Fridays may be for Mineral King around here, but my last trip to the mountains was somewhere else. However, Trail Guy took a trip up to a spot above Timber Gap to have lunch with our friend Ted. He isn’t there, but some of his ashes might be. They enjoyed this view. (
I don’t know the laws about ashes, and I didn’t participate, so let’s say that they are allegedly in that location.)
A dear friend asked if I have painted this view. Sometimes, nay, often, it is brighter than this. No, I haven’t painted it. It doesn’t strike me as something that people care enough about. However, if you are interested, I can paint it for you, because I paint things and places that people love for prices that won’t scare them.
This is where I was on my last trip to the Sierra Nevada (mistakenly called “the sierras” – to use the familiar correctly, please say “The Sierra” – my dad taught me this, so I know it is correct.) 
Hume Lake is a much different experience than Mineral King. Fancy road, comparatively fancy cabin (electricity, and even a microwave, and now the internet too), many many people, many cabins (most quite fancy), lots of flat miles to cover around and around the lake, various boats to rent (the canoe leaked, I returned to the boat house and found another one, which also leaked but more slowly), church services (both indoors and out), and much commerce. It was a retreat for me with 3 outstanding women from the Sacramento area, now a strong tradition for our little group.
The flowers are a little different because the elevation is lower. There are good wild iris, which surprises me each year. I’ve only found one in Mineral King, and I am not telling the location. You can also see them on the lower 5 miles of the road in early May, in the north facing wet drainages. And that’s all I’m going to say about that.
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I would love to have a hi-res version of the top photo (from Timber Gap) to use as our cover photo for our Facebook page, if Trail Guy is OK with that. Photographer credit always included. If not, no pressure!
The official rule is that human remains cannot be deposited in a national park. Nevertheless, many Mineral King pioneers may or may not have their final resting place among the peaks. My grandpa Dixon may or may not be resting on Sawtooth somewhere.
I think people call it “The Sierras” because they’re thinking “The Sierra Mountains” and thus pluralize it. It’s probably one of those “we’ll never get the public retrained” things. But I’ll try to remember the correct term because I am a proud member of the Grammar Police.
I’ve never been to Hume Lake, but I know many who have attended the Christian camp there, and love it.
Beautiful iris! I suppose I’ll never spot one along the Lower Five since my visits are later in the year.
Sharon, photo on its way to you, permission granted. And you are so right about everything else you wrote, but this laptop is too hot to hold in this horrid weather to say any more.
Thank you for the photo!
And I don’t blame you for avoiding all things hot! I was suffering the heat bleahs until yesterday when I finally had a new HVAC system installed. Ahhh!
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