You may have noticed I haven’t done much hiking this year. Guess you’ll have to be getting most of your trail information from other sources. I’m sorry; I would like to hike more. (Take up the subject with my feet.)
So, we walk. Down the road to Cold Springs Campground, through the campground to the Nature Trail (which no longer has a sign to let visitors know about it because the Park is and has been very understaffed for several years—take up the subject with your congressman, perhaps?) —it takes us to the Mineral King valley.
These asters were very vivid right along the road.
Look at the cotton from the cottonwood trees along the road.
These are aspen, which resemble cottonwoods, but the leaves are rounder and they “quake” in the breeze.
There is a turnout for day use above the campground. This is the first time I have noticed the BBQ device. I’ve never seen anyone cooking here. Interesting. We just walked into the day use area to see if the log for crossing the river is still intact. (It is.)
The trail crew worked on this little footbridge so there isn’t such a giant step off it any more (or on, if you are heading downhill).
Trail Guy still hikes some (but stays on the trails these days). I’ll show you tomorrow.
When I first worked at the Silver City Store (4 miles below Mineral King) in 1985, at the end of the summer my car stereo fell out whenever I drove uphill because the rough road vibrated the screws loose. (1977 Honda Accord, my first car, because I know you care about such things.)
The road is much much worse now. Driving down the other morning, I took some photos in the construction zone. I didn’t take any photos in the unpaved upper areas because those sections require 2 hands on the wheel, 2 eyes on the road, and 2 halves of one’s brain fully engaged in crawling through the hogwallows, washboard, potholes, and deep ruts, some created by springs, some by run-off.
The plan is that the road will have 145 new culverts and be repaired after fall of 2027. This means 2 more years of road construction. The company is very accommodating, pleasant, and communicative. We can do this.
P.S. At the beginning of the summer, Trail Guy told me to NOT drive Fernando (’96 Accord with 255,000 miles and a wearing-out exhaust system) on the MK Road. Then I sold Fernando (sob) and got Mom’s Car (yep, that’s the name). Trail Guy told me to NOT drive Mom’s Car on the MK Road. So, I hitchhike with neighbors up the hill if I go on a different day from Trail Guy and then ride down in the Botmobile with him. However, no one was going up when I did, so I took The Good Pickup, AKA known as “my truck” (although it is a pick-‘em-up, not a real truck.) And I don’t consider a vehicle to be mine unless I have a hairbrush and gloves in the glove apartment (because gloves are supposed to live there.)
Trail Guy and I accompanied Laile, who is an archaeologist/historian (I think those are her titles) to show her something we found. She cleared up a mystery about a rock platform that we always thought was a cabin foundation. Nope, it was a ride-by bar! George Thurman and his wife Hattie had a bar for miners riding past, who could hold out their cup and get it filled with whiskey without dismounting. (I think it was for miners but now I have forgotten the years. I am NOT a historian.)
We headed up the trail.
Thurman’s Bar! (Calm yourself – they weren’t open and I don’t drink alcohol anyway.)
Laile explained that the grass-covered log with some metal spikes used to be a dam on the creek, which obviously has changed course.
It was so beautiful out in that meadow.
Working
I spent some time caulking and painting our windows. Look at the extreme difference between wet and dry paint. It was alarming at first stroke, but then as it dried, everything was okay. There is more to be done, but things are looking better.
Hanging Out
We hung out with our very dear annual neighbors, the Sawtooth Six (now there are only five, but the name remains, and we miss Ted something fierce).
Yeah, I said I don’t drink alcohol, but other people do. The “little” bottles are normal sized; the huge one looks like a joke. (This opinion almost got me banned from the neighbors’ deck.)
It is a tradition to hang out on the bridge in the evenings.
The Olipop can won the competition to become a tripod.
I left early one morning because I have actual work to do (as you might have read on yesterday’s blog post.)
Farewell, Farewell. (The weird darker spots in the sky are because I borrowed Trail Guy’s camera. Mine was temporarily missing, because I have too many homes, too many buildings, too many vehicles, and too many briefcases and totebags. This contributes to me being a loser in the true sense of the word.)
Some weekends in Mineral King are just action packed, all about the people. Who has time to hike? Or just sit quietly while contemplating matters of consequence? Go home if you want solitude, you delusional creature!
It was the annual cabin owners meeting, which is traditionally the weekend when we see the most cabin folks. (Yes, I know, duh.) This year’s meeting was the most energetic, enthusiastic, and optimistic that I remember. The president of the board for the last umpteen years has stepped down, and a dynamic rock-‘em-sock-‘em git-‘er-dun woman is stepping into the role.
