Due to a late winter, increased family responsibilities, time at Hume Lake, and a Shaver Lake reunion, my visits to Mineral King have been fewer this summer than in previous years. Have a look at a recent visit, a non-hiking sort of look.
It is a remarkable year for water and for flowers. This area usually has Tiger (or Leopard) Lilies, but this year it has many other flowers as well.
In spite of having spots instead of stripes, these are more commonly called “Tiger” lilies than they are called “Leopard” lilies.
Yet another yellow flower that looks like many others, this one is Arrowroot Groundsel (and doesn’t appear in my book).
This blog post is sponsored by Mineral King Wildflowers: Common Names.
And that’s all the advertising you will ever find on my blog. No pop-ups or moving little boxes to click shut. Ever. So there.
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.
We crossed Spring Creek on the footbridge. It has a ton of water for the 2nd half of July!
How a knot looks from inside a hollow tree.
I split a lot of firewood, and have learned how to read the wood to work with the knots. Knots are just branches, but I have never seen inside a hollow tree before to see the entire branch, or what the end of a knot looks like.
This is Eagle Creek as it runs into the sink hole.
Water disappears into the Eagle sink hole, and we strongly suspect it is the source of Spring Creek.
This is one of my favorite sections of trail in all of Mineral King, EXCEPT the mosquitoes and biting flies are always horrible here. This is the area where hikers decide if they are heading to Eagle Lake or to Mosquito Lakes (there are five).
There were still patches of snow on July 21.
This is Eagle Meadow, and the flowers did not disappoint.
Jeffrey Shooting Stars grow in water (hence, the many mosquitoes).
There weren’t as many flowers as we expected along the trail, because it is still early-ish, due to the heavy winter and late spring.
I like the color combination of Indian Paintbrush with sage.
This flower seems to be everywhere except in my many wildflower books. This time I was determined to find it and I did! It is called a Stout-beaked Toothwort. (I am not making this up!) Really, People-Who-Name-Flowers, couldn’t you do better than this?
The Mariposa Lilies were thick, and the slopes looked polka-dotted with them.
Neither one of us is a fan of the upper part of the Eagle Lake trail, and it was a hot day, so we turned around and got home in time for lunch. Thus, I have called this a “walk” instead of a “hike” (although Trail Guy carried lunch, just in case.)
I liked sitting by the stream to paint, so I set up the next day in the morning so it would be shady. The idea was to paint the same scene with different lighting, but I ended up leaving out the juniper this time. Why? Because I wanted to, and I am the boss of my painting.
This time I used the lid of the palette to balance, because the less stuff I have to juggle, the better.
But wait! Before I started this painting, I decided to try one from my memory and a sketch I had made the evening before. Because we are fairly social on our road, evenings, especially on holiday weekends, are for neighbors, not for working. So it wasn’t convenient or friendly to disappear to work when people had braved that road and wanted to socialize.
Ummm, no. This will need some work in the studio.
Vandever & Stream, 8×8″, sold.
There is a theme here.
There. I’m done with plein air in Mineral King posts for awhile. I just wanted you to know that I am still working, even though it seems as if I just goof off in Mineral King in the summer.
After painting Empire and Vandever with the Crowley Cabin in Mineral King, plein air (on location), my confidence built. But, I didn’t like schlepping the easel around or setting it up, so I tried it sitting down by the Honeymoon Cabin (at the beginning of the Eagle/Mosquito trail). This was most pleasant, right by the stream. But in the afternoon, it was not in the shade, and there was no convenient place to put my palette. If it ain’t one thing, it’s anuthuh.
This scene?
No, I think this way with the juniper instead.
I had company.
Trail guy borrowed a sign from inside the Honeymoon Cabin (a mini museum) to rest the canvas on.
There was a root that made a perfect foot rest.
“Vandever, Stream, Juniper”, 8×8″, oil on wrapped canvas, $100
A number of years ago (feels like 6, must be 10) I tried painting on location from the bridge in Mineral King. I had no instruction and no idea of how to proceed.
Painting in Mineral King in 2007 – it was TWELVE YEARS AGO! (I still have that shirt.)
Trail Guy and I walked to the bridge and inspected the views and possible areas to set up. The bridge is narrower now, so setting up on it is asking to be hit by someone’s rearview mirror, or moving every time a car comes.
This is from the bridge, a perfect scene, but one that can only happen via photos or with lots of trotting back and forth across the bridge. (There is no bridge troll, so it could work.)
This was about the only option, in spite of the uneven ground.
The stream didn’t really show despite being on a bridge. Too many willows.
The juniper blocks the top of Vandever, so I moved it.
Once again, I relied on the sketch to tell me what to include and what might fit.
First, the underpainting.
Second, the greens. Looks terrible, but has promise at this stage.
Better.
It’s kind of interesting to see the evolving canvas and the scene in one shot.
Suddenly, I was tired of dealing with uneven ground, people stopping by, and painting outside, so I packed it up and walked back to the cabin to finish.
I’ve painted this scene about 50 or 60 times, and drawn it in pencil at least a dozen more. So, I felt confident finishing it up at home.
Almost finished.
“Crowley Cabin”, 8×10″, oil on wrapped canvas, $125.
