Hanging Out in Mineral King

Because yesterday was Independence Day, today’s post is a bonus. I wouldn’t want anyone to miss out on a weekly Mineral King update!

“Hanging out” has ceased to be slang; what terminology did people use before this?

We don’t hike a lot anymore. Bum knee, numb feet. Walking is good enough for now. We headed toward the upper valley on this trail which was a road during Trail Guy’s childhood.

There were a few stray carrots lying on the ground, which Trail Guy retrieved to feed the stock.

A mule or two usually get out of the corrals. This causes many questions: 1. How? 2. Why? 3. Why just one? 4. Can’t some Park Packer Person make the fence tighter? (I’ve learned mules can leap pretty high, but I’m not convinced.)

We encountered some friends at Crystal Creek WITH A DOG. Everyone knows this is against National Park rules, or do they?? These fine folks were being very careful about it all, but if other people see them, they’ll assume dogs are okay if they are on a leash. Nope. It might be okay in the National Forest, but Mineral King is in Sequoia National Park, where dogs are not allowed on trails.

If you don’t want to get your feet wet crossing Crystal Creek, go a little above the trail and balance on those sticks. (I just walked through, as usual.)

My destination was Franklin Falls; Trail Guy’s knee along with his dislike of straight up-and-backs caused him to turn off the trail while I powered upward.

If you want to cross Franklin Creek, this is how the dry boulders arranged as stepping stones look.

I turned around and met up with Trail Guy just above Crystal Creek. The flowers were excellent, as one expects during late June, early July in Mineral King.

The rest of the photos are from meandering around, nothing noteworthy other than peak season in Mineral King.

So many shades of green.

This is sort of interesting: like beachcombers, we find all sorts of things while meandering around. This time it was a Benadryl Itch Relief stick, a blue carabiner, a fork, 3 grommets from tarps, and a large bottle of water sitting by the road.

Chilly Weekend in Mineral King

Sunday morning’s temperature at our cabin was 33°. This was on the second day of SUMMER! My 7 year old neighbor and I discussed the fact that the seasons don’t always follow the calendar.

Because it was unseasonably cool, we opted to walk up the usually hot and dusty trail toward Timber Gap, Monarch Lake, Crystal Lake, and Sawtooth. Nope, those were not our destinations; we chose to go to Groundhog Meadow. It was just a walk, not a hike. (Hikes have backpacks with food and water; walks are just walks.)

The parking lot was full of cars protected from marmots by blue tarps. Usually the marmots have ceased their automotive destruction by this date, but most people don’t know this and aren’t willing to take chances.

The trail is steep with giant steps for the first 1/4 mile or so. After passing the turn to Timber, you eventually come across this funny little spring, just shooting directly out of the side of the mountain.

I remembered the trail wrong: I thought there was a long straight section, with more steep steps to the so-called meadow. Instead, it was more steep steps to a long straight section that led to Groundhog Meadow. Our little friend viewed it as a hike and carried a pack in spite of my explanations. This girl makes up her own mind.

Groundhog Meadow is a weird name to me. What meadow? And aren’t they marmots, not groundhogs? Who named this place? This is Groundhog Meadow, which to me is simply a stream crossing.

Being close to the beginning of July, which I view as the peak wildflower season, there were good wildflowers.

If you take the old Sawtooth trail, it leads to a nearby meadow; maybe this is Groundhog. Sure has a good view of Sawtooth!

There is one dicey part of the trail pretty close to the stream crossing on the way up. Here it is on the way back down.

Boring unknown white flower. . . if I do a second edition of Mineral King Wildflowers, will this make it into the book?

Hiking Buddy and I walked up to Crystal Creek. It has all gotten so lush and green in just the 3 weeks since I was last in Mineral King. Some of the ferns might croak due to the low temperatures, and a few of the lupine looked droopy.

Crystal Creek looks low, but it is because after the wet winter of 2023, its course changed to three spread-out sections across the trail instead of one charging stream.