I walked down to the meeting, but accepted a ride for the final stretch because I was late. I left on time, but so many people stopped me to ask a question about this or that or something else that time got away.
Here’s only a few of the folks present. I chose this photo because it shows almost no faces, and I am a respecter of privacy.
Sarah read a beautiful tribute to the retiring president that made many of our eyes leak.John has served us well. He wanted a plaque. (Please, NEVER give me a plaque for anything, please!!)
This is Eddie, our county supervisor. Three years ago, he told me that I could paint a mural on the Ivanhoe library. Then the bureaucracy kicked in, and after jumping through all the hoops, meeting all the deadlines, returning all the emails, and counting my chickens before they hatch, I gave up. After the meeting, without my prompting, he told me that it is almost time for the mural to happen. It began with a conversation about one, ballooned to a competition to paint two (which I was told that I won), and apparently is now back down to one. Until there is a signed contract or money exchanges hands, it is simply conversation. (Links to the posts about the library are below.)
This is a friend whom I have admired for many years. It was because of this hat that I went searching until I found my own version. I would like to draw this photo.
And this is me (wearing the straw hat based on my friend’s hat above) with my good friend Sharon, my most faithful blog commenter!!
Two different people approached me separately to say how much they enjoy my blog. That was my highlight of the day. (Hi Eliza, one of my tens of readers! Thank you, Glenn, you faithful reader!)
Here is some token scenery from an after-dinner walk to the bridge. I don’t think Bearskin will make it through the summer. (That’s the snow patch in the shade on the right side of the right-hand peak.)
The road is under construction, and the schedule keeps changing.
The two men on Sequoia’s hazard tree crew came to do some work on the most recent red fir dropped by our place.
We always stop by the dumpster on the way down. Trail Guy rearranges the bags of trash so we can get the most mileage out of the dumpster, which is for cabin folks who live far away and don’t want to haul their trash back to LA or the Bay Area or the Fresno airport. It is a very fine service for our cabin neighbors, and I wish someone else would do it.
We waited for the pilot car for about 20 minutes, parked in the shade of course. Other people like to snuggle right up to the flagger, not minding the sun. They probably have A/C in their vehicles.
I just looked around, took a few photos, read my book, and waited until the uphill traffic came through.
There are so many shiny culverts along the road. Sometimes when we look ahead, we think a car is coming because of the metallic gleam.
The oaks providing shade were full of mistletoe.
Down in the heat and the dust, it is hard to imagine that we were just here:
It is always worth the drive, even without A/C in the old Botmobile.
This first one isn’t odd. I’m just warming up here. It is a plant called Coulter’s Fleabane, which I misidentified in Mineral King Wildflowers as snowberry. Maybe. Still trying to figure it out.
The cottonwood was prolific, abundant, and fascinating. Very soft to the touch, but elusive when one tried to gather it.
Once again, I failed to put a dime or a quarter in my pocket so that you can appreciate the teensy size of these daisies.
What is this? We don’t know, so I sent the photos to the local historian.
What is this on the trail??
Oh, just a little changing booth for a bride. Check out those heels on the bridesmaid. That’s an unusual sight in Mineral King, especially on a trail.
These dressed up gentlemen were receiving instructions. I think they were waiting for the bride, rumored to be an hour late.
And there are the guests, waiting for the action to begin. We didn’t bushwack down to investigate.
Let’s just end with a calming, more usual type of sight. These are penstemon, but the name escapes me at the moment. Besides, since discovering that snowberry is really Coulter’s Fleabane, I’ve lost confidence in my flower identifying abilities.
Mineral King is very social for this pair of introverts, Mr. and Mrs. Trail Guy. This is how it goes: any trail we walk includes running into people we know. Sometimes we run into people we know in the parking lot, then other people are waiting for us back at the cabin when we’ve been out and about. While we are visiting with those folks, others stop by to check in. Most people only come up the hill a handful of times a summer, or maybe only once, and they are very understandably excited to be there, and want to say hello and catch up. Trail Guy has a buddy about 1 mile down the road who invites him to his birthday party every summer, and I have a friend directly across from us who wants to be with me every moment she isn’t chasing her brother around.
Thank goodness we don’t have a phone at the cabin any more.
