Mineral King Road

Road update from Sequoia Roads Supervisor:

The current plan is for the Sequoia Road Crew to return to maintenance on the Mineral King road as soon as the current road center and fog line striping project is completed through the Giant Forest area this week.
Mineral King road maintenance will consist of spot brushing priority areas, pothole patching, drainage maintenance, shoulder damage repairs and regrading of the washout above Cold Springs and spot grading of the remaining unpaved sections of roadway, not necessarily in that order. Tentatively starting date of 7/15.

Today’s post isn’t very fun, but it is informative if you or someone you know is planning a trip to Mineral King this summer.

I’ve been driving the Mineral King Road regularly for 35 summers, sometimes weekly. This year it is the worst I have ever experienced.

There is no attempt to smooth it, no pothole patching, no erosion control, and no brushing. None.

Several times I wondered if I should stop, get out of my car, and eyeball the route on foot to find the safest way through the obstacle course. Instead, I crawled along in first gear, sometimes riding the brake to go even slower, and I made it without breaking anything.

My non-objective view is that since Trail Guy (AKA Retired Road Guy) retired 7 years ago, there has been a cumulative effect of his not working on the road. The Park roads department is headed up from an office in Grant Grove, which is in Kings Canyon National Park rather than from Ash Mountain in Sequoia. When Road Guy was there, he made certain that the Mineral King Road was not neglected. As a retiree, he still volunteers many hours on a (borrowed) big yellow machine to clear away the winter snow to get the road opened sooner than if folks waited for the Park or for nature.

The Park’s view might be that the road will be redone in a few years. Do they think that it won’t deteriorate further until that time??

I counted 60 potholes in the paved sections on the four-mile stretch between Silver City and Mineral King.

It would be easy to prune these cottonwoods that obstruct vision on this little stretch.
When potholes are full of water, it is impossible to judge the depth.
Just a random sampling of the potholes on the final stretch of road.

2019 was a real winter, which delayed the opening of the Mineral King road, campgrounds, and our own cabin. Atwell Mill Campground is open, but Cold Springs won’t be opened until July 10. (Most of the passes are snow-covered, but people are backpacking and day hiking anyway.)

Drive carefully. If you find the road to be a problem, it might not hurt to write a letter to the acting superintendent, whose name I do not know. (Woody is away, working at the Grand Canyon this summer.)

More Mineral King Wildflowers

Trail Guy went to Timber Gap. This is the view. Lots and lots of snow remains.
You can always find Phlox on the upper part of the Timber Gap trail in June. This year in July too. Sometimes they turn lavender, as you would know if you read the book, Mineral King Wildflowers, or hiked much in Mineral King.
I LOVE Five-spot!
Larkspur.
Languid Ladies are also known as Sierra Bluebells.
Jeffrey Shooting Star likes its feet wet.
This is a puffball, not a flower. I think it is a toadstool, or a lichen, or maybe a mushroom. Don’t eat it, okay?
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

Mineral King Wildflowers is the name of the book I published in March of this year. In it, I said that most of the wildflowers in Mineral King hit their peak in July. This year it might be even truer, because the June flowers are still blooming in July. But perhaps the July flowers will not happen until August. More will be revealed in the fullness of time. Here is what was in bloom last week.

Lots of dandelions.
Unknown yellows.
More unknown yellows.
Sierra Star Tulip (overexposed photo doesn’t show the detail – might I suggest that you buy a copy of my book?)
Cow Parsnip.
Phlox, up on the Timber Gap trail.

Tomorrow is Independence Day. I will be silent on the blog, but will return for July 5, more Mineral King wildflowers.

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.

More Mineral King

Heading toward Crystal Creek (or Franklin Creek, or Franklin Lakes, or Farewell Gap)
That is high water for the East Fork of the Kaweah!
I missed my Hiking Buddy and The Farmer. Trail Guy got to hang out with them.
But, I got to be with Scout and Jackson.

There are always trade-offs in life. Tomorrow you get to see which wildflowers were in bloom in Mineral King last week.

P.S. When you comment on the blog, I have to approve the comment before it appears. This doesn’t mean that your comment didn’t “take”; it means I am not near a computer to release your comment. Thank you to those who go to the trouble to comment; I appreciate you sharing your thoughts!

Mineral King, Finally

It has been an unusual year for Mineral King. Due to a heavy winter, a road trip to the Phoenix area, and a family emergency, I didn’t make it up the hill until last week. Trail Guy has been there and brought me his camera so I could experience Mineral King via photographs, the same way you get to experience it. (I think this can get stretched into several posts. Yea.)

The classic view from the bridge, complete with snow on Farewell Gap and high water.
Across the creek you can see a cabin, Empire, and Monarch Falls.
Sawtooth has lots of snow, lots and lots. The peak is hidden here, but you can see the ridge.

Back atcha, tomorrow. (I miss Cowboy Bert. He often ended phone calls with that articulate message, “Back Atcha”. Heavy heavy sigh.)

P.S. When you comment on the blog, I have to approve the comment before it appears. This doesn’t mean that your comment didn’t “take”; it means I am not near a computer to release your comment. Thank you to those who go to the trouble to comment; I appreciate you sharing your thoughts!

