Cabin Life, Chapter Eighteen

Old Work

A number of years ago (feels like five, so it is probably ten), the head law enforcement ranger in Mineral King decided that the Spring Creek footbridge shouldn’t be installed when the water was splashing onto it because it might be slippery. Never mind that the bridge has a hand rail; never mind that people were building weird little crossings all over the place; never mind that people found where the bridge was stored and dragged it into a precarious position without properly installing it; never mind that crossing became more treacherous with all these make-do solutions.

When Trail Guy worked Maintenance in Mineral King, he was one of the bridge installers each year. In The Year of No Bridge, he, along with some neighbors, decided to bypass the bureaucratic baloney.

This year, the very accommodating and capable trail crew installed the bridge as a thank you to Trail Guy for volunteering so much time to opening the road and repairing the sinkhole.

They rightly assumed that we would be capable of using the handrail if we needed a bit more help while crossing.

More Work

I love to do what I have deemed “waterology”. This means that I direct water off roads and trails whenever I can. I don’t mind standing in icy water, flinging rocks, yanking branches, digging more rocks and mud, and redirecting the water in order to prevent further erosion.

First, we worked on Chihuahua in mid-June. This is usually a nothing-burger of a little trickle. Not this year! Trail Guy and friends built a bridge.

Hiking Buddy and I returned later with a rake and got much of the flow off the trail and road. Chihuahua is just above the pack station, so there is a road almost all the way to it. Shortly after we finished, the very capable and hard-working trail crew filled in the deep crevices on the road made by the raging water.

The next week, Trail Guy and I tackled the problem of Crystal Creek, which was raging down the trail and even creating a pond in the middle of one section of trail.

You will still get your feet wet crossing the very very wide Crystal Creek. Oops: you would if you were allowed to go to Mineral King. I’m sorry for mentioning this.

I just walk through in my trusty All Terrain Crocs.

Yeppers, just standard issue Waterologist footwear.

P.S. I can draw your cabin because. . .

. . . using pencils, oil paints, and murals, I make art you can understand, of places and things you love, for prices that won’t scare you.