Adventures With Samson-The-Bear

This is everything I brought with me at the start of the trek and a little more: A Moleskine landscape oriented journal, two small watercolor brushes, two waterproof graphic pens, a pencil stub, an eraser, four watercolor tubes, a Gatorade cap as a palate and a water bottle lid for water.  For colors, I started the trail with just rose madder and indigo blue but picked up paynes gray and lemon yellow mid-way. Our hiking and artist friend, Miagi, gave me one precious speck of cadmium yellow and an old cadmium red pan. Everything was mixed from these colors. 

May 5, mile 15. First night camp spot at Houser Creek. 

May 7, mile xx. Mount Laguna Recreation Area

May 8, mile 68. Rodriguez Spur Trail, just before Scissors Crossing. 

May 11, mile 109. Warner Springs Hiker Resource Center

May 19, mile 259. Afternoon break after Onyx Summit in the San Bernardino Mountains.

May 29, mile 454.  Garden cacti at Hiker Heaven.

May 29, mile 454. Garden cacti at Hiker Heaven.

May 29, mile 454. Miagi was also staying at Hiker Heaven so I had access to her whole paint palate. Thanks, Miagi!

June 3rd, mile 516. I did't stage this, someone else left it. 

June 14, mile 717.

June 15, 728.  Lunch break in Sequoia National Park.

June 15, mile 737. We were wrong, this wasn't Mt Whitney at all.. but it was a nice view.
 

June 16, mile 756. Beautiful Sequoia National Park.

June 17th, mile 766. This was a special spot from which to appreciate Mt. Whitney before we climbed it.

June 24, 2016. A lazy afternoon at Lower Palisade Lake after Mather Pass (far right of drawing) in Kings Canyon National Park.

June 25, mile 833. Waiting for Samson to help an injured hiker I finally had a moment to paint one of the more unusual wildflowers.

June 27, mile 869. Trying to paint while getting destroyed by mosquitoes

July 1, mile 927. Afternoon break to paint while Samson fished a small stream. Miagi later lent me a different color blue for the sky. 

July 4, mile 972. Picnic lunch and afternoon break at the best secret spot near trail. 

July 4, mile 979. Tiny succulent flowers found in rock crevices all over the Sierras. 

July 14, mile 1,098. Late morning break to take in Aloha's beauty. 

July 14, mile 1,098. Unfinished attempt to capture the mountains across the lake.

July 17, mile 1,184. Afternoon break from hiking to sit by the reservoir. 

July 19, mile 1,218. Lunch break sketches overlooking the town of Quincy. 

July 19, mile 1,218. Lunch break sketches overlooking the town of Quincy. 

August 10, mile 1,707. Northern CA was a long stretch of long hiking days and no time for sketching. Finally we crossed into Oregon and took a quick afternoon break.

August 10, mile 1,707. Northern CA was a long stretch of long hiking days and no time for sketching. Finally we crossed into Oregon and took a quick afternoon break.

August 15, mile 1,778. Afternoon break to sketch but no views. Tree bark studies will have to suffice. 

August 15, mile 1,778. Afternoon break to sketch but no views. Tree bark studies will have to suffice. 

August 17, mile 1,824 (on CL alternate). We made it to Crater Lake National Park. It was so special that we made time in the evening to sketch and watch the light change over the lake. 

August 21, mile 1,925. Afternoon break to sketch by a quiet pond. Thankfully the mosquitoes weren't horrible. 

August 26, mile 2,017. Stopped for the evening at a perfect ridge camp spot with good friends and a few minutes to paint as the sun set. 

September 2, mile 2,144. After a much needed zero in Hood River, OR, we enjoyed a quiet evening at Thunder Island Brewery and watched the fog roll in over the Columbia River. 

September 5, mile 2,205. After several days of rain, it was a treat to take a break and sit by a lake in the sun. 

September 9, mile 2,299. Early to camp after a resupply in White Pass. The reflection on the still pond was serene. 

September 10, mile 2,323. I scrambled up the ridge behind camp to catch sunset and quickly sketch the cliffs we had just hiked through Rainier N.P. 

September 15, mile 2,421. This section of difficult but spectacularly beautiful terrain was covered with glowing huckleberry and blueberry bushes. It was too daunting to paint a full bush so I concentrated on the detail of a single twig. 

September 16, mile 2,435. My lunchtime attempt to capture all the colors of fall. This meadow was at the top of Cathedral pass in the shadow of the peak, and was covered with deep red patches of huckleberry and blueberry and green moss amongst the golden meadow. 

September 24, mile 2,594. Larch trees are deciduous pine trees which turn glowing yellow and drop their leaves in the fall. I had been waiting for hundreds of miles to glimpse one and finally we were in their range! This painting of a twig is full size. 

September 25, mile 2,609. More colors that i had been dying to capture: the mountain ash shrubs are above head height at lower elevations, and knee height on passes and peaks. They all glowed a particularly brilliant orange color, sometimes more yellow and sometimes almost pink. This depiction is about full size for twig.

September 26, mile 2,625. As subalpine species, larches mostly grow at the tops of tops of ridges and passes. In the morning and afternoon sun they seem to glow and dance. 

September 28, mile 2,650. The END! We spent several hours at the terminal monument saying goodbye to the trail. It is hard to believe it is all over.  I hadn't even finished my final journal entry when photographed my sketches.