“Dismal” and “grim” are the 2 words that come to mind when I think of the state of Mineral King and Three Rivers, and Tulare County, and while I am at it, California. But for this post, I’ll settle for “gloomy”. We were up the hill for about 36 hours after the mandatory evacuation was lifted, a chance to gather some things, and secure the cabin a bit.
The lower gate was almost impossible to open, but Trail Guy muscled it open for these frustrated folks; we figured out a way to lock it back. This is all necessary because MK is closed for the season.Peek-a-booThis sign greeted us.The sky was blue for a brief and welcome break from smoke.A typo. Good grief, people!!The smoke returned. Vandever is barely visible.It shows more here.The trail sign is covered with warnings.The standard view is grim.If I tilt my camera up, the peaks surrounding Farewell Gap show better.If we got trapped in Mineral King and fire came to get us, we would sit under the bridge.There was a little dam upstream from the bridge, and I decided to bust it down so more water would flow under the bridge. Probably useless, but it was fun. I’ll take whatever scraps of fun I can find these days.Hmm. Barely made any difference at all.When we left on Sunday afternoon, Trail Guy apprised the Forest Service fire crew of the water system in our neighborhood. I felt a tiny bit better leaving with these competent professionals in place.
May we please be finished with these fires? Please?? Sigh. I hear that rain is forecast for tomorrow. Please, God, have mercy on this place.
2 Comments
Jana, so sorry to hear the fires have been so close. Can’t imagine how distressing it all is. Here’s hoping for better days ahead!
Thank you, Cheryl. We can see the hills around us today and even a smoky glimpse of the mountains.
Comments are closed for this article!