Remember that I went down to Georgia (no, I’m not the devil) to take a plein air painting workshop from Laurel Daniel? The goal was to be able to do plein air painting in Mineral King.
I was a little nervous, having waited 3 months to attempt the techniques again. Mineral King feels so public, probably because it is, and I was glad there weren’t many people around yet. Still, I set up my easel in an obscure place, and remained invisible in the shade despite my trusty red backpack.
See? My set up is barely visible.
The plan was to paint Empire (the rock outcropping, not the highest part of the ridge) with a few cabins below.
Too much – needs to be narrowed down.
Maybe this horizontal view?
Nah. Let’s go vertical. (“Let’s”? Got a mouse in your easel?)
I reread my notes and then just began as if I knew what I was doing.
The sketch helped me see which elements I had decided to leave in the scene.
When I started adding the color, I forgot to stop and take photos of the more intermediate steps.
No one noticed, because no one passed by. I was glad.
Starting to look like something!
This was the view from my place in the shade.
Here is the finished piece, dry and scanned after I got back home. (It was tricky business finding a place to put the painting to dry in our 400 square foot cabin, but we are always innovative with the limited space.
Empire & Cabins, 8×10″, oil on wrapped canvas, $125
The whole time I wondered what Laurel would say, and tried to remember some of the things she worked on with me. There is probably too much detail in this for her, but I am the boss of my painting now.
On July 4, Trail Guy and I hiked to Timber Gap. The flowers were early, but abundant, and the gap still had snow. We met a couple of hardy backpackers who planned a long trip in a short number of days. Then we took the old wagon road out of Timber Gap, and traversed the slope back down to the trail.
Mineral King valley view from the trail.
This little nondescript stream was flowing quite strong beneath Empire.
Red, white, and blue.
The Phlox were thick, along with Blue Lips.
Snow in Timber Gap.
Trail Guy was explaining things of Mineral King to two hardy backpackers.
The old wagon road was built by the miners and used to get to the mines on Empire. We use it to create a sort of mini-loop on an otherwise up-and-back trail.
This view from the old wagon road is one of the reasons to take this hike.
Trail Guy likes the word “traverse” and picks good routes for me to follow.
While traversing down to the trail, I watched the ground carefully. It was not a hardship view.
That snow-packed area in the distance is White Chief.
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.
Here are more of the unknown Mineral King wildflowers that have the author of Mineral King Wildflowers: Common Names flummoxed. (That would be me, the author of this blog, AKA Central California Artist).
There was a ton of this. In spite of its ubiquity, I never did get a good photo.
See?
What is this almost invisible (and impossible to photograph well) thing?
Too tiny to bother with? Must be, because they don’t appear in any of my wildflower books.
This might be the same thing that I said yesterday reminds me of goatheads.
What is this white? It reminds me of bushy leptosiphon, but it is too early.
Another difficult one to photograph. Are these unbloomed blooms? Or is this a “flower” of white knobs?
This was unopened and a little fuzzy. Furry, although the photo is a bit fuzzy.
These are sweet. They deserve to show up in someone’s flower book, but don’t in any of the ones I own.
These tempt me to say that all yellow flowers look alike.
Another tiny yellow unknown. Again, it resembles the yellow Violet, but the leaves just look wrong, and the location is unusual.
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.
Mineral King Wildflowers: Common Names was published in March of 2019. Now in July of 2019, I am finding so many new wildflowers in Mineral King that I am just flummoxed. Flummoxed, I say! (Not sure what this means exactly, but it feels like the right word for my troubled state of mind.)
What is this yellow??
What is this white? Looks like Knotweed, but it’s in the wrong place.
HEY! Who are you? Sort of looks like the yellow Violet, but the leaves are wrong.
Is this a flower or is it just greenish-yellow leaves?
Looks like Naked Buckwheat, but it is too early and too white.
No idea. Maybe when it is in full bloom I will be able to find it in one of the flower books.
This low-growing yellow reminds me of goathead, the most wicked thorn in the Central Valley.
This is a flowering shrub at the Cold Springs Campground. I saw it last year while working on the book and just ignored it.
There are just too many for one post. To be continued tomorrow.
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.
Are you ready to see some Mineral King footage that isn’t a road report or a show/sale report? We had the pleasure of hiking to White Chief with Hiking Buddy and The Farmer on Sunday, July 1.
Someone moved White Chief farther away than last year. They also tilted the trail to a steeper angle. I hate that.
It was a perfect day for a hike.
The Languid Ladies/Sierra Bluebells were still thick, normally only seen in late May and early June.
The bitter cherry were thick.
Bitter cherry blossoms.
Spring Creek was roaring, and we were thankful the bridge had been installed.
This was one of the unknown blues in the Blue/Purple chapter of Mineral King Wildflowers.
One of the well-loved White Chief junipers.
Discreet Creek (who named it that?) was flowing steadily for a change.
Trail Guy and the Farmer were well ahead of Hiking Buddy and me.
Lots of water in the first level area of White Chief. My feet lasted about 15 seconds in it.
We love this place.
The pointed peak is Mineral Peak, AKA Sawtooth’s Shadow.
