I’m able to spend lots of time in Mineral King this month. While hiking, I think. Sometimes I think about the blog, and the idea of a week of wildflowers came to me. Today, white! I’m doing my best to look at white flowers and learn some new names. Several blog readers have told me that they love white flowers, so out of respect for you, I will try to stop ignoring them. Here are 17 for you to enjoy: (there are more than 17 out there along the trails but I probably ignored them.)
I know, Mineral King is supposed to be the topic on Fridays, but I have so many photos to show you that I’m breaking my policy. Can’t get fired . . .
Remember in the post about the Mineral King trail drawing that there was a short sign?
Have a look at the signage, but first, this is Austin, so you have an idea of relative sign sizes. He’s the little person in the large hat, crossing on the plank.
Now, here is short guy, short sign.
Here is short guy, tall sign.
No wonder people take their dogs and their bicycles where it is forbidden; who notices little signs that are 7-1/2 feet up in the air??
The Central California Artist, ahem, that would be me, finally had a bit of time in Mineral King and hiked to White Chief with Trail Guy and a new friend named Jessica.
The artist is sore, and she isn’t happy about it.
The artist is happy to have gone to White Chief, and happy to have spent time with Trail Guy and their new friend.
The artist will now shut up and show you the photos. There will be many.
Once June is past, I hope that the Mineral King posts will be of my experiences instead of just hitchhiking on Trail Guy’s.
The baby marmots are out, and as always, have moved underneath our cabin. Since there is nothing that we can do about it, we take photos. (They make noise and messes that smell bad, in case you were wondering why we’d be anything except enchanted.)
Trail Guy went to White Chief. It is a short but very steep hike, and it involved fording Spring Creek. (As of this writing, the bridge hasn’t been put up for the season yet.)
I wasn’t there so I have nothing to say. Just enjoy the photos and the fact that you aren’t gasping for breath, due to altitude and exertion.
Because this blog is supposed to be promoting my art, here is a recent (and the only) painting I’ve done of White Chief. (This view is closest to the first White Chief photo in this post.)
Being on a roll with pencil drawings of Mineral King makes me think very carefully about what I should draw next.
This is a view I recently painted, and it sold right away.
Allllrighty, then. Looks and sounds like a logical next pencil drawing. However, all the other drawings are vertical, so this scene will need some cropping, stretching and improvising, all while maintaining its believability.
How’s this? Is it believable?
To contribute to the authenticity, I’ve included the trail sign. In real life, the thing is about 1-1/2 feet off the ground. Weird. Can you spot its goofy little self in this drawing?
Here it is in all its midgetry. (My blog, my word. . . any questions?)
Sawtooth is that very visible and distinctive peak in Mineral King that shows up in Visalia on a clear day.
Here is a pencil drawing of Sawtooth from 2003. It isn’t bad.
Here is a pencil drawing of Sawtooth from last week. It is a different view, and I think it is better.
Here: let’s do a little side-by-side comparison.
The contrast isn’t as marked as it was between the two Farewell Gap drawings, but the gap of years isn’t as wide either.
Trail Guy went to Timber Gap, his first hike of the season in Mineral King in 2017. (He is retired, I am not. It is okay – I love what I do!)
These photos are his.
Fridays are for Mineral King on my blog, but sometimes every day is for Mineral King. There isn’t a lot happening with my art business right now that you will find interesting (other than the one-day drawing workshop tomorrow at Arts Visalia; call 559-739-0905 to see if any spaces remain).
So, let’s continue our photo excursion in and around Mineral King, while the trails are inaccessible due to swollen streams and deep snow.
One of the things we always do is check the water level at the bridge.
I try to stop taking the same photos over and over, but each time I am sure it is the best it has ever looked.
We look at Sawtooth and think about the amount of snow and how quickly it is melting. Neither one of us has any desire to climb it. We were speculating that Monarch Lake may be accessible via the old trail sooner than other lakes, because the old trail is south-facing.
We pay attention to water flowing in places that it normally isn’t. Or perhaps it is, but we are usually out on trails instead of poking around non-trail areas.
We discovered some itty-bitty wildflowers that we’ve never seen before. Too small to see; too small to name. Perhaps Captain Obvious would have named these Blue Dots or Blue Spots.
We have gone to Crystal Creek several times. It was roaring down the trail over Memorial Weekend, so we did some trail rescue. The water level rose again, so we had to do a bit more waterology and redirect the water off the trail again. (Did the same at Chihuahua also, just above the old pack station, which runs colder than Crystal. This is not scientific, just a report from my bare feet.)
I didn’t have to get in the water to fix the flow from Spring Creek down the trail, so I’m not sure of the relative temperature on that one. See? 57 going on 12!
Sometimes trails have obstacles that we can navigate over or around.
When life gives you lemons, make lemonade? Or, don’t be sorry for what you have lost; instead, be grateful you had it. Or, be flexible, because it is better to bend than to break. Go with the flow. Bloom where you are planted. Et cetera. . .
Happy Birthday, Rachelle! May this be the year of new lungs. . .
What do you do when the trails in Mineral King aren’t accessible?
You walk the trails as far as you can. This was heading to Spring Creek, where the water is still too high for maintenance guys to put the bridge in yet. These folks were exclaiming over the snow and the water; I was mucking about in the water, mud and rocks, diverting water off the trail. (I’m 57, going on 12).
This is Spring Creek, taken from as close as I dared get. This is the same creek in my drawing titled “Hard Water”, but that was from the bridge. I’m sure you must be able to tell it is the same creek. . .
We also went looking for things, like Five Spot wildflowers. Trail Guy had noticed large swaths of them from the road by the Tar Gap parking lot, so away we went, off trail, in search of these special little guys.
First, we found Blue Lips.
Looks like a nothing burger of white dandruff on the ground from here. Or, if you are a Heidi fan, it looks like the Alps.
Once again, this is getting to be too long. To be continued tomorrow. . .
Remember, there is a one day drawing workshop at Arts Visalia on Saturday. You may contact them at (559)739-0905 to register.