Photography | Cabin Art

Wherein I Join Trail Guy on a Mineral King Hike

White Chief as it appears in the coloring book "Hear t of Mineral King" — White Chief as it appears in the coloring book “Heart of Mineral King”

Coloring books will be available again on July 1, 2016. You may order, but it will involve a wait. Thank you for your patience.

Mineral King — Languid Ladies in the foreground; Chihuahua Creek in the distance. I don’t think this has flowed for the past 4 summers, and Trail Guy thinks it will last through the whole month of June this year.

Mineral King Trail — Steps on a trail look friendly and helpful to me. Trail crew builders accuse step-builders of “making monuments to themselves”. Thank you, Monument Makers.

This is sort of a boring photo of Indian Paintbrush, (red), Western Wallflower (yellow), and a bit of Larkspur (sort of bluish). I just got a little excited to see the 3 primary colors all together.

We saw 2 of these mylar helium balloons. Partiers down in the valley (not Mineral King, but the San Joaquin Valley) don’t realize that when they let go of the strings of their balloons, they are littering.

This tree is not a failure. It is a juniper, and it is Trail Guy’s favorite tree. It is a sign that the steepest part of the trail to White Chief is over. It is still steep, just not the steepest part.

Here is an example of Phlox in all the variations of its whitish-purplish-pinkish glory.

Hello White Chief! The peak is square topped and this is where you first see a glimpse of the canyon, which our 2 new trail friends called “enchanting”. (Hi Dean and Dave!)

Not Trail Guy. He’s not getting wet with his high-tech poncho. He sort of looked like Moses, if he had pulled his arms out of the garbage bag and held his walking stick like a staff.

Mineral King Mineral King photography

Mineral King, Because it is Friday

After a harrowing week, most of which doesn’t not belong on a public blog on the World Wide Web, I ran away to Mineral King for a much needed respite.

It was overcast and a bit rainy. That’s fine. We have a wood stove for cooking and heat, and I always have my knitting.

In between, there were some walks around the valley floor. Strolls, really.

In gardening, it is tricky to find blue flowers. In Mineral King, that is one of the main colors of the early season flowers.

blue lips — The aptly named “Blue Lips”.

bluebellls — “Sierra Bluebells” are also called “Languid Ladies”.

forget me not — Sierra Forget Me Nots look just like the Alaskan state flower, same name minus the Sierra part. Duh. Sometimes these come in pink. So do the “Languid Ladies”. Weird, but maybe they are like hydrangeas and depend upon the make up of the soil. These are also called “Sierra Stickseed” because when they go to seed, they stick to your bootlaces (or the velcro on the straps of your Tevas, if you are like me in your hiking footwear).

honeymoon cabin — Wonderful flow of water, here in the east fork of the Kaweah River next to the Honeymoon Cabin. If you are in Mineral King, you can learn about some of the history in this little building. You might need to bring glasses and a flashlight if you are over 45.

The evening is looking hopeful for a good hiking day tomorrow. This is the alpen glow on Farewell Gap.

To be continued next Friday. . .

Coloring books will be available again on July 1, 2016. You may order, but it will involve a wait. Thank you for your patience.

Mineral King Mineral King photography

Mineral King in Early Summer

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.

These are phlox, an early flower that comes in subtle shades of lavender, pink, white, pinkish white, whitish pink, lavenderish white, whitish lavender, pinkish whitish lavender, etc.

Can you pick out Sawtooth Peak from this angle?

This is the view that the Mather party had 100 years ago. There is a photo, a book and a pencil drawing commemorating that event.

Mather party book cover drawing — Remember this pencil drawing? When the Park wanted to reprint the book on the Mather party (group of people on an excursion, not group of people drinking and dancing–but how would I know? I wasn’t there), they commissioned me for a cover drawing redo. That mule heiny was a challenge, but Cowboy Bert took photos of his mulz (that’s how he spells it on his license plate) to help me get it right.

Mineral King Mineral King photography

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.)

Manzanita in bloom near a seasonal creek coming off Timber Gap

The appropriately named “Five Spot” wildflower, about the size of a nickel.

An unknown little white flower. I think white flowers are boring, but any flower will do this early in the season.

Not too many wildflowers along the nature trail this early. The aspens aren’t leafed out yet, so you can see Empire with its snow.

Sierra Bluebells, or Languid Ladies. . . it is one of the early flowers in Mineral King.

Great flow on the East Fork of the Kaweah!

This is the only time I had a view of Sawtooth. It is still holding snow.

A drawing similar to this appears in my latest coloring book, “Heart of Mineral King”

These are a version of Chinese Houses along the Mineral King Road on the lower section. The wildflowers are still very good along the road, mostly the yellows with a few purples. Worth a drive if you are into wildflowers.

Mineral King Mineral King photography

More Mineral King

Favorite cabin on Memorial Day. Nope, not my cabin!

Learning about catch-and-release fishing from the bridge.

Rock outcropping of Empire, good water flow on Monarch Creek.

Mineral King Mineral King photography

Beautiful Place in Tulare County

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.

Looking up the canyon of the Middle Fork of the Kaweah River toward Castle Rocks, early evening

Castle Rocks are the 2nd mountain name I learned. The first was Moro Rock, and my dad showed me Castle Rocks while we were on top of Moro Rock. See the rusty trees? They are dead, most likely pines of some variety.

This is a little side falls that my friend had photographed earlier and sent to me. Made me want to see and photograph it myself, so I did.

Yucca and middle fork — Fluffy Yucca in bloom above little side falls on Middle Fork of the Kaweah River.

Moonrise above Castle Rocks — The moon suddenly appeared from behind Castle Rocks.

Yucca — We didn’t get to see yucca lit by the moon, but by holding very very still, I was able to photograph it in very low light.

I relearned some simple good things.

It is good to visit beautiful places that are close. Makes me feel as if I’ve had a mini-vacation.
It is good to do simple things with friends.
It is good to just spend time in a place, sitting, looking, listening, feeling, (slapping mosquitoes, not so good), eating simple food, visiting. No rush. The more time you spend, the more you notice and appreciate. Just be there. (Danged mosquitoes!)

Three Rivers

Early Spring in Mineral King

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′.

Mineral King cabins

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.

Mineral King Mineral King photography

Reminding You of the Beauty of Tulare County

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.

Oak Grove Bridge Three Rivers Tulare county

Three Rivers Spring Mini-Tour

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.

Three Rivers

Spring in Three Rivers, continued

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.