The Nature Trail, Mineral King

Doesn’t “Nature Trail” sound silly and simple? I’ve pondered it for years and never come up with a better name.

The Nature Trail is about 1 mile long and goes from the upper end of the Cold Springs Campground to the Mineral King Valley.

The trail has a huge variety of things to see – aspen trees, little signs telling about various things along the way, the stream, a variety of flowers, a view of the road, a forested section, a view of Sawtooth, a desert-like area, a view of Timber Gap, and a section that passes through the historic cabins.

The lower end of the Nature Trail in Mineral King, at the upper end of the Cold Springs Campground
Through the aspen trees on the Nature Trail
Wild Geranium on Nature Trail

 

The Nature Trail goes close to the east fork of the Kaweah River, with Indian Paintbrush in abundance.
There are great views of Sawtooth Peak along the Nature Trail.

 

The Nature Trail takes you through a forested section of red firs and lodgepoles, called “tamaracks” by Cowboy Bert.
At the upper end of the Nature Trail is an unobstructed view of Timber Gap and the historical cabins.
Don’t bring your dog on the Nature Trail!

Online Companies I Use and Like

Notice I didn’t say I love these companies. (We’re supposed to love people and use things.) In spite of holding back emotionally, these are businesses I would be in a world of hurt without, and I cheerfully pass on the links to you, my readers and friends!

Farewell Gap, oil on wrapped canvas, 8×10″, $90
It is difficult to order from online companies when contemplating this scene in the Land of No Electricity or Internet, more commonly known as Mineral King.

Dick Blick is where I get my art supplies. (I beg you, why would any parent name their child Richard when the last name is Blick??) This company is fantastic in their inventory offerings, deals and customer service. Fantastic, I say!

Vistaprint is my new best friend. They are sooo very generous, so very tempting with all their offers of freebies. I’ve been having a blast designing products to sell and to give as promotional items.

I was despondent when Kodak announced their departure. I have tried to be brave. They have promised to send all my 90-something albums to Shutterfly. The albums have not arrived, but the tempting offers from Shutterfly have. Being a weak and gullible Regional Artist From Quaintsville, I succumbed.

(Trumpet fanfare. . .) There is a new book coming to my studio, primarily to be used for showing my work to potential customers. I have creatively and uniquely titled the book “The Drawings of Jana Botkin”. It should appear here:

Click here to view this photo book on another website. Shutterfly, to be precise. (It will cause you to leave my blog, but you can come back.) Click here to create your own Shutterfly photo book.

 Alrighty then. It didn’t work out exactly as I had hoped. . . As I was saying, I am beginning to really like Shutterfly.  I hope they like me back.

Who are your favorite online companies? Let’s share the like (trying to stay consistent here)!

 

Mineral King Marmots

Have you heard of a marmot? They are in the same family as rabbits, or maybe rodents. Maybe rabbits and rodents are cousins. (I didn’t take biology in high school because in the ’70s, you could really coast on nothing.)

 

Marmot I, oil on wrapped canvas, 4x4", sold

The first time I heard of a marmot was when I was backpacking in Kings Canyon in about 1974. They only appeared in very high back country, way above timberline. To see one was a thrill.

In Mineral King, they can be like a plague of locusts. They chew on car parts, and they are legion. (That means “a vast host or multitude”.) People try all sorts of things to protect their vehicles. Very little deters these determined creatures.

A number of years ago, The Retired Road Guy left the hood of his pickup raised so he could see when they were assaulting his rig (that’s what he calls his Toyota). A ranger saw that his hood was up and figured that being Road Guy, he must know how to deter marmots. Ever since, lifted hoods are the norm around Mineral King because people think it keeps the marmots out.

It doesn’t help. It gives them easier access. It only helps you see if they are there. (Sometimes it makes car batteries go bad because it leaves a light on for an extended period.)

 

Marmot II, oil on wrapped canvas, 4x4", $30

There are multiple stories of these guys being transported great distances in people’s engine compartments. No first hand experience, no comment.

This is the best way I’ve seen to keep the rotten varmints out of a car:

 

Peculiar Sight

And this priceless photo is courtesy of Diane Gladieux, a regular reader and commenter on this blog. This is her grandmother  great-grandmother. I don’t know the date. around 1910.

I watched my friend Marilyn pet a grouse once, but this takes the cake!