Ugh. So many dead trees. Drought? Some sort of beetle that takes advantage of a weakened state? We’ve had some decent winters, but the preceeding dry winters have taken their toll.

Indian Paintbrush was the dominant flower on this walk. That’s Timber Gap in the distance, in case you need help getting oriented.

This is looking up the trail toward Farewell Gap, Vandever in the distance.

Thus we conclude another Mineral King report—walks, not hikes, grateful to be able to walk, wearing my latest hiking Crocs, called All Terrain Atlas Clogs. These have thick soles and I think they’ll last awhile.

(Take that, stupid Peripheral Neuropathy! You can’t stop me from walking on trails, so there.)

Trail Guy is Back on the Mineral King Trails

Who wants to hear about Oregon?? Not as many of my tens of readers as want to hear about Mineral King.

While I was on the road, Trail Guy was in Mineral King. (Are you surprised? Then you might be new here. . . welcome!) You may recognize these photos as coming from his camera, because it usually has a dark spot in the sky.

First, he saw a Western Tanager, a yearly sighting. Blurry, so I’ve made this photo small.

Then he went to White Chief.

This is Crystal Creek from across the valley.

This juniper is everybody’s favorite tree.

Here is White Chief, sometimes described as a canyon, sometimes as a valley, sometimes as a dry lake.

The flat top peak is White Chief Peak.

Trail Guy calls this “Walden Pond”. It is NOT White Chief Lake. That’s up a steep steep steep slope below White Chief Peak.

Back in the valley (the Mineral King Valley), this rock outcropping continues to impersonate a mountain ridge which we call Empire. From this angle, it appears to be the top, but it isn’t.

Trail Guy also went to Timber Gap. This is the classic view from the trail. White Chief Peak is visible, identifiable by its squared off top.

Five-spot on the left, phlox on the right.

Shooting star. Jeffrey Shooting Star. Don’t forget about Jeffrey, whoever he was.

When he got home to Three Rivers, he found this brand new, recently born set of twins, right in our yard.

Great. Now we’ll never get rid of these voracious landscape-destroying creatures.

New Notecards Coming Soon

Notecards have been a mainstay of my art business since 1987 (maybe you weren’t born yet). There used to be many stores throughout Tulare County that sold these steadily, and I spent copious amounts of time packaging cards, sometimes with the help of my parents or my friend Gnat.

The packages had two each of five designs and retailed for $5.00. It was possible to make a profit because I worked at a print shop and received a discount, but had to order large quantities to make this work. “Large” means 1000 or more of each design, instead of the 100 or so I now order. Since this was before email, most of polite society used cards. (Impolite society didn’t send thank you notes.)

Now notecards can be ordered online, and if I wait for a discount sale from the company who prints the cards, I can make a small profit selling four cards (all same design in a package) for $10.

Have you picked yourself back up off the floor? Okey dokey, let’s see the new designs coming soon. These were chosen to please my higher selling stores’ customers, many of whom are visitors to the area in the summer. The pencil drawings aren’t new; the paintings were completed recently (within the last year).

Kaweah River
Generals Highway
General Sherman Tree
Lake Kaweah
Sawtooth #65 (such an elegant title!)

These are all scenes drawn or painted from my* photos, sometimes embellished and made up from several photos and my memory, all specific to eastern Tulare County: Three Rivers, Sequoia National Park, and Mineral King.

The notecards will be available at Kaweah Arts in Three Rivers and on this page of my website.

*Except Lake Kaweah, generously supplied by my friend Rachel.

Two Weeks Ago in Mineral King

I’ve been gone. These pictures were taken two weeks ago. The snow was still plentiful on Farewell Gap, and the water was high.

Someone left his boots in the parking lot. They were gone the next day. Glad they were retrieved.

The light was very beautiful.

I saw the tiniest wildflowers and it was a reminder to keep a dime in my pocket to photograph these little ones so that you can understand the size (also in case I do a second edition of Mineral King Wildflowers.)

The wildflowers were decent along the Nature Trail, if you kept your eyes open, always a good policy when walking a trail (or a city sidewalk, or a rural road, or your hallway or. . .) These are both violets. (I just work here.)

