Getting High With Some Really Old Guys

We drop to 4000 feet coming into Bishop, leaving the cold clouds of Crowley Lake behind us. Pulling into Highlands RV Park, we see Sue out front! Although she has her camera, and is facing the mountains, I'm sure she's really out there to greet our arrival! So nice of her :-)

They're already heading south with John and Pam, but we'll catch up with them in a couple days.

Another tree blocks our satellite, but there's cable so we watch the Steelers win (yay!) and get set up. The weather is warmer here and we watch the first half of the Sunday night game outside before the wind comes up and sends us back inside.

Monday morning we're back on Hwy 395 in the Jeep, south to Hwy 168, and east into the White Mountains. It's 64 degrees when we leave the basin and start climbing. And climbing. And yet more climbing.

The low-growing shrubs turn the landscape over to hundreds of acres of Pinon Pine and Utah Juniper at White Mountain Road. Short and rugged, and very green, you can see them for miles in all directions. They stay with us until about 8500 feet. Still climbing.



The road enters a rock canyon that changes colors at least four times before we come out the other side, above the tree line. Barren and brown, this is inhospitable terrain. At 10,000 feet we reach the Visitors' Center for the Ancient Bristlecone Forest. It's 36 degrees.

Informative and comfortable visitors center

A small amount of snow remains in the shade, there are six or seven cars in the parking lot. The warmth of the Center is very welcoming, so we take some time to peruse the exhibits. We watch the 20 minute video about these unique and very hardy pine trees - the oldest living things on the planet.

Her first snow

The fact they live in such a brutal environment makes their longevity more incredible. Even after death they resist bugs and decay, their carcasses dating back over 9000 years! Some have been dead since Europeans first set foot on this continent, and they remain nearly the same as the day they died.

I'm feeling the elevation, (did I mention we're really high here?!) just being at the Center so the four mile hike to see Methuselah (the oldest living specimen they've found here) is out. Instead we enjoy those we can see from where we are, while the winds pick up and the temps continue to drop.

The drive back down provides views of the Great Basin and the Sierras (again, guard rails would be nice), and we lose count of how many times we say "Wow!" 71 degrees back at the "bottom" - 35 degrees difference seems so extreme to me!

 

A late lunch at Schat's Bakkery is sort of a requirement while in Bishop, and our sandwiches are very yummy. 

Errands, chores, and Monday Night Football round out our Monday.