Timber Gap, Mineral King

Remember I said that Fridays are for Mineral King? If you don’t care about this place in the Southern Sierra, in Sequoia National Park, you can skip Fridays on my blog. If you only care about Mineral King and don’t give a rodent’s hiney about my art, you can skip Monday through Thursday on my blog. Okay, now everyone knows what is what, so let’s get to Timber Gap. (And welcome to my blog, you 2 hearty hikers from NY – hope you made your plane!)

It looks like this from the Mineral King valley:

A “gap” is a low spot in a ridge of mountains, a place that is the most sensible for crossing over. Sometimes it is called a “pass”.

To get there, you must endure a very steep 1/2 mile of trail with steps (“trail checks”) sized for giraffey people. It is hot, dusty, difficult. Suck it up, no whining, put one foot in front of the other, remember to breathe (if you can), and just get it over with.

There are fine views of the valley if you can focus through your huffy-puffiness:

The trail flattens out and then you are faced with a choice.

You may recall the last time I was on this trail was back in January.

There is more climbing through the groups of trees below and to the right of  Timber Gap. This is where a tram used to run, bringing ore down to the stamp mill from the mines on Empire. Here is the remains of the tram tender’s cabin near the top of that second group of trees.

Shortly after breaking out of the trees, you cross a very small stream. If you look up, you can see where the mines were. They are still there, but didn’t produce so are simply interesting historical sites if you feel like scrambling up to see them. I didn’t.

Then you are on a wide open slope that can have great flowers. Probably won’t be great this year. In fact, this year is looking a bit weird. There was a swatch of wild blue flax that usually doesn’t appear until August!

After you’ve finished skipping and singing “The Hills Are Alive”, there is more climbing to do. The top of Timber Gap is about 9600′ (or is it 9700′ or 9800′?) and you must earn it. Here is the view over to the other side.

All the landmarks I might recognize from living in Three Rivers are too far to the left to see. Just saying, in case you were curious like I am about where Moro Rock and Alta Peak are!

Mineral King is a source of much inspiration to me. That is why Fridays are devoted to the subject on a blog that is supposed to be about a California artist.

One More Place You Can See and Buy My Art

That is a shamelessly self-promotional title! However, it is also promoting the Silver City Resort, so perhaps “self-promotional” is a bit of an exaggeration.

(happy birthday, Deanne!)

Silver City Store

A few weeks ago I posted a list of places that carry my work. Immediately afterward, I took paintings to the Silver City Resort for the summer. (6 years ago right after printing 1000 business cards, I launched my website, so this is normal behavior for me.)

The Silver City Store is located 4 miles below Mineral King. It has a little restaurant and rental cabins. It also has been a good place to meet a future spouse for a great number of its employees. (worked for me)

Currently, they are carrying a number of little regional oil paintings that aren’t very expensive and will fit into travelers’ suitcases. Here are 4 new ones, all oil on wrapped canvas, 4×4″, available at the Silver City Resort. They are animals commonly seen in Mineral King. I’ve photographed these animals zillions of times and only came up with a small handful of paintable photos. Here are some of the best:

oil painting of buck

Mule Deer Buck

oil painting of black bear

Black Bear – sold

(They are all called this, whether they are brown, blonde, black or cinnamon colored.)

oil painting of marmot

Yellow Bellied Marmot – sold

(These are the dudes that chew on radiator hoses, belts, brake lines, etc.)

oil painting of squirrel

Golden Mantle Squirrel – sold

These little guys have a stripe (barely visible on his back) but are distinguishable from a chipmunk because the stripe isn’t on their heads.

If you would like to buy one of these the buck, he is $30, and maybe I can retrieve him before he sells. Alternatively, I can paint you another one, even of a different size.  

Now THAT was shameless self-promotion!

Which is your favorite?

Fridays are about Mineral King

By Mineral King standards, Soda Springs is a short hike. In fact, we call it a “walk”. It is all a matter of one’s perspective. I think it is 3 miles round trip and is mostly level.

If you are used to towering peaks, majestic canyons, blowing erupting fountains, roaring waterfalls and the like, this is no big deal.

If you just want to take a nice walk in the mountains and end up by a weird little orange hole of water, then Soda Springs is your walk.

Almost all walks require crossing the bridge. If you are familiar with this view, you might be wondering why there are no dead branches in the upper left corner of the photo. Wonder on. . .

After crossing Crystal Creek, the trail splits.  You take the right fork, unless you are going somewhere else like Farewell Gap or Franklin Lake.

