Mineral King | Cabin Art

Odd Sights in Mineral King

This first one isn’t odd. I’m just warming up here. It is a plant called Coulter’s Fleabane, which I misidentified in Mineral King Wildflowers as snowberry. Maybe. Still trying to figure it out.

The cottonwood was prolific, abundant, and fascinating. Very soft to the touch, but elusive when one tried to gather it.

Once again, I failed to put a dime or a quarter in my pocket so that you can appreciate the teensy size of these daisies.

What is this? We don’t know, so I sent the photos to the local historian.

What is this on the trail??

Oh, just a little changing booth for a bride. Check out those heels on the bridesmaid. That’s an unusual sight in Mineral King, especially on a trail.

These dressed up gentlemen were receiving instructions. I think they were waiting for the bride, rumored to be an hour late.

And there are the guests, waiting for the action to begin. We didn’t bushwack down to investigate.

Let’s just end with a calming, more usual type of sight. These are penstemon, but the name escapes me at the moment. Besides, since discovering that snowberry is really Coulter’s Fleabane, I’ve lost confidence in my flower identifying abilities.

Mineral King

White Chief Again

White Chief is our favorite destination in Mineral King. Most people want to go to a lake, and they are welcome to struggle to Eagle up that lousy trail. We’ll wave goodbye as they turn that direction, and then head up the steeper but shorter trail to White Chief. It’s hard to calculate the distance, because sometimes we are happy to just break into the canyon, which Trail Guy calls a “dry lake”. You can go as far as all the way to the head of the canyon, which might be 4 miles one way. Just guessing. . .

Nope, just bright sunlight hitting glossy leaves.

We shouted this back to our friends who turned back at the junction (the kids were just taking a morning constitutional while wearing pajamas).

I saw a new flower in the middle part of the canyon, where the trail crosses over the creek. It was very hard to photograph, and the best I could do is this, barely adequate for identifying. However, I concluded that it is Little Elephant Head, very similar, as one would suspect, to Elephant Head. Weird.

The flowers were terrific as we approached the place where the trail crosses the creek.

This might make a good cover photo if I publish a second edition of Mineral King Wildflowers. No promises.

We crossed the creek, and tomorrow I’ll continue this topic.

Mineral King

All About Mineral King

This time of year I spend lots of time in Mineral King, AKA The Land of No Electricity or Internet (unless you have StarLink, which we do not). So, my posts might be a bit erratic. Today’s post is simply photos from a walk down the road to Cold Springs Campground (now open after several summers of closure) and back up the Nature Trail.

Fireweed is prolific along the road above the Ranger Station.

Sharon, my most regular commenter, named this Iron Falls.

You can count on seeing Indian Paintbrush along the Nature Trail near Iron Falls.

Walking on rip-rap is the worst part of the trail.

Sawtooth is the signature peak in Mineral King, although it can be deadly. RIP, Drew.

Tomorrow we’ll go to White Chief again.

In case you were wondering, I am working a little bit. I stop by the Silver City Store to check inventory and sometimes I hand out business cards to people I meet along the trails. (Hi Walt and Steve and the other guy from Hanford—hope Steve made it home without any more altitude discomfort.)

Mineral King

Busy Weekend in Mineral King

Sometimes I need to leave Mineral King for the peacefulness of Three Rivers. MK is a very social place, and although I have decent social skills (please allow me this illusion), I am an introvert who needs a copious amount of solitude.

The hazard tree crew has been working in our neighborhood.

I love the evening light coming through to the corn lily and grasses. It is especially nice when these folks are present and have their flag flying. I’ve drawn that a couple of times.

I called the drawings “Dawn’s Early Light”, because most people won’t be familiar with the direction of the cabin or the lay of the land. The first one was done long ago when my web designer put watermarks on my art (as if anyone would want to steal it, or as if we could prevent such a catastrophic occurrence.) I think I used the same photo for both drawings.

