Smoky Weekend

 

While up the hill, I repainted signs for 3 cabins. That counts as work, yes? Here is one of the befores (it was too smoky to care about photographing it afterward – how is that for an excuse?)

I took my baby pumpkin plants up the hill to babysit them. Here they are when we first arrived:

Here they are 4 days later: If they had been left at home, they would have shriveled and croaked, unless a deer ate them first.

We took one short walk. Look – a car with a man-bun.

Parking is at a premium and some people let their car stick out in the already precariously narrow road. People don’t know that by August, the car part eating marmot activity has ceased. Maybe they just feel safer wearing masks.

It was a thrill to be in the green.

Trail Guy said, “Hey Farmer, why are the aspen leaves sticky?” I think the answer was something that meant bug excrement. Trail Guy dropped the leaf and marched onward.

This is a peculiar sight. A smooth boulder is encased in the rough rocks. We didn’t go closer to investigate because this is the time of meat bees/hornets, very aggressively defending their nests in the ground. I do my best to avoid Hornet Holes in the ground.

On Sunday, the air was truly terrible.

It got worse as we headed down the hill.

And in case you are wondering, at the time of these photos, there were no wildfires in Central California. The smoky conditions demonstrate how the pollution travels to the Central Valley. We tend to have terrible air here and get penalized for it, in spite of it being generated by Northern California cities. Those folks love to blame the farmers. Hope they don’t do so with their mouths full.

Sold!

In spite of the slow start to the summer season in Mineral King and the closed campgrounds (WHY?? Do “They” think that camping is more dangerous than shopping at Costco??), Silver City Resort is going gangbusters. These are the paintings that have sold so far this summer.

Now if you will please excuse me, I need to get out to the easels!

Mellow in Mineral King

Something about arduous hiking is not ringing my bell this summer. When I am in Mineral King, I am opting for quiet time knitting, sitting (to read, visit, or knit), and splitting (wood), or easy walks with friends, alone, or with Trail Guy. (He does his hiking when I am working.) This summer is especially mellow because all the regular events have been cancelled and suddenly, we have reclaimed many days that used to be scheduled for us. I confess to feeling relief at being released from the mandatory activities.

 

The Honeymoon Cabin is the museum of the Mineral King Preservation Society.
Trail Guy found this along the road several years ago and we tried to put it in the Honeymoon Cabin museum but alas, the key to the case didn’t fit. (Have you noticed that when you get a new key made, you often have to get it remade?)
Felwort is bluer in real life than in this photo
This large dual trunk is a Jeffrey pine along the Nature Trail. If you stick your nose against it, you might get a hint of a vanilla scent. There used to be signs along the trail. The Park made replacements but got sidetracked by a virus; now the trail needs signs and to be brushed.
This might be a nice trail painting, especially if I add in wildflowers.
For fun, I took 6 different photos of Sawtooth to paint from next year. This is number one as you walk up the Nature Trail.
view #2
#3
#4
#5
#6
Evening light on the bridge is magical. We like to sit on the railing and watch the light change.
Is this a flower??
Glacial daisies look like bigger, fuller, white asters.
New (to me) flower
There were good gentians (Sierra like this one and Explorer, my favorite) along with many other flowers at Soda Springs.

Thus we conclude our tour of a mellow weekend in Mineral King. (Not lazy – I made great progress on a sweater, split a pile of kindling, finished 2 books and started a 3rd, spent great time with cabin friends and took 2 walks. So there.)

Hanging Around in Mineral King

July is a busy month in Mineral King, when cabins are used, trails are full, and normally, campgrounds are full. This year the trails are getting more use than normal, since campgrounds are closed. This makes no sense to me, since camping is a very low risk activity – outdoors, spaced apart. (But no one who makes decisions has consulted me.)

I stopped to photograph the Oak Grove Bridge on the way up the hill. The view is getting more obstructed as the years pass.
I walked to Franklin Falls with some cabin neighbor-friends. 2 of us in front sort of lost track of 2 of them behind for awhile.
I love sitting by this creek where it cross the trail (or does the trail cross the creek??)
We stayed closer together on the way back down.

The weekend was a little sad. Some friends have been coming to the neighboring cabin for 38 years, but had to miss the last 3 because one of their number got cancer. This year his friends brought him back to Mineral King in a box. 

I didn’t participate in the ceremonies, but did catch up a bit with the Sawtooth Six Minus One. We observed our usual tradition of the photo on the porch before they all headed back down the hill.

There were more visits with other friends, a drawing lesson happened at our kitchen table, some serious knitting took place, but none of these events were photographed. Often it is better to be fully in the moment rather than behind a lens while documenting events.

The bridge is well lit in the late afternoon sun, but it would need some artistic license to become a good painting. (I felt compelled to mention that in case you think all I do is hang around in Mineral King and ignore my art business.)

More Mineral King

As promised on Friday, here is a little more about Mineral King. Tomorrow we will return to watching paint dry.

