Mineral King photography | Cabin Art

Wildflowers on Mineral King Road

A few days ago I was in Mineral King and took photos along the road of the abundant wildflowers.

But first, let’s start with my favorite subject to draw and paint, the Oak Grove Bridge.

Look at that water!!!

Wildflowers along the road continue to be prolific. The first photo isn’t technically of wildflowers: these are sweet peas planted by Mary Trauger in the late 1800s.

Yellow-throated gilia (pronounced “Jill-ee-uh”)

Ceanothus, wild mountain lilac, or if you were on a road crew with Trail Guy, “ant bush”.

Farewell to Spring; some years, you can see them almost all summer as you gain altitude through the season along the road.

Penstemmon, hugely more vibrant in person than in photos

This post is too long. Hope you made it to the end. Tomorrow, Mineral King will be the subject matter again.

Meanwhile, remember there is a one day drawing workshop coming this Saturday in Visalia.

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Opening Mineral King 2017

Mineral King officially opened on Wednesday, May 24. This is remarkable, considering it was a huge winter. Most of the reason it is open is because Trail Guy borrowed a backhoe and spent 120 hours of volunteer work to fight through the avalanches. This made it possible for the Park’s road guy to do the basics in time for Memorial Day weekend.

Fantastic water flow as seen from the bridge at the end of the road, AKA Mineral King Bridge

Bless those older generations of cabin folks who planted daffodils!

The parking lot at the end of the road is boggy, but Trail Guy is also Retired Road Guy and we rigged up a barricade.

Whoa. This is the beginning of the Eagle/Mosquito trail. The Park’s sign took a hit. Your feet might get wet heading this direction. (Might get wet heading any direction.)

Our cabin had a ton of snow on the front porch (and the back porch too). Trail Guy is resourceful, and after I spent an hour or more shoveling, he thought of this tool.

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Day Trip to Mineral King

About 1 week ago, Trail Guy took his buddy Mike to Mineral King for the day. The idea was to take the Trackster into the valley, and then perhaps do a bit of snow-shoeing or skiing. Trail Guy wanted to see the cabin after the big winter to be sure all was well.

Lots of snow through Faculty Flat, AKA West Mineral King.However, the daffodils are blooming at the Dixon cabin, just before reaching the Ranger Station. Alas, there is still another large avalanche remaining at the Sawtooth Parking lot area. Looks as if the Michaels climbed to the top to cross over and then took a picture of the little snow buggy below. (That’s the Trackster.)

The bridge at the end of road is snow-free. Hi Mike! These cabins are snow free.

And the avalanche had to be crossed over to get back to the Trackster.

Our cabin was fine, but is always the last one to melt out. Trail Guy did not take any pictures of it; even if he had, I might not be willing to post them on the World Wide Web.

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Final Fall Visit to Mineral King

Yesterday morning at 8:30 a.m. Trail Guy was reading the weather, and together we faced the unpleasant reality that we might be closing our Mineral King cabin during a rain shower if we waited until the weekend. So, by a little after 9, we were in the Botmobile heading up the hill to git-‘er-dun.

Rather than go on and on about what it is like to close the cabin for the season, let’s just all revel in the beauty that yesterday provided.

Next week I begin a mural. I’ll show you step by step but may not be posting until the end of the day so you can see each day’s work.

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The Last Weekend of Summer in Mineral King

Why do we think that Labor Day is the last weekend in summer? Doesn’t summer go until around the 21st of September? Tell the weather that – it ALWAYS is cooler on Labor day weekend in Mineral King.

It was a difficult weekend (see Tuesday’s post). It was also full of friendship and a tiny bit of getting out and about.

Not much to say, so have a look. The first 4 photos are Trail Guy’s from the days leading up to Labor Day weekend.

Bigelow's Sneezeweed — Bigelow’s Sneezeweed

Michael's little friends — Michael’s little friends

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Signs of Late Summer in Mineral KIng

Mineral King cabins have the most visitors in August, as evidenced by more cars (No need to keep your hood up – it doesn’t deter the marmots, and they aren’t busy in cars in August.)

The colors are getting more yellow because. . .

. . . the grasses are drying out and there is goldenrod in bloom.

See? Goldenrod, and the flowers and grasses are tall.

This is not a sign of fall, although it could be a place to fall. It is a style of trail building called “rip-rap”. This is looking down at a section of such trail. It is hard to walk up and even harder to walk down. You’ll be pleased to know I didn’t fall – thank you for your concern.

Squint and look across the stream. Fireweed is in bloom, and it usually appears in August. The stream is low, although not sluggish.

The aspens are still green, and the grasses beneath them are still green. Not fall, just August, late summer.

This is how August looks along the Nature Trail, from Cold Springs Campground up to the actual Mineral King valley.

Mineral King has a quick summer. Gotta go, gotta experience, gotta enjoy, don’t blink, because boom, it is over. (The temperature in the early morning of the day I took these photos was 38 degrees.)

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Flower Show in Mineral King

My favorite place and time in Mineral King is a flower show in the first half of July at the junction of the Farewell Gap and Franklin Lakes trails.