This is my friend holding the birthday present for Trail Guy’s friend. We decorated some scrap paper using 45-year-old crayons and used a bit of yarn from my current knitting project for the ribbon. My little buddy went through the odd assortment of cards I had on hand, and we found an envelope that matched our wrapping paper.
Brother didn’t want to go to the party. He is single-minded about baseball (New Yank Yorkie fan), and the party was decorated with San Francisco Giants stuff. He chose to stay back and play catch with his dad.
We played one game at the party. The birthday boy sat in a chair, trying to hold still, and everyone had 5 minutes to draw him. He then chose his favorite drawing, and it just wasn’t very fair for all the others to have to compete with the Central California artist. (Of course he chose mine—did you doubt?) I took it home and finished it under better light and while wearing glasses. He thought it looked like a fat girl face. (I didn’t photograph it for you, not wanting either to expose his identity or put a dent in my professional reputation.)
Let’s look at a grouse instead. No wonder the miners ate these birds. . . they are fearless, slow and easy to pop on the head. (Fear not, no head-popping took place, and the only shots taken were with my camera).
I walked down the Nature Trail to the little footbridge to see if the Monkshood had bloomed. It has been many years since I’ve seen it, although I look every year.
Yippee skippee, here it is!!
Felwort, another one that I have only seen in this one place along the Nature Trail is also in bloom, although there was only one.
Twinberry is another one I have almost seen no place else except by the footbridge on the Nature Trail.
There will be more about Mineral King, but it is now August, which means Monday is time for a Learned List.
Yesterday’s post was stopped when my friend and I crossed the creek in the middle part of White Chief canyon.
It’s been awhile since I’ve gone further than this, but my friend was very interested in seeing the mining tunnel.
We didn’t go inside, and we didn’t go a whole lot farther because we were slow, just enjoying being there without a particular schedule other than getting back in time for a cabin friend’s 9th birthday party that evening.
Besides, I just wanted to soak in as many wildflowers as possible. The rocks, caves, and tunnels are interesting, but it is green and flowers that float my boat.
Sierra columbine
We are overlooking Timber Gap in the distance.
Larkspur, monkeyflower, Indian paintbrush
This lupine has leaves best described as “gurple”. (That’s Hoope’s Sneezeweed in the yellow.)
Everyone’s favorite juniper
So verrrrry green on the way down.
About 1/4 mile to go, and now Timber Gap is above us in the distance. It was a terrific day of hiking to White Chief, steep trail but short and very well worth the effort.
White Chief is our favorite destination in Mineral King. Most people want to go to a lake, and they are welcome to struggle to Eagle up that lousy trail. We’ll wave goodbye as they turn that direction, and then head up the steeper but shorter trail to White Chief. It’s hard to calculate the distance, because sometimes we are happy to just break into the canyon, which Trail Guy calls a “dry lake”. You can go as far as all the way to the head of the canyon, which might be 4 miles one way. Just guessing. . .
Is that a white blooming bush ahead?
Nope, just bright sunlight hitting glossy leaves.
We shouted this back to our friends who turned back at the junction (the kids were just taking a morning constitutional while wearing pajamas).
I saw a new flower in the middle part of the canyon, where the trail crosses over the creek. It was very hard to photograph, and the best I could do is this, barely adequate for identifying. However, I concluded that it is Little Elephant Head, very similar, as one would suspect, to Elephant Head. Weird.
The flowers were terrific as we approached the place where the trail crosses the creek.
This might make a good cover photo if I publish a second edition of Mineral King Wildflowers. No promises.
We crossed the creek, and tomorrow I’ll continue this topic.
This time of year I spend lots of time in Mineral King, AKA The Land of No Electricity or Internet (unless you have StarLink, which we do not). So, my posts might be a bit erratic. Today’s post is simply photos from a walk down the road to Cold Springs Campground (now open after several summers of closure) and back up the Nature Trail.
Fireweed is prolific along the road above the Ranger Station.
Yeppers, aspen along the Nature Trail.
Sharon, my most regular commenter, named this Iron Falls.
You can count on seeing Indian Paintbrush along the Nature Trail near Iron Falls.
Walking on rip-rap is the worst part of the trail.
Sawtooth is the signature peak in Mineral King, although it can be deadly. RIP, Drew.
Tomorrow we’ll go to White Chief again.
In case you were wondering, I am working a little bit. I stop by the Silver City Store to check inventory and sometimes I hand out business cards to people I meet along the trails. (Hi Walt and Steve and the other guy from Hanford—hope Steve made it home without any more altitude discomfort.)
