Reddish is a more accurate term for today’s Mineral King wildflowers. I am including orange and pinkish flowers too. Someone pointed out to me once that red is very uncommon in nature. It is used for accents rather than in large amounts.
Here are some oranges:
Now, reds.
Pinks are sort of red, red plus white. They certainly don’t belong with white, blue, or yellow.
As I was thinking about a week of wildflowers (Mineral King wildflowers, specifically), it occurred to me that all the flowers can be categorized with the same colors I use for painting – white, yellow, blues and reds. (orange, pink, and purple pose a bit of a challenge – just work with me here. . .)
Here are eight yellow wildflowers I found recently in Mineral King:
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.)
Every summer in Mineral King, Trail Guy goes on a quest for Leopard Lilies. They have a fabulous fragrance, and often we smell them before we see them.
Mineral King wildflowers are usually at their peak during the first couple of weeks in July. This year they are particularly profuse.
Run run run run run-away. Book problem not resolved, Mineral King as a prescription to anxiety – works for me! (temporarily, because then I have to come home again, but I’ll just think about that tomorrow!)
Swamp Onion and Corn Lily (AKA “skunk cabbage” because it resembles the plant by that name that grows on the right coast)
Lupine
Penstemmon, the kind that doesn’t show up in any of my wildflower books
Explorer’s Gentian, my favorite!
Manzanita – both beautiful in color and texture, but ever so slightly grotesque in form
Sierra Gentian, more colorful in person but still not the awesome color of the Explorer’s Gentian
Goldenrod doesn’t usually appear until August, but this year it showed up in June!
Trail Guy, AKA The Retiree, does a tremendous amount of hiking in Mineral King while I’m in Three Rivers trapped on the phone with AT&T because my email doesn’t work. But I’m not bitter. I enjoy his photos, and then you get to enjoy them. These will mostly be without comments. All you need to know is that they were all taken along Mineral King trails (and in between, because Trail Guy don’t need no stinkin’ trails!)
This is our dear friend Steven who walks 12 miles a day and gets paid for it. These trails were no problem for this guy!
This is a Pika, pronounced “PEE-ka”.
Happy Independence Day Eve!
Normally I post about Mineral King on Fridays, but this week I will be silent on Friday because you will be busy and so will I. So, you get to read about Mineral King on Thursday. Hope you are feeling flexible.
Trail Guy and I took a break from our labors around the cabin (Is knitting a labor??) for a walk. No packs, no water, no snacks – just a walk. He wanted to visit his favorite flower, which has popped into bloom a little early this year since spring came early to the mountains.
This is not his favorite flower – this is Crimson Columbine.
This is not his favorite flower either. I don’t remember seeing it before. I don’t know what it is.
This is not Trail Guy’s favorite flower either. The color is washed out here, but it is Wild Blue Flax. I took this photo because this was taken in June, and normally this flower doesn’t appear until August.
This Mariposa Lily might be Trail Guy’s second favorite flower. It is one of the few white flowers that I’ve bothered to learn, because usually I think white flowers are boring.
This is one of my favorite views, but it rarely photographs well and has never looked good enough to paint.
This is an almost invisible little bitty purplish blue flower that our friend Sue got all excited about. She called it an “Alpine something-or-other”. I’ve never seen it before and don’t think Sue had either.
LEOPARD LILY AKA TIGER LILY is Trail Guy’s favorite wild flower.
They smell very very fragrant. Trail Guy thinks if it could be bottled, the bottler would be a zillionaire.
Indian Paintbrush grows at most elevations. This is one of the best ones I’ve ever seen.
I love penstemmon, particularly this purply-blue version. I don’t know its real name.
This blog post got long. I’ll tell you about the rest of our walk next Friday.
For clarification, this blog is about a California artist, me, to be specific. Mineral King is one of my main sources of inspiration, it is in California, I call my business “Cabinart”, there are cabins in Mineral King, and this is The Season in Mineral King.
Any questions? Yes? Click on the commenting line that might say “Be the First To Respond” or “# of responses”. No? Let us proceed. . .
1. While enjoying the sunset on the Mineral King bridge one evening, I met Claudia and Dustin.
They were delightful, and Claudia told me about a great website whose name I am afraid to type on my blog. It is called cabin {blank}. The blank begins with a “p”, has four letters, ends with “n” and has the word “or” in the middle. It is fabulous photos of cabins from all over the world. Unfortunately, I just can’t put the name in my blog because who knows what sort of firestorm of spam it might unleash! So, put on your thinking caps, figure it out, and type in www dot cabin (that word) dot com and enjoy some wonderful cabin photos.