Great Whorled Penstemon in my cabin neighbors’ yard. (“Great” meaning lots of them, not that “great” is part of their name.)
Our young neighbor believes that Mr. Botkin knows everything.
One of this year’s batch of baby marmots beneath our cabin.

We walked down the road and back up the Nature Trail, which also did not have near the number of  wildflowers that we have become accustomed to.

At the upper end of the Nature Trail, this is what people used to see. If it was their first time on the trail, they were confused.
Now, first-time Nature Trail walkers can see that they are in the right place, in spite of it appearing to be a private road (which it is).

I love the morning light coming into the cabin.

Mineral King over the Fourth

We didn’t need fireworks because we had friends with flags.

We took a walk to the Franklin/Farewell Gap junction, a place that usually has the best wildflowers, almost always at the beginning of July. Not so this year. We’ve been spoiled by several great wildflower years, lulled into thinking that was normal.

It was fun anyway, because there is always good scenery and interesting things to see, even if you walk with your head toward the ground so you don’t fall.

The circle is around a bear track.
I’ve never seen such short Mariposa Lilies, and saw quite a few like this, just popping up right on the trail.
Striped rock
COOKIE?? Nope. It’s a rock.

I did look up, don’t worry.

This last picture is my favorite one of the day. We were off trail (of course), following a little loop-ette, devised by Off Trail Guy. After recrossing the stream, The Farmer offered to pull me up on a bank of snow which was the next step. Before accepting his kind offer, I said, “Thank you – first I need to take a picture!”

More about Mineral King on Monday. 

 

 

Second New Commission (or The Green Tunnel)

There is a section of trail in the Mineral King valley that I think of as the Yellow Tunnel in the fall. It is also the Green Tunnel in the summer, and I showed a photo of it on my blog last month. Here, have another look:

A faithful blog reader asked if I would be willing to paint that for her, and of course I said yes. We chose 11×14″, and then while I was waiting for a printed version of the photo (and a deposit on the painting because I have learned the hard way that if a customer doesn’t make a monetary commitment, it is only a conversation, not a commission), where was I, oh yeah, while I was waiting, I looked at the Green Tunnel from another perspective.

Doesn’t really say Green Tunnel from this view, eh? But fun to consider, if you are a fairly simple person with plain tastes in what constitutes fun.

The check came, and I couldn’t wait for the printed photo but began painting from my laptop. This has benefits and disadvantages, but when one is eager to begin a job, one does what is necessary.

This is not my normal way of painting, but when something feels right and is working, I just go with it. I turned off the voices of all my previous instructors and said to my self, “Self,” I said, “I’ll be me and they can be them and it will all work out just fine.”

Tucker and Pippin were also fine with that, and I had to be very careful of where I stepped when standing back to view my progress. (Jackson was out working or something.)

Call me “Butter” – I’m on a roll!

Now it needs to dry before I continue or the sky will turn green.

 

More Cold in Mineral King

Last Friday, I had too many photos from our cold weekend in Mineral King to put them all in one blog post.

Yep, dandelions.
Paintbrush, formerly known as Indian Paintbrush.
Phlox
Bluelips
Languid Ladies, also known as Sierra Bluebells
A different view of the Honeymoon Cabin. Tiny in the distance – can you spot it?
This is a flowering shrub that I don’t recognize.
This is looking out the kitchen window. Brrr.
We took a short walk. Very brrr. Where is Farewell Gap??
Current bushes in bloom
Someone went barefoot on the deck last night.
The sun finally emerged, and it was still cold, but oh so very beautiful.


Most of the flowers in today’s post are identified in Mineral King Wildflowers: Common Names.

 

100 page paperback, flowers in photos, common names only, lots of chatty commentary, $20 including tax.
Available here
Also available at the Three Rivers Historical Museum, Silver City Store, from me if I put them in my car, or Amazon.

Cold in Mineral King

Sequoia National Park and Mineral King opened last week. It was a very pleasant weekend down the hill, which meant it was very cold in Mineral King. 28 degrees on Sunday morning, and only 42 degrees in the afternoon!

We didn’t hike, only went on a couple of short walks because it was overcast one day, rained the next, and we had numerous projects around the place in addition to spending time with friends and neighbors.

I don’t know this flower. It is very tiny.
This is a different view of the Honeymoon Cabin, which is a museum of the Mineral King Preservation Society.
This sign used to be about 8 feet up in the air. Someone with some common sense moved it to a more visible location.
That same sign as it appeared in 2017.
Languid Ladies are also known as Sierra Bluebells.
I don’t know this tiny flower. Its foliage is different from the other tiny white one above.
Forget-me-nots.
Crystal Creek is very shallow and very very wide.

 Mineral King Wildflowers: Common Names contains the Forget-Me-Nots but neither of the tiny white flowers. 

100 page paperback, flowers in photos, common names only, lots of chatty commentary, $20 including tax.
Available here
Also available at the Three Rivers Historical Museum, Silver City Store, from me if I put them in my car, or Amazon.