What do I mean “early summer”? It isn’t summer until June 21!
Oh yeah? It’s been in the high 90s and low 100s for a couple of weeks around here. That qualifies as summer, despite the calendar’s report.
Trail Guy is back out on the trails in Mineral King. I’ll get there, just hang on. Meanwhile, please enjoy his photos with my photo editing and explanations.
During a mostly overcast weekend in Mineral King, we had a few moments of sun. A standard simple walk is to go down the road and back up the Nature Trail (Yes, I know it is a stupid name – “Wildflower Walk” seems more appropriate once summer arrives.)
Do you live near a beautiful place but don’t go there? I live in Three Rivers, just minutes from Sequoia National Park, and don’t go very often for a variety of reasons. It costs money, the lines are long, I am working. . . not all these things are true all the time, so I have to pay attention to when they are not true.
A few days ago, a friend invited me to join her for almost-full moon viewing, photography and sandwiches from Sierra Subs (the best food in Three Rivers).
She picked me up at 6, and we headed up to Hospital Rock, and then down the road to Buckeye Flat Campground. The yucca are in full fluffy bloom, and she was hoping to be able to photograph them by the light of the moon. (She is very knowledgeable about photography and has great gear.)
I gave my tripod to my nephew because he needed one and it no longer fits my life or cameras. So I decided to just try and hold still for the low light. My camera has lots of controls that don’t make sense to me, so I just experimented. The experiments, combined with some computer adapting, gave me these results.
I relearned some simple good things.
This week Trail Guy went to Mineral King to see how things look in early spring. Yes, I know May is not “early spring” down here in Three Rivers, but things are different at 7800′.
These folks have some melting and shoveling to do.
The classic view of Mineral King, probably the most photographed, and definitely the most drawn and painted scene by this Central California artist. It looks wrong to me with the tall red fir gone. That remaining tall tree is a cedar juniper (Thank you, Trail Guy. The reason I mix these 2 up is that those are the names of 2 similar green colored pencils.) Farewell Gap is more visible this way.
Daffodils are not native flowers, but they are a welcome sight.
These folks have some melting and shoveling to do.
They can use the door on this side of the cabin instead of fighting all the snow off their deck.
The sunny side of the valley is where Trail Guy spent many an afternoon when he wintered in Mineral King. (I didn’t know him then.)
There is plenty of snow in the shade and on the north facing slopes. It just makes it fun for kids to make snowballs, and slippery for adults who want to walk a bit.
More daffodils. Thanks, Van and Mary, for planting these. Isn’t this a cute cabin?
Thanks, Trail Guy, for your early spring reconnaissance trip.
The road will be open to the public on Memorial Day weekend.
Do you know why I write this blog?
It is because I want to remind us all that there is beauty here in Tulare County. Sometimes I have to put myself out into that beauty and even take my Big Girl Camera with me to get great photos so I can do my job of reminding you of the beauty of Tulare County.
The wildflowers along the lower 6.5 miles of the Mineral King Road are abundant and beautiful. There really aren’t very many places to pull over, so just drive slowly and soak it up. Better yet, have someone else drive, and you can just gawk.
This is spice bush, and it is in bloom right next to the Oak Grove Bridge.
There is good water flowing beneath the bridge. This is the upstream view.
This is leaning over the bridge looking downstream. There was a pickup parked on the bridge with rafting stuff. The people were actually rafting down there! I have no idea how they got the raft down to the water or how they got into the thing without having one foot in and one foot out when it shot down some treacherous rapid.
Leaning out over the bridge is all the risk I care to take here.
This is the first time I have noticed the rock work propping up the road over there. STAY PUT, little rocks.
We did a little trespassing to get this view. Now you don’t have to. I don’t know if there is enough color here – just greens and browns, with that little place of blue in the water. The wildflowers are just too small. Maybe I could put some in the foreground, in spite of the fact that there are none there. . .? Time will tell. I still haven’t finished the 24×30″ painting that has been on my easel since January or February! Too busy being out in the beauty of Tulare County to be recording it in paint right now.
The last several weeks have been full of coloring books and an oil painting commission of a Three Rivers house. Meanwhile, it is BEAUTIFUL out. Spring is fabulous in Three Rivers (everywhere, yes?) so I took a little tour. Come see these things with me.
Climbing roses are hanging upside down. See? They are on this archway.
Time to do a little bit of work on our tour. This is the traffic-stopping, attention-getting sign at Kaweah River Trading Co., the excellent gift shop in town that pushed me to make the local coloring book. Soon they will also be selling colored pencils. You can buy Heart of the Hills there or at the Three Rivers Mercantile or the Three Rivers Historical Museum or here.
My friend has stunning and unusual flowers in her yard. This is what I recorded before my camera battery quit. Sometimes it is good to just be in a place, taking it in without recording everything. 
Sometimes it feels as if Spring in Three Rivers lasts for about 20 minutes. This feeling causes me to not want to leave the area, not even to go to Exeter for a day to teach people how to draw, which is something I love to do.
With apologies to the writer of the song “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year”, I believe with all my heart that Spring is the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.
Have a look at a few days last week of enjoying Spring in Three Rivers. It is just photography, not art, but it is always a source of inspiration to me.
This is my favorite photo of the whole day. This is one of 3 types of lupine we saw at Kaweah Lake.
This is another type – bush lupine.
Some sort of clover was very abundant and quite fragrant.
This road made me wonder how Three Rivers might be today had Terminus Dam not been built in 1963. The road would meander near the river, and perhaps the river would be more accessible to the public, at least down at that elevation. Most of the river is locked up by private land, and trashy trespassing becomes a real problem every summer.
Visalia, down the hill, would have had massive flooding for many years. It probably would not have the population that it has now, if the dam hadn’t been built.
Like Scarlett, I’ll think about it tomorrow, because today is springtime in Three Rivers and there are wildflowers to gawk at.
While I was painting a mural, Trail Guy (AKA RETIRED Road Guy!) went to Mineral King for a day. Every time he does that, he says, “This is weird. You’re going to work and I’m going to play.” I say, “It isn’t weird. It has been normal since you retired.”
Do not feel sorry for me. I LOVE what I do and will only retire when I can no longer paint or draw or teach people how to draw. (Or edit. Have I told you how much I love to edit?)
I know. Shut up and show us some Mineral King. I can read your minds – does this make you squirm?