First, we had to get there. It is 4 miles one way on a well-graded uphill trail. Some parts are flattish, some steeper than others. There is very little shade. There are 2 creeks to cross.

Thistle, just a preliminary sneak-peek to the flower show.

Franklin Creek, the 2nd creek to be crossed on the way to the flower show.

Explorer’s Gentian is my happy flower, and it was out in profusion on the way to the flower show.

Leopard Lilies are Trail Guy’s happy flower. They hide a little bit, but not for those with an acute sniffer.

Here we are at last – the flower show! Bigelow Sneezeweed is the star.

Here comes our friend Kirk, but he is only passing through.

Two buddies, who like to hike, love Mineral King, and are both thrilled to still be healthy while approaching upper-middle-age. (Says she of middle-middle-age.)

Happy Trails, Kirk! We will finish our lunch in the flower show cafe before heading back down.

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Wherein I Join Trail Guy on a Mineral King Hike

White Chief as it appears in the coloring book "Hear t of Mineral King" — White Chief as it appears in the coloring book “Heart of Mineral King”

Coloring books will be available again on July 1, 2016. You may order, but it will involve a wait. Thank you for your patience.

Mineral King — Languid Ladies in the foreground; Chihuahua Creek in the distance. I don’t think this has flowed for the past 4 summers, and Trail Guy thinks it will last through the whole month of June this year.

Mineral King Trail — Steps on a trail look friendly and helpful to me. Trail crew builders accuse step-builders of “making monuments to themselves”. Thank you, Monument Makers.

This is sort of a boring photo of Indian Paintbrush, (red), Western Wallflower (yellow), and a bit of Larkspur (sort of bluish). I just got a little excited to see the 3 primary colors all together.

We saw 2 of these mylar helium balloons. Partiers down in the valley (not Mineral King, but the San Joaquin Valley) don’t realize that when they let go of the strings of their balloons, they are littering.

This tree is not a failure. It is a juniper, and it is Trail Guy’s favorite tree. It is a sign that the steepest part of the trail to White Chief is over. It is still steep, just not the steepest part.

Here is an example of Phlox in all the variations of its whitish-purplish-pinkish glory.

Hello White Chief! The peak is square topped and this is where you first see a glimpse of the canyon, which our 2 new trail friends called “enchanting”. (Hi Dean and Dave!)

Not Trail Guy. He’s not getting wet with his high-tech poncho. He sort of looked like Moses, if he had pulled his arms out of the garbage bag and held his walking stick like a staff.

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Mineral King, Because it is Friday

After a harrowing week, most of which doesn’t not belong on a public blog on the World Wide Web, I ran away to Mineral King for a much needed respite.

It was overcast and a bit rainy. That’s fine. We have a wood stove for cooking and heat, and I always have my knitting.

In between, there were some walks around the valley floor. Strolls, really.

In gardening, it is tricky to find blue flowers. In Mineral King, that is one of the main colors of the early season flowers.

blue lips — The aptly named “Blue Lips”.

bluebellls — “Sierra Bluebells” are also called “Languid Ladies”.

forget me not — Sierra Forget Me Nots look just like the Alaskan state flower, same name minus the Sierra part. Duh. Sometimes these come in pink. So do the “Languid Ladies”. Weird, but maybe they are like hydrangeas and depend upon the make up of the soil. These are also called “Sierra Stickseed” because when they go to seed, they stick to your bootlaces (or the velcro on the straps of your Tevas, if you are like me in your hiking footwear).

honeymoon cabin — Wonderful flow of water, here in the east fork of the Kaweah River next to the Honeymoon Cabin. If you are in Mineral King, you can learn about some of the history in this little building. You might need to bring glasses and a flashlight if you are over 45.

The evening is looking hopeful for a good hiking day tomorrow. This is the alpen glow on Farewell Gap.

To be continued next Friday. . .

Coloring books will be available again on July 1, 2016. You may order, but it will involve a wait. Thank you for your patience.

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Mineral King in Early Summer

What do I mean “early summer”? It isn’t summer until June 21!

Oh yeah? It’s been in the high 90s and low 100s for a couple of weeks around here. That qualifies as summer, despite the calendar’s report.

Trail Guy is back out on the trails in Mineral King. I’ll get there, just hang on. Meanwhile, please enjoy his photos with my photo editing and explanations.

These are phlox, an early flower that comes in subtle shades of lavender, pink, white, pinkish white, whitish pink, lavenderish white, whitish lavender, pinkish whitish lavender, etc.

Can you pick out Sawtooth Peak from this angle?

This is the view that the Mather party had 100 years ago. There is a photo, a book and a pencil drawing commemorating that event.

Mather party book cover drawing — Remember this pencil drawing? When the Park wanted to reprint the book on the Mather party (group of people on an excursion, not group of people drinking and dancing–but how would I know? I wasn’t there), they commissioned me for a cover drawing redo. That mule heiny was a challenge, but Cowboy Bert took photos of his mulz (that’s how he spells it on his license plate) to help me get it right.

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