Category Archives: Cabin Life

Mineral King Cabin Community

What?? Isn’t this a blog about Wilsonia cabins?

Yes, but my experience in the community of Wilsonia is somewhat limited. I was a visitor, a welcomed guest in 2 different cabins. This gave me a feel for Wilsonia, but it is different than my own cabin community of Mineral King.

Grab a cup of coffee, find a comfortable chair, and settle in. This is a long post, because I have lots to say on the subject of Mineral King cabins.

This is what I know about my own cabin community of Mineral King, learned after “marrying in” 32 years ago.

Mineral King cabin folks come from cities, suburbs, small towns and out in the country; we live in mansions, estates, apartments, and even a few normal houses. We are artists, bankers, equipment operators, janitors, teachers, farmers, administrative assistants, engineers, retirees, dental hygienists, sheriffs, lawyers, doctors, day care workers, musicians, optometrists, veterinary assistants, physical therapists, moms, Park employees, physician’s assistants, and those are just the first ones that come to mind. We come from California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Nevada, Utah, Virginia, New York, Hawaii, Florida, South Dakota, and Egypt. (Probably more places that I can’t remember. . .)

Our Mineral King cabins, AKA “small, poorly constructed huts in the woods”, are great equalizers.

Every one of us, regardless of our backgrounds, livelihoods, economic, educational or political status, is thrilled to have a small, poorly constructed hut in the woods without electricity. Every cabin has a barely adequate kitchen, a laughably tiny (or no) bathroom, maybe one or two or even no bedrooms. Every single cabin user has to figure out how to deal with unreliable water, peculiar propane appliances, old stuff that may or may not work, and the definite lack of a maintenance department, hardware or grocery store. There is a terrible road to get there, rodents, spiders and other wildlife that may or may not be appreciated, and all sorts of unexpected situations. (Who left this chair and what happened to my flashlight?? Does anyone have any birthday candles? What do you mean Skin-So-Soft isn’t mosquito repellent? Are you kidding that I can’t blow-dry my hair?)

Every single cabin that is owned by multiple families has its conflicts, whether decorating, cleaning, maintaining, or scheduling. The cabins without partnerships have to bear the expenses, decisions, maintenance and cleaning without benefit of sharing the load.

Those who have complicated lives in fancy places might view a cabin as a mixed blessing: a family tradition, a repository of memories, and a bit of an inconvenience, but a treasured shabby shack in the mountains.

Those who have simpler lives in simpler places might also view a cabin as a mixed blessing: a family tradition, a repository of memories, and a huge treat, a treasured place of one’s own in the mountains.

Mineral King cabin folks have fought together to save our community, helped one another, hiked together, learned one another’s family trees, and through it all we have built friendships weekend upon weekend, year after year after decade after decade. And I am just a newcomer. . .

My own small, poorly constructed, hut in the woods

Is this different from Wilsonia? I’d love to hear your thoughts – feel free to use the commenting thing (it says “Leave a Reply”) on this post so others can also join in the discussion.

Simple One-Story House?

Not one-story.

I looked up “cabin” on my Mac. The dictionary on my computer has fairly useless definitions as far as our discussion is concerned.

Cabin may refer to:

Beach cabin, a small wooden hut on a beach

Log cabin, a house built from logs

Chalet, a wooden mountain house with a sloping roof

Small remote mansion (Western Canada)

Small, free-standing structures that serve as individual lodging spaces of a motel

Cottage, a small house

Forget that. Where’s my real Webster’s dictionary?? Mine was published in 2004 rather than 1935. Oh good grief, look at this: “A small, simple, one-story house.”

That’s it? Au contraire! (Is that how you say “You are wrong” in French?)

Too stylish to be considered “simple”.

A few folks checked in on my other blog with their thoughts on what a cabin is. One suggested “primitive”; another said a place to get away from every day life; someone else put forth the idea that a cabin is a state of mind. “Non-fancy” is a good description, and another added gave a description of an ideal cabin. She used the word “spare”, which could mean an extra home or it could mean without clutter. (I’ve seen some pretty cluttered cabins, and I have lived in a cabin when it was my only place of residence.)

To be continued next week (and feel free to share your thoughts on what makes a cabin in the comments, under “Leave a Reply”!)

What Is a Cabin?

This pencil drawing probably fits most common ideas of what a cabin is.

On my other blog, Cabinart.net, I have been writing occasionally about what makes a cabin. Of course you are invited to go there to read the posts, (Cabin Thoughts, Part 2, Part 3, Few More, Final) but I thought I’d refine the thoughts a bit directly for Wilsonia cabin folks. (Over there I post 5 days a week, as opposed to the weekly posts here.)

It began with a discussion with my friend (the one who taught me how to use InDesign so I could make The Cabins of Wilsonia) about what it is that makes a cabin. My art business is called “Cabin Art”, so one would think that I would know how to define the word “cabin”. Alas, one would be wrong about that!

