This month I am spending a large chunk of time just goofing off instead of working. This means I don’t have much to post about in terms of my art business. But, does anyone care? And is it necessary to post five days a week, as is my habit? It isn’t Friday, and yet I’m going on and on about Mineral King. Again, I ask “does anyone care”?
I do. I care. Been doing this blog for over ten years, five days a week, and not gonna stop now. Nope. Not.
So there.
There’s that annoying word, “busy”. Full calendar, perhaps, might be a better thing to say. No, that isn’t really true, because I scheduled three days of doing just about nothing. Mineral King has been busy because with the closure of Yosemite, visitors are coming hard and fast into Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. It has taken them a bit longer to discover Mineral King, but the back country trails have been filling up.
The Mineral King Preservation Society has an annual event that used to be called “The Hoedown”. Someone finally pointed out that no one knows what that word actually means, and the MKPS had the good sense to change it to the classier “Music in the Mountains”.
Trail Guy was the organizer, and he did a great job! Excellent evening together in Mineral King for anyone who had the good fortune to be there.
A good time was definitely had by all!
I’ve spent more time in Mineral King than home working in August so the subject needs Friday as well as Monday next week.
Mineral King’s wildflowers peak in July, but there are still beautiful sights in August.
This girl can step out, even wearing a backpack that probably tops 45 lbs. I had to focus to stay on her 6, carrying my 4 lb. day pack. How embarrassing. When we got to the Trail Junction (affectionately known as the “Wildflower Cafe”), we had a snack, and then I announced that I had gone as far as I wanted to go.
I came to see some Explorer’s Gentian, and they did not disappoint.
They make the Sierra Gentian look boring by contrast. (Or perhaps my photos do that.)
Eight was enough miles for the day. We got back to the cabin before the sky opened up, and I got more knitting done. (Our friend probably was at her destination, hunkered down in her tent.)
Because I went coastal last week, I don’t have any new stories to tell about my crazy life in Mineral King. (not truly crazy, just me exaggerating. . .)
Instead, here are 10 photos of Mineral King wildflowers for you to enjoy.
Do you have a favorite? Do you know any of these by different names?
Saw/Saw, a mini mural of Sawtooth Peak on a round saw blade, was almost finished.
I fixed the camera setting, stood on the ladder to photograph it, and then realized that the trees on the bottom were crooked. Of course I only noticed this after putting the photo in an email to the customers, but immediately after sending it, I straightened them up. This is tricky business on a circle – how do I know vertical is vertical without straight edges of the canvas or wall to guide me?
That’s why I get paid the Big Bucks. (Fall down laughing.)
Welcome back! I knew you would be interested to know how Saw/Saw turned out. Not sure if this qualifies as a real mural or not; I think it might just be an Odd Job.
Finally, I figured out what was wonky with my camera. I had been experimenting with the settings, still not quite understanding what they all meant. When I changed “Poster Effect” to “Program” (who chooses these words??), It photographed more accurately.
But now the computer is not behaving properly, and when I export the photo of the finished Saw/Saw, it says it goes somewhere, and then it isn’t there.
My Mac is lying to me and cheating you out of seeing the finished saw blade!
Boy am I mad.
Maybe it will fix itself and work tomorrow. Besides, a job is never finished until these 2 things happen: A. The customer is happy and B. I have signed it.
Perhaps I should only write about Mineral King because it is the most popular topic.
Nah. . . this website is expensive, so it needs to contain things about my business. But today is Friday, and Fridays are for Mineral King posts (when I have something to show and tell).
When I drove up the hill on Tuesday, July 24, there was a huge lit sign at the bottom of the road saying that there was a fire 15 miles up the road and that no backpacking permits would be issued. It looked like a nothing-burger, but I am very very glad that the Park was suppressing it with all their available resources, because who knows what those bad boy fires do when crawling along the ground, or smoldering in roots?
That evening, we strolled over the bridge and admired the evening light. 
The plan was to visit some neighbor-friends, and if we were lucky, maybe we’d get to hear them play some music. Jazz isn’t normally my musical choice, but these guys were magical together. This is a father with his 2 sons, and I was sure they were reading one another’s minds! 
This is how things looked on the stroll back home. 
A day or so later, we spotted this Model A in the parking lot, and turned out it was someone’s that we know. I took a few photos for him on the bridge, a tricky business with a little bit of traffic, plus the dark shadows and bright light in the background. This was the best of the bunch. 
Then, while visiting some other neighbor-friends, one of them pointed out that “Bearskin”, the patch of snow on the side of Vandever, is looking less like the skin of a bear and more like a rooster this summer. 
We hiked to the lower part of White Chief with some friends. One of them is an entomologist and pointed out this beautiful bug. I said that a pair would make nice earrings, and she said that some company actually does make earrings out of their wings! 
Last week in Mineral King, Trail Guy, 2 friends and I took a hike to a special place that I am choosing to keep secret. (You can ask me in private, but I’m not posting any details on the World Wide Web.) On our hiking day, we experienced fabulous wildflowers, tremendous views, hail, thunder, lightning and rain.
This will be a long post – might want to refill your coffee cup.
My favorite flower was out in abundance.
It was a bit of a challenge to keep marching forward while surrounded by this.
We got back home to great light, rain, and news that lightning had sparked a wildfire about 14 miles down the road (but on the other side of the canyon), called the Horse Creek Fire.
Big puffy clouds made for good photos at the end of the day.
The next day we only managed an easy sort of walk. Limp. Shuffle. (Me, not Trail Guy, so that would be the “royal we”.)
The annual Mineral King Preservation Society (MKPS) “Picnic in the Park” happened for the 33rd time. Our speaker was the wife of a former packer who worked for a private pack station, as a contractor, and later for Sequoia. She was outstanding!
The picnic was held by the Honeymoon Cabin, a little museum put together by the MKPS, and painted and drawn by me more times than I can remember.
It was a day of much weather variety, sometimes in pounding sun, ending in large raindrops.
I drove down after dark that night, a different way to experience the road.
July is a busy month in Mineral King. One could just sit on the porch, knitting and reading, or one could get out and see and do. I am one of the latter types, sometimes. These photos represent the activities in about a three day stretch of time in Mineral King.
The next day, my friend and I strolled down the Nature Trail. I stood in the middle of the creek to get this photo of water with Sawtooth in the distance. If I draw or paint this, I will exaggerate the size and contrast of Sawtooth.
Next, Trail Guy worked on tightening up the railing on the bridge that he helped build in 2011. That’s a pretty strong work ethic–improving one’s work 6 years after retiring, off the clock, no supervision, just wanting his work to hold up. I’m proud to be married to this man!
We had the privilege of guiding a group of students from Western Michigan University Lee Honors College who are on a trek, following in the steps of Walt Disney. They call themselves “Waltineers”, and are a delightful group of folks who all have a great love for Uncle Wally and all things Disney.
Not a whole lot of sitting around at the cabin. Mineral King is a busy busy place in July.
Last week we took in the 2 best canyons, White Chief and Farewell, with a friend on one long mostly off-trail day. The flowers were spectacular.