There was no time for hiking, but Hiking Buddy and I took what we shall refer to as two different “morning constitutional walks”.

First one: Timber Gap/Monarch junction

Second one: White Chief/Eagle/Mosquito junction

Heading back (Timber Gap in the distance)

July and August are busy in Mineral King, particularly among the cabin folks.

Mineral King

Starting over Again

Like that song by Dolly Parton? Nope. Starting 2 new oil paintings of Mineral King (and finishing one other).

This is 3×9”, a new size I found in Salem at Michael’s. Visalia’s Michael’s doesn’t have any this size (or the 4×12”, which I quickly used to paint Sequoia trees.) This does not surprise me; the Central Valley of California usually gets lesser quality merchandise in its chain stores, of which there is an abundance (EXCEPT for Trader Joe’s, of course). However, we did get the largest Catholic church in North America, right in Visalia, although after a year of asking me to write and rewrite a contract to paint a mural, no contract was signed. In frustration, annoyance, exasperation, and a big injection of reality I raised my prices significantly. They gasped in horror, went searching for another muralist, and now, 2 years later, STILL NO MURAL.

Wait—we were talking about new paintings. This will be titled Mineral King Dusk #??

Here is a 6×12” of the classic Mineral King scene. Yes, upside down.

Layer #1 is now good enough to set aside for drying.

This trail scene, Mineral King Trail III, is now drying, awaiting a scan.

The color will be truer with the scan.

Why is it called “scan”, which is the first syllable of the word “scandal”? And why does it sound so close to “scam”?

I just work here.

Mineral King Mineral King oil paintings oil paintings

Aaand, Another Day With Oil Paints

All Mineral King oil paintings on this day.

This:

Became this:

This:

Became this:

And this:

Became this:

And then it got almost finished and joined its siblings on the drying wall.

Jackson didn’t show up.

Mineral King Mineral King oil paintings oil paintings

A Day with Oil Paint

There really are only so many potential titles to a repetitive blog topic. This could be “A Day at the Easels”, but I chose to paint flat on the table, or holding the canvas in my hand. It could be “A Day with an Audio Book”, but then I’d have to make a book report.

Let’s just get on with it, shall we?

Paintings are selling steadily at the Silver City Store; the main subjects are the Crowley cabin with Farewell Gap in the background, the Honeymoon Cabin, and Sawtooth. I wanted to paint something DIFFERENT, and after my recent hike to White Chief, it was an easy choice.

This isn’t White Chief but it is the trail to White Chief. I took a nice photo of Trail Guy with three cabin neighbors as he led them to White Chief (they haven’t spent much time at their family cabin—as a result, they needed a guide*). Because I don’t know them very well, it seemed prudent to keep their faces off of the World Wide Web. However, I thought the trail was quite nice in and of itself.

Break time! Oh look, there’s my favorite cat, Tucker, “hiding” in the tall grass.

This may look finished to most folks, but it wants another layer and more detail to satisfy your Central California Artist. (It is 8×10” in case you are wondering how I got so far in half a day of painting.)

Now, it’s time to paint White Chief. This is not how it looked in early July, although it could be how it looked in early July of a wet year. Can’t remember. . . I’ve slept since then. Besides, Trail Guy took my reference photo for this 8×10” painting, so I wasn’t there.

Yeppers, right on schedule, Jackson showed up and meowed at me. When I didn’t respond, he was fixin’ to bite me, so I hauled his 20+ lb. self onto my lap for a bit. He pretended to enjoy it, but put his claws in me** so I would just feed him already.

Like the trail painting, this requires another layer and more detail.

It was an altogether satisfying day of painting, one that flew by with that audio book. (Shelterwood by Lisa Wingate, in case you are curious.)

*They could have simply followed the trail but they would have missed out on a wealth of information.

**Not mean-like, just that thing cats do when they purr. He isn’t mean when he bites, only insistent and bossy. Downright domineering, actually.