This is a different sort of currant, but I forget the name.

Forget me nots are the most wonderful blue, a color that is hard to find in domestic flowers.

Mineral King, I won’t forget you. I’ll be back soon!

Two Starts, One Finish, One Start-to-Finish

Translation of the title: I started two new paintings, finished one painting, and completed one in a single painting session (called alla prima in ArtSpeak, which means you layer wet upon wet).

With a sequoia painting in the queue but not wanting to waste paint in non-sequoia colors on the palette, I chose to begin another little beach painting. Why not? I have the boards, and the colors were just waiting to be used. (Fret not—this will look good eventually. I made it really small here so you wouldn’t get scared. I’m thoughtful that way.)

A sequoia gigantea painting sold and needed to be replaced quickly at Kaweah Arts, because this is Sequoia Selling Season here in Three Rivers.

Another painting hasn’t garnered proper appreciation, so rather than just wait indefinitely for the right customer, I will turn it into something else. What else might that be? The Honeymoon Cabin in Mineral King, the little museum of the Mineral King Preservation Society.

Finally, here is our alla prima painting, another speedy piece of work because one sold and needs to be replaced quickly at the Silver City Store.

The paintings were all painted during a not-too-hot day when the swamp cooler was adequate, while knowing very hot weather was coming, perfect for quick drying. Paintings need to be dry before getting scanned (duh), and they need to be scanned (or photographed at the very least) before delivered to stores and galleries. This is particularly important when one paints the same scenes over and over and over. . .

Fridays are about Mineral King*

Classic Mineral King, sold

I have some new friends, acquaintances really, because we haven’t met in real life, but we are learning to know each other. They are bloggers like me, but with much bigger audiences, so I feel honored that they show up here from time to time. They don’t know about Mineral King so here is a little introductory information.

Heading to Eagle Lake, 16×20”, $650

Mineral King is an area of Sequoia National Park, accessible by a gnarly dead-end road. It is the most beautiful part of Sequoia and only open seasonally—Memorial Day through the end of October, weather depending. There is a community of private cabins, and I am fortunate enough to have married in 39 years ago.

Sawtooth #65, 24×30”, $2000

Cabin communities are a real treasure, with their own unique culture. Because I have lived most of my life at the base of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, I have had the privilege of spending time in four different cabin communities in the mountains. My business is called Cabin Art because when I started, I lived in a cabin and I drew people’s cabins. I have published two books of of pencil drawings on two different cabin communities—one sold out a long time ago and the other still available.

Honeymoon Cabin, sold

Because Mineral King is such a beloved place, I write about it frequently during cabin season. I try to incorporate some art**, because this blog is supposed to be about my business. Frankly speaking, people are more interested in cabin life, the trails, wildflowers, the road, and Mineral King in general than in my art.

Sawtooth #66, 12×24, $650

*I won’t be writing about Mineral King every Friday at the beginning of this summer because I have a handful of situations that will prevent me from going quite as often as normal.

**Yes, this time a lot of art. I came here to earn a living.

P.S. I’ve included links to the first four “chapters” (posts) that I wrote about cabin life back in 2023. If you want more, you can follow the prompts at the bottom of each “chapter” (in quotes because it is more like a picture book than a chapter book) that will lead you to the next posts. There are twenty-two.

Mineral King—the Season has Begun

For those new to my blog, Mineral King is an area of Sequoia National Park where I spend copious amounts of time in the summer. Next Friday I will provide a more in depth explanation.

Today’s post is a long one. You’ve been warned. . .

The road is under construction, so it is a mess, and there is a schedule to follow. This is what we saw at the bottom of the road.

We stopped by Silver City to deliver paintings and cards.

I’m given quite a bit of leeway in placing the pieces and actually took my own nails, easels, and hammer.

That’s my design on the tee shirt in the background.
This is that tall narrow space for which I paint something tall and narrow each season.
The most popular subject—sold a 6×6” version of it on the weekend.

