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Another Post About Mineral King

Perhaps I should only write about Mineral King because it is the most popular topic.

Nah. . . this website is expensive, so it needs to contain things about my business. But today is Friday, and Fridays are for Mineral King posts (when I have something to show and tell).

The reddish areas are not burned trees; it is borate, a fire retardant.

When I drove up the hill on Tuesday, July 24, there was a huge lit sign at the bottom of the road saying that there was a fire 15 miles up the road and that no backpacking permits would be issued. It looked like a nothing-burger, but I am very very glad that the Park was suppressing it with all their available resources, because who knows what those bad boy fires do when crawling along the ground, or smoldering in roots?

That evening, we strolled over the bridge and admired the evening light. 

The plan was to visit some neighbor-friends, and if we were lucky, maybe we’d get to hear them play some music. Jazz isn’t normally my musical choice, but these guys were magical together. This is a father with his 2 sons, and I was sure they were reading one another’s minds! 

This is how things looked on the stroll back home. 

A day or so later, we spotted this Model A in the parking lot, and turned out it was someone’s that we know. I took a few photos for him on the bridge, a tricky business with a little bit of traffic, plus the dark shadows and bright light in the background. This was the best of the bunch. 

Then, while visiting some other neighbor-friends, one of them pointed out that “Bearskin”, the patch of snow on the side of Vandever, is looking less like the skin of a bear and more like a rooster this summer. 

We hiked to the lower part of White Chief with some friends. One of them is an entomologist and pointed out this beautiful bug. I said that a pair would make nice earrings, and she said that some company actually does make earrings out of their wings! 

White Chief canyon, after the super steep climbing is over.
Swamp onion near the little pond, its glory fading. . .
Three hiking buddies, a privilege to share the trail with.
I don’t know why Trail Guy is sticking his hands in the water that is flowing toward the little pond.
Oh no! Another unknown yellow flower!
The tail end of the summer’s peak. There is plenty of summer left, but the flowers are over their stunning best.

4 Comments

  1. Hi Jana,

    My family has a long history in Mineral King/Silver City and my husband, brother and I were fortunate enough to spend the last week in July in Silver City at the Gregg cabin (my grandparents owned it from the 50s to the 80s). The Model A passed us on the road coming up as we were hiking down to Atwell.

    I’ve long admired your beautiful paintings and stop in to your blog now and then. It’s a long way from Lincoln, Nebraska to Mineral King, but your paintings take me there in an instant. Thank you for sharing through the blog. Hope to meet you one day!

    Marti McCallister McKee

    • Welcome, Marti! I know a brother (Mac) and a sister (Joyce) of yours! And your Mom and I wrote notes back and forth for a short time. So glad you were able to visit and stay at Mignon’s place. Thank you for the kind words and for checking in!

  2. I love that you post about Mineral King!!! I like seeing your work stuff too! Makes me motivated to create!

    My Mike and I have been talking about doing some backpacking out of Mineral King next summer .
    We need some practice runs to see if we are both up to the task … my left hip and knee are giving me problems. Ahhhh. But if we do . I’ll let you know!!!

    In the meantime …. loving summer in Oregon . Doing hikes along the Columbia gorge … beautiful!!

    • Anne, the Columbia Gorge is a fabulous place! I’m glad you have it available. Backpacking is hard hard work – my vote is always for day hiking!

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