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What Does an Artist Do in Mineral King?

If you read this blog through an email subscription and cannot see the photos, click/tap here cabinart.net/blog, and you will be able to see them on internet. WARNING: this is a long post!!

A more complete question is probably this: What does this artist do in a place without internet, email, cell service or electricity?

An incomplete list:

  1. Split wood
  2. Knit
  3. Read the Declaration of Independence (Have you read it lately?)
  4. Swat biting flies
  5. Check on the wild iris WHICH IS IN BLOOM!
  6. Meander through the parking lot and find a bungee cord
  7. Proofread a book that has been in progress for almost five years
  8. Swat mosquitos
  9. Hang out with friends
  10. Sit on the bridge
  11. Hike – and take more photos, tell other hikers about better trails, look for tiger lilies, all while swatting mosquitos
  12. Swat more mosquitos

Incomplete pile of photos from the list (minus the mosquito swatting):

This is a section of trail that I’ve been trying to paint for a couple of years without any success.

Labrador Tea, reliably found near the first switchback above Eagle Meadow.Tiger lilies are Trail Guy’s favorite wildflower and this group was the destination of our hike.


Sometimes Eagle Meadow is thick with Jeffrey Shooting Stars and Knotweed. This year is not one of those times.We did see the shooting stars a little lower down along the creek. This is so hard to paint but I will not give up. (Here is how the painting looked last December)Who photographs the trail bed? Your Central California artist, that’s who.This is the first time I have really noticed Glacier Pass, a place I never expect to see in person.There was a wide variety of wildflowers as usual right around the beginning of July, but not in great quantities.Larkspur are hard for me to photograph, so when the light is right, I keep trying.This might be bitter cherry. It is a tree. I don’t know trees very well.

Hoopes sneezeweed always looks a little bit worn out, even when it is brand new.

That wild iris, only found in one place in Mineral King, blooms at the beginning of July each year.I drew this cabin once, in pencil with the flag in colored pencil, and called it “Dawn’s Early Light”. I love this view from the bridge, especially in the evening light.
Penstemon are a close second to my favorite flower of Explorer’s gentian.

4 Comments

  1. Always love seeing pics from your hikes, especially the wildflowers 🙂

  2. I am finally able to hike again as well. After my hip replacement, I broke my ankle (same leg as the hip), which set me back another 12 weeks. I was not a happy camper…or happy hiker for that matter. My church’s ladies group has organized four hikes for ladies to hike together. The first was Tryon Creek actually right outside Lake Oswego! The second hike is Dog Mountain…which is a beast, and fortunately I will be in Lewiston CA with my son on the Trinity River so I will miss that. But we will be hiking the Trinity Alps….whoever named that obviously wasn’t familiar with Mineral King. “Alps” – are you kidding me. Anyway, I hope it’s not all dried up. We take for granted out ability to walk, run or hike for that matter, until we can’t. Then we promise ourselves we will never take it for granted. So, I’m trying my hardest to take advantage of the healthy body that God gave me, and USE IT! Best to you and Trail Guy who figured this out way before I did.

    • Anne, what a story, and what determination you have! I too have had serious injuries in the past that put me on crutches for many weeks running, so the ability to walk is something I never take for granted. Thank you for checking in and sharing your life with me.

    • Anne, Melissa Akin Davis here! So sorry sbout your surgeries, no fun but so glad you are doing well. My surgeon says “Motion is lotion “. So we all need to keep on moving! Blessings!

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