2. You’ve read about the Nature Trail AKA Wildflower Walk in Mineral King several times on this blog. (Or maybe you skipped those days. . .) While on the trail the first weekend in August, I found yet another flower that I’ve never seen before. It is on the downstream side of this little bridge. On the upstream side of that bridge I discovered a new flower several years ago, a Monk’s Hood. That is a real thrill to this rural regional artist who never goes anywhere (except Alaska twice, Chicago twice and China twice). It is a shrub that makes a berry in the middle of the blossom. Two friends said, “Wild Coffee Berry!” but it doesn’t match the photos I found on the internet.
3. This guy blew past me on the Wildflower Walk with his dog. HIS DOG! There are signs at either end of the trail with a picture of a dog and a slash through it. I overheard the guy say that he knew dogs aren’t allowed on the trails which is why he had to walk so fast. Hmmm, that means you don’t have to follow the rules??
In Mineral King, you can walk from Cold Springs Campground up to the actual Mineral King valley on a trail, called “the Nature Trail”. That name bugs me. My faithful blog reading and commenting friend (Hi Mel!) suggested “the Wildflower Trail”. I prefer aliteration, and because I never take a pack or food when I use that trail, it is a walk. Thus, “Wildflower Walk”.
Every year, it seems there are new or interesting things to see. In the photo below, there are lots of white dots. This is Sierra Star Tulip, the most prolific I’ve ever seen it.
Look at this little thing! It actually comes in different sizes, but I didn’t have a quarter in my pocket to show you the differences.
This year there are clusters, something I don’t recall seeing in the past.
What is this? An unfamiliar flowering shrub. How can something be unfamiliar when I’ve been walking this trail since 1985?
Mr. Unfamiliar Shrub has these flowers. I didn’t stick my nose in them to see if there was a scent – I only just met them and didn’t want to overstep the bounds of politeness.
The Wildflower Walk has the best and most accessible aspens. I went nutso over them last fall. You can see those posts here and here and here and here. Here too. Go ahead. Each link will open in a new tab or window. I’ll wait.
There is a little footbridge. I’ll tell you more about that in another post. (Sophie, got some news for you!!)
Languid Ladies or Sierra Bluebells are one of the first flowers to bloom each year. I love blue.
I have no idea what these are. They are sort of boring. I usually don’t like white flowers because they are a little boring.
Sierra Forget Me Nots – sometimes they are called Sierra Stickseed. Sometimes they come in pink. I love blue.
Larkspur are sort of a bluish purple. I love blue and bluish purple.
Little white boring flowers.
These have the appropriate name of “Elephant Heads”. I can forgive them for not being blue.
Office? What office? I thought you had a studio!
I stole that line from Lily Kreitinger, an online friend with a wonderful blog. It means that I have a guest post today on another wonderful blog (not Lily’s – yet!) Today you can find my writing at my friend Cheryl Barker’s blog. We are also online buddies.
Why are you reading and talking about all these blogs? I thought you were a California artist!
As a self-employed artist, I work in silence and solitude. Instead of feeling isolated, I listen to podcasts while I paint. They inspire and motivate me to try new things with art, life and business.
I also read other people’s blogs because they broaden my world, and give me a chance to interact with people outside of Tulare County. When I really like someone’s thoughts and writing, and if I have something to say or a question (I ALWAYS have questions!) then I comment. There is a sense of community among the regular commenters and interaction with the blogger himself or herself.
Sometimes I follow the links to those commenters’ blogs, and it is like an interwoven web. (Hmmm, could that be the internet? or perhaps the world wide web?) I think I found Cheryl through Stuff Christians Like, a very goofy and fun blog.
So who is this Cheryl Barker?
Cheryl posts about:
Faith. Family. Friends. Serving God. All of these things are important to me. Being a writer is one of the ways I live out my faith and serve the One who first loved me. My prayer is that you will be refreshed as you join me on my journey. Be blessed!
In the summer she adds some light-hearted things that she calls “Summer Photo Fun”. I’m into photos, and I love to have fun, so lucky me, she asked me to participate!
Head on over there to see what sort of buffoonery I’m engaging in today – share the link with your friends that might enjoy Cheryl’s blog, comment if you are so inclined.
Hint – the post is about wildflowers