no avail. Wow, I am clumsy on that machine which is NOT intuitive. We made the good decision to scrap an e-book.
Another Thing:
It is bear season in Three Rivers. This doesn’t mean you can get tags and shoot bears; it means that they are active. (Thank you for use of the photo, JM!)
I am far away but like to keep these blog posts coming for my tens of faithful readers. Here are a few photos for you with my usual chit-chat.
Farewell Gap in the morning light looks much better in real life than with my PHD* camera.
Ditto in the evening light.
With the short season, I’m guessing in the time that I am away that this stream will have diminished in its flow.
This is the Oak Grove Bridge. It is supposed to eventually be closed to cars with a new driving bridge installed up the canyon a ways. Looks like an impossible engineering feat to me; I’ll believe it when I see it. Meanwhile, I will continue to enjoy my favorite bridge on the Mineral King Road, my favorite bridge in all of Tulare County. We may not have a Trader Joe’s, but by golly we have the Oak Grove Bridge.
*PHD = Press Here Dummy. Although I truly enjoy the convenience of editing my own photos and not changing film canisters, I will always miss the manual options of an SLR 35mm camera and the ability to actually see through the eye-hole instead of a screen that goes invisible in bright sun or requires cheater-readers to see. Yeah, yeah, I know there are SLR digital cameras. . . I’ve owned 2. Together they lasted less than half the time I owned my film cameras. So, a PHD that fits in my pocket is fine.
In late July on a non-smoky day, Trail Guy went to White Chief. He hasn’t hiked much this summer; it might be my fault because my feet won’t let me go. On the other hand, he might just be busy, always helping cabin neighbors. Whatever the reason, when he has a chance to hike, he chooses White Chief.
When the steep stuff ends, you break into this canyon. The patch of snow is called “Bearskin”, because when it is fuller, it resembles a bear skin. (Some folks call it “Bear Patch”).
Trail Guy met Mitch from Bellingham. They quickly learned that they are on opposite ends of the political spectrum but unlike most people these days, they had a civil discussion, listening to one another. Thank you, Mitch!
Trail Guy doesn’t stay on the trail; often, he is Off-Trail Guy.
Being off trail leads to this pond, a favorite spot. NO, IT’S NOT WHITE CHIEF LAKE!
Timber Gap is visible in the distance.
The swamp onions were thick.
I wasn’t there but he brought me his camera. (Maybe one day I will grow accustomed to numb/burning/tingling feet and return to White Chief. Shall we have a pity party?)
Because this is my blog, supposed to be about my art, here is my latest painting of White Chief. It is for sale at the Silver City Store, at Silver City Resort.
White Chief I, oil on wrapped canvas, 8×8″, $145 (plus sales tax if you live in California, plus shipping if you don’t.)
Sequoia National Park appears to be seriously understaffed, particularly when it comes to Mineral King.
These are a few things in Mineral King that I noticed.
Falling apart signAbandoned pack stationFalling apart signTrail Guy picked it off the ground and used a rock to get it back in placeSomeone did a makeshift repair at the ranger stationPropping up a sign rather than actually setting it in place is sort of a repair.Campground closed??Cold Springs bridgeIf the campground ever reopens, I bet it won’t be $12 per site.
But wait—there’s more! A trail crew has done a bit of work on the Nature Trail.
The signs on the nature trail have never been replaced.Looks brushy but it has actually been cleared a bit.A trail crew placed a warning on this bridge. Are we suppsed to wade alongside rather than walk across?
Along the road, oh my goodness. I shot these photos through the windshield one morning while heading down.
This poor little cabin belongs to the Park.
HOWEVER, someone has worked on the water troughs and Redwood is now flowing.
. . . is the current status of the latest oil painting. More branches, twigs, leaves, and some wildflowers remain. I might even draw a few more blades of grass. I like long grass.
That. . .
. . . book with which I have been helping a doctor-turned-author, Dr. William Winn, for almost seven years is now at the publisher! Tales of TB: White Plague of the North, should be in our hands in about 2-3 months.
After such a big project, I feel like lying in the long grass with Tucker.
and the Other Thing. . .