Art Inspired by Mineral King

SATURDAY, JUNE 29, 10-2, SILVER CITY RESORT

Featuring the oil paintings and pencil drawings of Jana Botkin and the photography of Brett Harvey

Farewell Gap #4, pencil, framed to approximately 11×14, $400 including tax

P.S. When you comment on the blog, I have to approve the comment before it appears. This doesn’t mean that your comment didn’t “take”; it means I am not near a computer to release your comment. Thank you to those who go to the trouble to comment; I appreciate you sharing your thoughts!

Mineral King Wildflowers Book

Mineral King Wildflowers: Common Names arrived yesterday!

The cover photo is by Jessica Barr. All the interior photos are by me and Trail Guy.

A sample page from the blue and purple chapter
Every chapter has a few flowers at the end without names.

The price is $19.78, which includes sales tax. The odd number is because 1978 is the year that Mineral King became part of Sequoia National Park. If you order from my website, I’ll pay the shipping. If you order from Amazon, they will charge an additional $3.99.

Vertical Mineral King Painting

In looking through my photos to choose new Mineral King subjects (or new approaches to old subjects), I kept going back to a photo of some fisherpeople in the stream. Finally I decided to narrow it down to the parts that matter and try it on a vertical 6×18″ canvas.

You can see the first pass within this jumble of paintings in their embryonic stage.
Top down is the same as back to front in this painting. This works out well for me, since I “draw” with my paintbrush, often resting my hand on the painting. Many painters use a “mahl stick” to rest their hands on, but I paint too small for this to be of any help. Besides, I don’t like extra stuff, gear, tools, things. The more stuff I own, the more stuff breaks and gets lost and fills up my brain and life.
Slowly crawling down the canvas.
After all those greens, it is fun to put in blue for the stream.

This is as far as I can go until things dry. I’m unsure about the fisherpeople. The largest one is about 1/16″ high on the photo and appears to be riding a bike. That can’t be right. So I will probably look through my photos and see if there is one of Trail Guy or Trail Girl (I haven’t told you about her) that would be better. Trail Guy used to take Trail Girl fishing so she could hold the fish and talk to them before she released them. She is grown up now and we miss her something fierce, but she has a real job and doesn’t live in her parents’ basement. That’s good, I guess.

A Metaphor Free Post

Today will be less metaphorical than yesterday’s post. It was a cold and dark day when I painted this, so the photos of paintings aren’t as thorough.

The day began with a touch of sun on my pot of irises.
Storm coming – very dramatic light on the front yard. And that is mowed weeds; we had to abandon the lawn, so it is simply a springtime luxury to pretend we have one.

Get to work, Central California artist who is distracted by the beauty of her favorite month. Today’s painting subject is the Honeymoon Cabin in Mineral King, the only cabin left from Disney’s era.

This is another Squish-the-Subject-While-Making-It-Believable painting. This one is 8×8″.
I kept it loose because it got too dark to see well. Just got those shapes in place with the general colors.
This one is 6×6″. It was sort of too dark to see, so I quit for the day.

Comparing a Painting to a Hike

Eagle Lake is probably the most popular destination in Mineral King. It is about 3.5 miles (feels like 5), and the last 1/2 mile or so is on a terrible trail. The lake has a dam built by the Mt. Whitney Power Co. in the early 1900s (1909? 1911? I’m just guessing, because it is hard enough to remember the relevant dates in my own life.) And it is a beautiful place.

Last year I painted it twice. One was for my niece and newly acquired nephew as a wedding gift; one was to sell. My niece asked if I just pulled theirs off my wall or if I painted it specifically for them. My answer was that I painted it specifically for them, but that I had tried to sell it first. (My family likes honesty.)

Eagle Lake, 11×14″, private collection. This is looking up from the dam.
Eagle Lake, 6×18″, sold. This one is obviously looking the other direction, down at the dam.

That 6×18″ shape is very appealing to me for some reason. So, here it is again, but this time I am working from two photos: one for the mountain ridge, and the other for the lake. All of it is squashed or stretched to make it fit, with the goal of keeping it believable.

I think I am developing more confidence in painting my chosen subject matter of various Mineral King scenes. It is about time, since I have been painting almost 13 years.

This is the optimistic beginning stage, sort of like when one first hits the trail to Eagle Lake.
The “oh-no what was I thinking stage”. Its equivalent is when you have gotten across Spring Creek and begin climbing and realize you have a very long steep walk ahead. (Or a hike if you are carrying food and/or water.)
Head down, thinking about the distance to go, knowing it is hard, but pushing on anyway.
Stopping to look at the map, which in this case of painting are the 2 reference photos.
Going a bit further and feeling as if you have gained nothing is a common feeling on a long painting or a long trail. (This really is a different photo than the previous one, but you’ll have to shift into your Where’s Waldo mode to see the differences.)
This stage of the painting is like being below the lake, when you know it isn’t far, that you will make it, and it will be worth the effort.

I wonder where I am getting these metaphor type ideas for blog posts. It’s kind of fun, a new way of thinking and writing.

Today my dad would have been 87 if he had not gotten that dang brain tumor and died a few days before his 67th birthday. I bet he would have thoroughly enjoyed the internet, including my blog.