We had an old dictionary at the cabin, so I looked up “cabin”. The 3rd definition said, “A small, rude hut”.

Clearly the word “rude” has changed in meaning since the dictionary was published in 1935. I looked up “rude” and saw “Poorly constructed”.

Alrighty, then. A cabin is a small, poorly constructed hut.

But is it?

Nothing small or poorly constructed here!

I’d love to hear your ideas about what a cabin is – email me at cabinart@cabinart.net or better yet, comment (use “Leave a Reply”) on this post so others can join in the discussion!

Still Sitting Around

This cabin steps and chair look so inviting; I never saw anyone in residence there but did meet an owner at another cabin.

Something about a chair or bench on a porch is so inviting. One of the established but unwritten elements of cabin etiquette is that if someone is sitting on the deck, it is okay to stop and chat from the road. They can invite you up or not, but it is always good to exchange greetings as you pass by folks just sitting around.

This cabin belonged to some friends of my parents, but they were no longer around when I began work on the book.

A built-in bench? Why not, if it can handle a heavy snow year.

Kind Words

A few weeks ago, I received an order from someone I’ve never met for several copies of The Cabins of Wilsonia.

It is always good to know how people find the book, so I asked this customer. Here is what she said:

I had been reading about your book project for awhile in the Wilsonia Times newsletter. We hadn’t been able to get to the cabin for a few years, but we were finally able to go last week. Someone bought a copy of your book to keep at the cabin and that is where I read it, which was perfect.

I love the writing and the sketches are exquisite. I like how you combined sketches of cabins with architectural details and elements of the natural surroundings. It really captures the essence of Wilsonia. I ordered a copy for myself and some for my daughters and for friends who enjoy going up there with us. Thank you so much for taking on that project and executing it so beautifully.

Aw shucks. Thank you, Lisa! Thank you for appreciating the variety in the drawings, all the efforts I put into showing details and backgrounds and getting people to tell me about their cabin experiences. My goal was to “capture the essence of Wilsonia”, and it means a ton to me that the book does that for you!

Rough and Scary

The “Rough Fire” is an appropriate name, although it was named for the Rough Ridge where it started rather than the difficulties it has caused.

It has made life in Wilsonia and the surrounding areas very uncomfortable – unhealthy air, road and area and services closures, worries about safety in many places, and worry about the cabin community.

Neal Mixter has been wonderfully on-the-spot and up-to-the-minute with his fire reports. His latest says this:

The planned reopening of Wilsonia and Grant Grove to the public was postponed at least until tomorrow (Tuesday) due to increased smoke and worsened air quality in the area. The Rough Fire has grown, but so has the containment percentage, currently at 17%. The areas of concern for Hume Lake, Grant Grove and Wilsonia are very near containment. Wilsonians reported heavy smoke in the village this morning and noticeable presence of firefighting aircraft throughout the day.

In the next day or two, we will announce the status of the Wilsonia events scheduled for this weekend.

Cabin owner and friend Jean Faszholz shared several photos with me. I didn’t ask her permission to share this with you, but I’ll live dangerously and show her photo:

We in MIneral King are also experiencing dense smoke. Mineral King is probably 30-50 crow-flying miles to the south of Wilsonia. Not complaining, because we aren’t living with the scariness of the fire being close. It’s smoky in Three Rivers too, so it feels as if there is no place to go to breathe clear air.

Welcome to Central California in a drought year during fire season. It’s rough, folks. Scary too.

Wilsonia and Grant Grove Tradition

Wilsonia is next to or perhaps even in Grant Grove. It’s a short walk, but people speak of walking to “the village” or even “the mall” as if it is a separate location. It is, and it isn’t.

There is a long tradition of a simple parade at Grant Grove on the Fourth of July. It consists mostly of Wilsonia folks, because they are the consistent residents in the area. The Park employees are transient, changing parks, working seasonally. The visitors are simply that – visiting, passing through.

It is short and sweet, simple and moving. (Duh, of course it moves, it is a PARADE!)

Last year was my first time attending. The parade was so short that it had to go around the circuit twice.

This year it was long enough to just go once. Lots of decorated Jeeps, Tracksters, and other fun vehicles, along with Park fire trucks. Flags, flags, flags, and several signs that read “May the Fourth Be With You”.

Gorgeous horse, poor photography.

Daughters of the American Revolution.

Hi, John!

Star Wars??

Fun wagon party!

The Fourth of July in Wilsonia

The Fourth of July is a busy day in Wilsonia. It starts with a parade at Grant Grove at 11 a.m. In the afternoon beginning at 1 there is a silent auction of really neat stuff at the clubhouse. At 1:30 is an ice cream social, also at the clubhouse. Then at 6 in the evening, there is a potluck and the silent auction concludes at 8 p.m.

