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Mineral King

Summer has arrived in Mineral King. For those of you who are new to the blog or not from the area, Mineral King is a section in the southern end of Sequoia National Park, California. It is reached by a long and winding road, 25 miles, sometimes unpaved, somewhat cliff-hanging, often one or perhaps one and a half lane wide, with a recommended driving time of one and a half hours.  (It doesn’t take me that long. Just sayin’. And stay on your side, please!)

There is no electricity in Mineral King. The elevation is 7800′. Our cabin has running water (from a stream), hot water (propane), a very old propane refrigerator, a wood stove for cooking and heating, and a fireplace for heating in extreme conditions such as Memorial Day weekend. (We even have a telephone, no answering machine, and when 10 people have the number and use it regularly, we change the number.)

Mineral King is a source of great inspiration to me. I often refer to it as The Land of No Electricity, and I spend as much time as I can there in the summer.

I’ve decided to do my “reporting” on Mineral King on Fridays on this blog. That way, if you only tune in for Mineral King, you will know which day to check in. Conversely, if you don’t give a rodent’s hiney about this place in Sequoia, you will know which day to tune out.

Farewell Gap
Evening LIght in Mineral KIng
Pond by White Chief with view of Mineral Peak and Sawtooth
Someone Else's Mineral King Cabin
Another Mineral King cabin, not mine
Where my friends Judy and Tim got married in Mineral King

 

Where do you get your inspiration?

4 Comments

  1. Inspiration? Mineral King, of course! When I went into labor with first born child I envisioned myself on the Mineral King bridge looking towards Farewell Gap. Dad’s passing – the bridge … my sister’s passing – the bridge … when life sucks – the bridge … cheers me up –

    • Diane, the bridge, looking upstream . . . I get it. Totally.

  2. Can’t imagine actually getting to live among this kind of beauty on a regular basis. I get inspiration from being out in God’s creation, too. It just looks different around here. We have been so blessed with cool early mornings so far this summer. Am enjoying them while I can! 🙂

    By the way, LOVE the sisters painting in one of your earlier posts this week!

    • Cheryl, I think there is beauty almost everywhere in this country. Not having been in your part of the world, I’m guessing that I’d be flipping out over something very commonplace to you, something you probably don’t even notice any more.

      And thank you for loving Sisters – that was very hard to paint because I had very little idea of how to tackle the subject and textures. The customer was wonderful in giving me as much time as I needed. Oh – it’s because you have 2 daughters that the painting resonates with you, right?


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