Mineral King has a quick summer. Gotta go, gotta experience, gotta enjoy, don’t blink, because boom, it is over. (The temperature in the early morning of the day I took these photos was 38 degrees.)
Signs of Late Summer in Mineral KIng
Random Mineral King Observations
Warning: long long rambling post ahead
First random Mineral King observation is about a wildflower called “Cow Parsnip”. I think white flowers are a little bit boring but this one grows taller than me sometimes and has this ongoing mystery of the leaves.
Second random observation on Mineral King is also about wildflowers. Goldenrod is a yellow flower that I find a little bit boring except that it is a harbinger of fall. This photo was taken on July 30. Seems early. . . does this indicate a big winter coming?
Random observation #3: Hey Trail Guy! Your favorite flower is next in the queue.
Random Mineral King observation #4: This platform thing was supporting a display of Mineral King artifacts in the ranger station. The display was dismantled to be moved to the upcoming Mineral King Room in the Three Rivers Historical Museum soon. Trail Guy retrieved this platform that he built in 1986, and together we thought of making this table. Rustic, resourceful, and cabin-ish, yes?
Random Mineral King observation #5 is about garbage. Mineral King lost its garbage service, and all cabin folks have been driving their trash to Silver City. We cannot keep it in our cabins because it will attract bears. This adds to traffic on the road. It is very hasslesome, so Trail Guy is also acting as Garbage Guy this summer. He procured a dumpster through his many connections, and each week he unloads trash from the dumpster near the cabins into his Botmobile and then hauls it to Silver City, where he unloads it from the Botmobile into the massive dumpster at Silver City.
I hate that he has to do this, particularly when people are inconsiderate. (Actually, he doesn’t have to do it; he chooses to.)
WHO ATE A FRESH PINEAPPLE AND DRANK A TON OF BEER AND DUMPED IT UNBAGGED INTO THE DUMPSTER BETWEEN JULY 27 AND JULY 31?
You are an illiterate inconsiderate idiot, and you need to apologize to Trail Guy. He is doing everyone a BIG FAT FAVOR, and your piggish messy behavior is unacceptable.
A very very fine bottle of cabernet might help ease his pain. He goes to bed early, so you could sneak it to the cabin after dark, and be sure to tiptoe because he sleeps with his ears open. You don’t want him to know who did this dastardly trash deed and is atoning for it.
(THERE IS NOTHING YOU CAN DO TO MAKE ME NOT BE MAD AT YOU, SO DON’T EVEN TRY. I AM NOT GOING TO EXCUSE MYSELF FOR SHOUTING EITHER – THIS IS MY BLOG AND I FEEL LIKE SHOUTING.)
Trail Guy is a fine man with a servant’s heart who just wants to be of help to his cabin neighbors. Why don’t they have a little gratitude??
Some do. It only takes one pineapple-eating, beer-guzzling idiot to wreck stuff.
Final random Mineral King observation: Foxglove grow very well in Mineral King (and in Wilsonia too), but the Park doesn’t want them there because they aren’t native to the area. A few remain in spite of eradication efforts. I think they are very pretty. I included them in a drawing in the Mineral King coloring book.
Now you will know what color to make them if you bought the coloring book.
Second Most Popular Mineral King Painting
The second most popular scene I do as a Mineral King painting or drawing is the Honeymoon Cabin.
This is the one remaining cabin from the resort days in Mineral King. The resort was owned by Ray and Gem Buckman, and they sold to Disney, thinking that the ski resort was an inevitable next step in Mineral King.
It wasn’t. No ski resort, but Disney ended up owning property. This is the only structure remaining, and the Mineral King Preservation Society turned it into a little museum.
It is quaint. It is scenic. It is paintable.
Honeymoon Cabin #?, 8×10″, oil on wrapped canvas, $100. Use the contact button underneath the About The Artist tab if you’d like to buy this before it sells at the Silver City Resort.
Flower Show in Mineral King
My favorite place and time in Mineral King is a flower show in the first half of July at the junction of the Farewell Gap and Franklin Lakes trails.
First, we had to get there. It is 4 miles one way on a well-graded uphill trail. Some parts are flattish, some steeper than others. There is very little shade. There are 2 creeks to cross.
Sequoia Art Show Details
Would you like to spend an hour or so in air conditioning, looking at art of Sequoia National Park, drinking wine and noshing on “or derves”? (You don’t really expect me to spell that word, do you?)