. . . I am now helping another author-friend, Louise Jackson, with a book, this time a novel. We worked together on The Visalia Electric Railroad and Trail of Promises, both now out of print. It is a privilege to use my editing skills to help folks, honed through about 60 years with my nose in a book.
Before I met him, Trail Guy spent three winters in Mineral King. At this year’s annual Mineral King Preservation Society “Picnic in the Park”, he told his story.
When my friend who loves to bake uses crushed graham crackers in a recipe, instead of smashing them with a rolling pin, she double-bags the crackers and then runs over them with her car!
2. What in the world? I’ve never heard of this brand of vehicle. (The name sounds like a made up woman’s moniker.) I got closer to look, and the Farmer said, “Better not touch that—it is about $100,000”. FOR A CAR?? WHAT’S IT MADE OUT OF?? And why in the world would someone bring something that fancy up the exceedingly rough Mineral King Road??
3. Somewhere I heard about the novelist Michelle Huneven and her book called Off Course. I checked it out of the library because the description said it was based in the Sierra. Sure enough it was, and I loved figuring out where the places were (because most of the names were changed except for a few mentions of Visalia, Fresno, or Bakersfield, and one mention of Mineral King.) It was a disheartening story of adultery, and the main theme is that it never turns out well. In spite of being a subject that I usually don’t choose to read about, I thoroughly enjoyed the book, probably because of the familiarity of the location. She does write very well, with completely believable characters. (HOWEVER, she made a mistake when she confused Jeffrey and Ponderosa pine cones.)
4. Did you know that if you use scotch tape on tomatoes, they will last longer out of the fridge? Cover the place where the stem was, and supposedly the tomatoes won’t go bad as quickly. I’ve read that wrapping the stem ends of bananas in saran wrap slows deterioration, so maybe plastic wrap, bags, and tape are magical for produce.
5. Did you know that when someone gets commissioned as an officer in the United States Marines, they can choose the location for the ceremony? I had the privilege of attending such a ceremony for a friend in Exeter, right in front of the B17 mural on the side of the ambulance building, in the parking lot of Monarch Ford. CONGRATULATIONS, AMM!! (and thank you for the invitation)
6. 50% of people who have peripheral neuropathy never learn the cause; the state of “pre-diabetes” can cause it; if you aren’t low in B vitamins, there is no point in taking them to “cure” it; electronic pads, compression socks, red light therapy, herbal cures, acupuncture—don’t waste your money; nerve damage does not heal. (I traveled a long distance to learn all this.)
7. Your Car Says a Lot About Who You Are made me laugh on YouTube. It’s on a channel called Dry Bar Comedy, and it was clean! (Heard about it from Dave Ramsey)
I stopped by a friend’s cabin for a quick visit and was struck by this timeless cabin scene.
The smoke did not prevent or hamper the 39th annual Mineral King Preservation Society’s Picnic in the Park, featuring our own Trail Guy.
He told of his three winters spent in Mineral King in the early 1980s, a story that held people’s attention for an entire hour.
Even little ones didn’t get restless, which is mighty amazing in this age of devices.
This one had a companion with her, besides me, her current MK BFF.
These are some of the very few artifacts remaining from the end of Trail Guy’s third winter (although the photos weren’t in the cabin when it went the way of all flesh.)
When the ordeal of public speaking was behind Trail Guy, we gathered with our neighbors in the evening.
The next day we went for a walk with some of our neighbors, in spite of the smoke.
Trail Guy loves to show people his favorite flower, the tiger lily (more accurately known as a leopard lily because it has spots, not stripes, but we have discussed this previously. . .) How thoughtful of those ranger buttons to disguise the face of his hiking friend.
The flowers were excellent, something I was almost resigned to missing in this hikeless summer. But some of the wildflowers are accessible even if one is only in walking mode.
Glacial daisy
This is Soda Springs, where water bubbles out of the ground with a hint of carbonation. Some people like to mix it with powdered lemonade, but I’ve never thought that was better than plain water. The water bubbling up tastes metallic. Some of these places are called “iron springs”, some “soda springs”, although I’ve never learned the difference, if there is such a difference.
The air cleared out in the evening when the winds shifted direction.
Thus we conclude another report on a series of days spent in Mineral King. Thanks for tuning in!