I’ll be there with my neighbor/friend Robin, with boxes of books and the original drawings. (The drawings will be at the cabin where we will be staying in the Masonic Tract).

This drawing will be in the silent auction:

It kind of gives the false impression of a cabin isolated in the woods instead of a cabin surrounded by 213 other cabins in a delightful community known as Wilsonia!

A Few More Quilt Squares As a Means of Distraction

The Wilsonia quilters have about 25 painted quilt squares hanging around the community.

I showed you about 10 or 12 so far. Here are the final 3 to distract you as we all hang around wondering when The Cabins of Wilsonia will arrive.

The colors are not true here. It is actually purple and teal, and teal is my FAVORITE color. So, as much as I love blue, I’m sorry you cannot see the accurate colors of this square. It was the first one I saw on my last visit, courtesy of my hostess.

I can’t believe I missed this one on my travels! (Thank you, Gus for taking these 2 photos for me.)

I want to sit beneath this square (diamond?) and knit. The originator of this square and owner of this cabin has a wonderful sense of style!

NOW is the book almost here??

Possibly The Most Interesting Cabin Owner in Wilsonia

A cabin owner wrote this as a comment. At first I thought it was one of those long spammy things. Then, I read it and realized that I have drawn the cabin about which he is writing. I’ve done a little editing –please forgive me, Professor Dirks. I’m guessing that since you put it in as a comment, you don’t mind your story going public.

“The Last of the Log Cabins” on Laurel Lane at Hazel was built with 53,000 lbs. of lodgepole pines from Twisp Mills on the Canadian border in Washington.They lay on the ground but with the help of pioneers Harold & Naomi Hansen (Jana’s note: I changed the spelling from “Handsen” to match what I’ve seen in Wilsonia) we built it to celebrate our Bicentennial in 1976.

But we had to get congressional and county approval in hearings in Fresno. (Note from Jana: Wilsonia is in Tulare County.) They said we had to prove that these logs met the heating standards in California. We found there were approved log cabins near Shasta.

In 1975 after we bought the two lots, we found the Lincoln Log design in a lodge on the Athabasca Glacier in the Colombian Ice fields, moving down the mountain, which meant it could withstand California earthquakes.

As a Eagle Scout who ran the John Muir trail every summer, and as a professor of Biology and History, I wanted the cabin to fit the ecology of Wilsonia. I built schools in Kenya, a year before Obama was born during the bloody Mau Mau rebellion, after I’d climbed the snows of Mt. Kilimanjaro, speaking Swahili in 1960. The next year I was in JFK’s first Peace Corp, and built schools in Ghana and Guinea. Then I returned and used the Peace Corp spirit, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country!” As President of the AFT I built LASW College after the Watts Riots, then founded LA Mission College in a poor area of NE San Fernando Valley in 1975, being named by CA Senate, Assembly & Chancellor as “The Faculty Father of LA Mission College” for the LACCD “The only Faculty (nonAdmin) ever to build a college in California.

We built the roof stretching well beyond the cabin so it is sheltered even in deepest snows, based on our observations of other Wilsonia cabins. A draft portrait of Woodrow Wilson hangs above my desk, with the other one in the White House, painted by my cousin who knew him before he was elected in 1916 by S. Seymour Thomas. (Jana’s note: Wasn’t Wilson elected by the voters?) Thus the Wilsonia tradition will stay alive with your book. Thanks from our hearts. (You are most welcome, Professor Dirks!)

I met my wife Xiaoping Liu, when I was the only college professor to get into forbidden Tibet in 1988, taking my students through Lhasa and the Dalai Lama’s Palace and to monasteries above 16,000 feet behind Mt. Everest. I met her during the “Democracy Movement” at the University in Xian, in the Chin Kingdom (Chin – China) where she’d been Presidents’ Carter, Reagan and Queen Elizabeth’s doctor in China. A year later when the leader of the Democracy Movement died, a million people gathered in Tian An Men Square in April and in May when Gorbachev had the summit meeting but couldn’t go to the square because of the millions still there, (Jana’s note: I’m confused!) so Dr. Liu left thru Hong Kong the week before the Tien An Men Massacre. She came here, became a professor of Microbiology and Napa, (Jana’s note: What is a professor of Napa?) then came down here to find that mad professor (Jana’s note: by “mad professor” I think the author is referring to himself) from Mission (Jana’s note: I think he is referring to LA Mission College) who predicted the massacre if they pushed democracy too hard. She found me, we became friends and then family and our son Darwin evolved, East meets West and 1/2 + 1/2 is twice as smart.

75 year old teachers talk too much, sorry…Charles Please forgive me, a proud historian. Thanks!

And thank you, Professor Dirks, for sharing your most interesting life and cabin story with my blog readers! (I removed many personal details about your son to protect his privacy, which I also would have done if this was published as a comment on my blog.)