On Sunday, August 7, 2-4 p.m., Courthouse Gallery in Exeter, 125 South B Street, you can do exactly that.
At least four artists will be participating: Nadi Spencer, Shirley Keller, Anne Brantingham, and me. There might be others, but life is full of unknowns.
Sequoia, particularly Mineral King, has been my main subject for many years, and I am ready to share those pieces in a fine gallery. At last count, I had TWENTY-ONE pieces to show, both oil paintings and pencil drawings!
I’ll bring coloring books – Heart of the Hills, and Heart of Mineral King. Exeter and Sequoia coloring books won’t be ready yet. . . that will give the colorists among the crowd something to anticipate after the post-show letdown, if they are prone to such emotional swings, and assuming there will be “a crowd”.
I hope you will be there too. I’d hate to get all gussied up and and then have to hang out by myself. (I have a somewhat hassle-some new haircut.)
Disney and Mineral King
All photos in this post are courtesy of Dr. Christopher Tremblay of Western Michigan University. He is a 1994 graduate of the Lee Honors College and has been fascinated by Disney since his parents took him to Disneyworld at age 5. Now he gets to share that love with other honors students at his alma mater.
In the 1960s and 1970s, Walt Disney wanted to build a ski resort in Mineral King. It was under the jurisdiction of the National Forest Service, and they were inviting people to put in bids for the project.
The ski resort didn’t happen. That’s a whole other blog post (or 2 or 12).
At Western Michigan University, there is a special summer class that participates in something called “Walt’s Pilgrimage”. One of their stops was Mineral King last year, and they liked it so much that they returned this year.
More New Mineral King Paintings
But wait! There’s More!
Why does that always elicit a smile or a chuckle?
Because it is obnoxiously obnoxious.
Here are the other paintings I finished last week. It was very hot in Three Rivers, so they dried quickly outdoors, and I was able to scan them without getting paint on the scanner.
It is horrible to get paint on a scanner. It’s even more horrible to scratch the glass trying to remove the paint. Best to not ask me how I know this.
Five new little oil paintings of Mineral King, all for sale at the Silver City Resort (unless they already sold!)
This week I had some special visitors to my studio. These are folks I’ve known since the 1980s, plus some extended family members. One of my old friends said, “I think your painting is improving.”
I hope so! I’ve been oil painting for 10 years, and if there has been no improvement, I need to quit.
Nope, not quitting.
New Mineral King Paintings
Last week I was a ninja-crazy painting factory, cranking out oil paintings of Mineral King. This is high season in the high country, and it is busy. Gotta get ’em done, visible, and selling.
Sounds a bit like a mercenary, an artist of fortune.
Nah. No fortunes are being made here. Just painting Mineral King.
Drying Mineral King
“Drying Mineral King” means drying the paintings of Mineral King.
Want to see what that looks like?
The paintings start on the peg board in the painting workshop. Then I begin scooting them around outside. The 2 of Sawtooth are currently on the tractor-seat stool outside the studio, getting direct sun and a breeze. The goal is to have them dry enough to place face down on the flatbed scanner without smearing oil paint on the glass.
Here in Central California, we have sunshine and heat and breezes in abundance. I wonder what artists do in other places. . .
I Took No Photos But Trail Guy Did
Today’s posting about Mineral King will be in list form. This is a trick that frequent bloggers use when their subject matter is a little disorganized or random or willy-nilly.
- The annual Picnic in the Park by the Mineral King Preservation Society took place last Saturday. I didn’t take any photos. The highlight was when Trail Guy was called upon to tell about his 3 winters in Mineral King. He spoke like a polished professional, telling his story briefly with no umms and uhhs, relating the events in sequential order without backtracking, and including both emotion and humor. This might make a good book. I’ll keep practicing with other people.
- We met some young adults from France who are interning in computer science at UNLV. We took them to Franklin Falls, and then they decided that they really wanted to go to Franklin Lake. It was 2:30 in the afternoon, and they were driving back to Las Vegas that night! Youth. I didn’t take any photos, but they did, and if they email any to me, I’ll show you.
- The biting flies were ferocious. I didn’t take any photos. I am scratching like a stray dog.
- The flowers were excellent. I didn’t take any photos.
- Trail Guy has been taking photos. He has saved this blog post from having no photos. If you’ve made it this far, here is your reward in flowers.