After another 1/4 or 1/2 mile, you see this view and know you are almost there. Those are aspen trees below the conifers (which means cone shaped trees that produce cones)

Told you Soda Springs is an orange hole of water! It bubbles up from the ground, and has a slight carbonation. Some folks like to mix it with various powdered flavored drink mixes. I think it taste like fizzy metal, so I carry my own normal water to drink.

The flow pattern of Soda Springs changes from year to year. I don’t know why. Some things just are, like orange holes of water that draw us back, year after year.

Summer of Animals?

This summer is shaping up to be full of wild animals for this California artist.

First, we were hiking in Mineral King and saw this:

While on that hike I thought of doing these oil paintings:

They are each 4×4″, and from left to right are a mule deer buck, golden mantle squirrel, yellow-bellied marmot, and a black bear. (They are called that even when they are brown or cinnamon or blond.)

After that, I painted this bear for the Sierra Lodge in Three Rivers:

After which, they asked me to refresh this bear:

So that he would look like this:

With all that wildlife around, particularly the ferocious bear, you might be a bit concerned about unfriendly encounters or a bit of danger. There was one small incident that ended up looking like this:

I love teal. It looks particularly striking with brown.

P.S. The bear on the flag of this California artist’s state is a grizzly, not a black bear. I’m happy to report we don’t have them in California any more. This is not an environmentally correct view, but I am more concerned with personal safety than being correct. This might make me a pig. See? animal summer!

Mineral King

As promised, Fridays are for Mineral King.

White Chief is a short but very steep hike.

The largest patch of snow is called “Bearskin”. It is on the side of Vandever Mt. and probably won’t make it until the snow falls in Autumn this year. Some years it does, and other years it does but binoculars are required to prove it.

Perhaps Retired Road Guy should now be called "Trail Guy".

 

White Chief sink hole

There are about 5 of these in the White Chief canyon. In person, they are quite interesting (maybe it is the lack of oxygen there that makes me think so). They photograph poorly, as you can see. If Trail Guy was down in the hole, you’d get a better idea of the scale, but you can see in the photo above that he was busy with lunch.

Pussy Paws

These are boring flowers that seldom show up against the dirt and gravel. The Artspeak explanation is that they are the same value as the dirt, so there is no contrast. This particular patch was unusually bright.

This photo took forever. The flutterby was a bit too fast for my shutter-finger, and I was thankful to not be wasting film!


Mineral King

Summer has arrived in Mineral King. For those of you who are new to the blog or not from the area, Mineral King is a section in the southern end of Sequoia National Park, California. It is reached by a long and winding road, 25 miles, sometimes unpaved, somewhat cliff-hanging, often one or perhaps one and a half lane wide, with a recommended driving time of one and a half hours.  (It doesn’t take me that long. Just sayin’. And stay on your side, please!)

There is no electricity in Mineral King. The elevation is 7800′. Our cabin has running water (from a stream), hot water (propane), a very old propane refrigerator, a wood stove for cooking and heating, and a fireplace for heating in extreme conditions such as Memorial Day weekend. (We even have a telephone, no answering machine, and when 10 people have the number and use it regularly, we change the number.)

Mineral King is a source of great inspiration to me. I often refer to it as The Land of No Electricity, and I spend as much time as I can there in the summer.

I’ve decided to do my “reporting” on Mineral King on Fridays on this blog. That way, if you only tune in for Mineral King, you will know which day to check in. Conversely, if you don’t give a rodent’s hiney about this place in Sequoia, you will know which day to tune out.

Farewell Gap
Evening LIght in Mineral KIng
Pond by White Chief with view of Mineral Peak and Sawtooth
Someone Else's Mineral King Cabin
Another Mineral King cabin, not mine
Where my friends Judy and Tim got married in Mineral King

 

Where do you get your inspiration?

Is There An Echo In Here??

What is the visual equivalent of an echo? A shadow? A reflection, perhaps. . .

Is there a reflection in this studio? A reflection of Mineral King, to be exact? Because I see an awful lot of Mineral King Oil Paintings drying on your wall!

Seems that way. Mineral King is de ja vu all over again.

Same scene, different viewpoints.

Same bridge twice, different paint jobs, different directions.

Same cabin, different times of day, different times of year.

Same place, favorite view, over and over and over. Mineral King oil paintings, on miles and miles of canvas. Mineral King, Farewell Gap, over and over and over. Instead of the California artist, I am the Mineral King artist. Perhaps I should change my tagline in this blog.

Nope. Oranges and poppies don’t grow in Mineral King.

Are you tired of this view yet? (that question is for you, the reader, not me, the California Artist!) Tell me about it here.