Shortly after arriving at the cabin, we headed back to a friend’s cabin with an enormous tree blocking her driveway. The men didn’t have big enough chainsaws but eliminated some parts to create a path around, carried some of her gear up to the cabin for her, and supplied a hand-truck so she could get things back down to her car later. “Did you see Tracy’s tree?” was a question we heard many times over our stay.

She had some good flowers in her driveway.

Very very tiny unknowns.
Five spot is the name of these cuties. Those leaves in the center look like a cactus. What in the world??

Hiking Buddy and I hoofed it back up the road to our cabins.

I had a nice afternoon of watching the daffodils and untangling yarn from a sweater that fit me wrong.

Our after-dinner walk was beautiful, but my camera is fairly inadequate for this sort of lighting.

However, it is perfectly fine for this sort.

The next day was busy for the men as they assisted cabin neighbors in various opening tasks. However, I had time to continue watching daffodils bloom.

Hiking Buddy and I ventured up to Spring Creek to see if the bridge had been installed yet. Nope.

When the men were available, we took a walk together.

Some of the cottonwoods had quite a few broken branches, and one was swinging precariously. The guys tried to dislodge the widow-maker, but it survived (and so did the guys—no widows were made.)

Crystal Creek is running well, very wide and shallow (sort of like Facebook).

There was more time in the afternoon for unraveling that sweater and watching the daffodils.

More walks (I am unsure about hiking with my peripheral neuropathy this year. . . more will be revealed, but for now, walks are fine with me.)

These are the tiniest blue lips I’ve ever seen! All I had so that you can appreciate the size is this chapstick (okay, Carmex, but who knows what that is?) in my pocket.

It was chilly in the evenings so we gathered with friends around this ring of fire. (Someone besides me was wearing Crocs—mine show at the bottom).

Look at the daffodils just 3 days later. Yellow wildflowers are a little bit boring to me, but daffodils are neither wild nor boring.

It wasn’t a hot weekend, and the drive down was quite beautiful. Almost all the wildflowers were yellow, and I wasn’t bored. Bush poppy, flannel bush, blazing star, monkey flowers—all yellow. The bush poppies are prolific and abundant. I didn’t photograph the areas where they cover the hillside, because it isn’t prudent to stop the Botmobile on steep slopes or blind corners or when the road is just one lane or if someone is on our six and there is no turnout.

The lupine are hanging on too.

Thus we conclude our very long post about Mineral King. Next week I will show some Mineral King art (because this is my business blog and I came here to earn a living—any questions?) and explain for my new far-away friends a little bit about this place we locals love so dearly.

Gittin’ ‘er dun at the Easel

This painting had the tightest deadline of all the paintings in progress. After a day of doing many non-painting projects, I got a day to paint uninterrupted (except for Jackson).

The edges are painted. It needed to dry, be signed, get photographed, varnished and get rewired from its previous iteration as a horizontal painting.

This is Sawtooth #66, 12×24”, oil on wrapped canvas, $650, located at the Silver City Resort, 4 miles below Mineral King.

Back to the Sawtooths

The tall narrow (12×24”) oil painting of Sawtooth has a deadline. There is a narrow but visible spot in the Silver City Store where I hang a tall narrow Mineral King painting each summer. Last summer I took up a tall and narrow painting of that classic Mineral King view on Memorial Day weekend. Somewhat flippantly I told the manager the price, adding “just on the off chance that it sells”, because usually only the suitcase-sized paintings sell.

It sold that weekend.

So, let’s not shilly-shally, hmmm?

The river and rocks are kind of too small to see in the 4×6” snapshot. I make up a lot of stuff too, which sometimes is easy and other times requires great thought.

“Make stuff up”?? Make up a lot of stuff! The idea is believability.

The great cover-up almost got finished on the day that the above progress was achieved.

Sawtooth #65,24×30”, $2000 (still drying)

I want to mull it over for a while. It is destined for the solo show at the Heritage Gallery in Tulare, the show titled “Around Here. . . and Sometimes a Little Farther”. Unless you want to buy it first.