Mineral King oil paintings Shelterwood

Your Central California Artist Walked to White Chief

Walked? Hiked! I carried a daypack with water and lunch, so I’m calling it a hike. So what, who cares? I went 7 miles on my numb feet, that’s what. Yea! I can still hike (maybe not far, but I’ll take what I can get here.)

Let’s just have photos, with minimal commentary and zero whining.

The White Chief trail is very steep. I followed these fine fit folks up and was thankful for the frequent Trail Guy/Guide and photo stops.

Once you break into the canyon/dry lake bed, it’s much easier walking.

We didn’t go into the mining tunnel; can you see it? On the far right, in the center.

Once again, I forgot to put a dime or a quarter in my pack for size comparison. These are TINY.

Bye-bye, White Chief. It was GREAT to see you again!

Entering White Chief, oil on wrapped canvas, 12×16”, $375

Since this is my business blog, here is my painting of Entering White Chief. It is the picture I chose for the publicity of my upcoming show Around Here, and Sometimes a Little Farther, opening August 7 at the Tulare Historical Museum and Heritage Gallery, 5-7 p.m.

Mineral King oil paintings solo show

Hanging Out in Mineral King

Because yesterday was Independence Day, today’s post is a bonus. I wouldn’t want anyone to miss out on a weekly Mineral King update!

“Hanging out” has ceased to be slang; what terminology did people use before this?

We don’t hike a lot anymore. Bum knee, numb feet. Walking is good enough for now. We headed toward the upper valley on this trail which was a road during Trail Guy’s childhood.

There were a few stray carrots lying on the ground, which Trail Guy retrieved to feed the stock.

A mule or two usually get out of the corrals. This causes many questions: 1. How? 2. Why? 3. Why just one? 4. Can’t some Park Packer Person make the fence tighter? (I’ve learned mules can leap pretty high, but I’m not convinced.)

We encountered some friends at Crystal Creek WITH A DOG. Everyone knows this is against National Park rules, or do they?? These fine folks were being very careful about it all, but if other people see them, they’ll assume dogs are okay if they are on a leash. Nope. It might be okay in the National Forest, but Mineral King is in Sequoia National Park, where dogs are not allowed on trails.

If you don’t want to get your feet wet crossing Crystal Creek, go a little above the trail and balance on those sticks. (I just walked through, as usual.)

My destination was Franklin Falls; Trail Guy’s knee along with his dislike of straight up-and-backs caused him to turn off the trail while I powered upward.

If you want to cross Franklin Creek, this is how the dry boulders arranged as stepping stones look.

I turned around and met up with Trail Guy just above Crystal Creek. The flowers were excellent, as one expects during late June, early July in Mineral King.

The rest of the photos are from meandering around, nothing noteworthy other than peak season in Mineral King.

So many shades of green.

This is sort of interesting: like beachcombers, we find all sorts of things while meandering around. This time it was a Benadryl Itch Relief stick, a blue carabiner, a fork, 3 grommets from tarps, and a large bottle of water sitting by the road.

Mineral King

Trail Guy is Back on the Mineral King Trails

Who wants to hear about Oregon?? Not as many of my tens of readers as want to hear about Mineral King.

While I was on the road, Trail Guy was in Mineral King. (Are you surprised? Then you might be new here. . . welcome!) You may recognize these photos as coming from his camera, because it usually has a dark spot in the sky.

First, he saw a Western Tanager, a yearly sighting. Blurry, so I’ve made this photo small.

Then he went to White Chief.

This is Crystal Creek from across the valley.

This juniper is everybody’s favorite tree.

Here is White Chief, sometimes described as a canyon, sometimes as a valley, sometimes as a dry lake.

The flat top peak is White Chief Peak.

Trail Guy calls this “Walden Pond”. It is NOT White Chief Lake. That’s up a steep steep steep slope below White Chief Peak.

Back in the valley (the Mineral King Valley), this rock outcropping continues to impersonate a mountain ridge which we call Empire. From this angle, it appears to be the top, but it isn’t.