We stopped for lunch at the Pizza Factory in Lone Pine. David knows and likes this place and we remembered it favorably from our last trip down 395 in 1992. It's still pretty good.
We stopped for lunch at the Pizza Factory in Lone Pine. David
knows and likes this place and we remembered it favorably from
our last trip down 395 in 1992. It's still pretty good.
Heading east behind David's CRV up into the White Mountains.
The winding road up to the 9000-11000' elevation of the trees.
Looking southeast, you can see Owens Lake, the dry lakebed.
To the southwest are the Sierras with snow and the southernmost
glaciers in California. Mt. Whitney, tallest point in
the lower 48, is somewhere in the vicinity
but hard to pick out.
There were clumps of these scattered around.
Kurt, Deb, and Keith.
David and Beth. The baby is due in early November.
Keith took this picture for us.
Entering the official forest area. The rules here
are stringent about gathering wood, either dead on the ground
or from the trees. That dead wood may be thousands of years
old and its tree rings may help piece together the
dendrochronology that currently goes back at least 8000 years.
Matching the rings in a piece of wood from an old Anasazi
structure to the established line can precisely date it.
The cut end referenced in the sign.
This is the whole log. I took the picture above of some of the
rings at the
top left end.
The visitor center is relatively new. I remember a trailer
parked on the site last time.
The distinctive bristled cone which gives the bristlecone
pines their name.
The only other type of tree to grow here is the Limber Pine.
It looks very similar but a close look reveals cones that
look a bit plated, and slightly longer needles.
This bristlecone pine tree would make a beautiful Christmas
tree. It's growing in the more sheltered area of the
parking lot.
Cones take several years to mature. Here are several stages,
all on one branch.
Just when you're out of breath from climbing at a high elevation,
you get a little encouragement.
The green color is a known genetic variation, but it's still
a bristlecone pine.
David and I both wanted to see the Patriarch Grove which
was 12.5 miles away via a dirt road. So we tempted ourselves
into doing the drive.
The view east from the road.
The road ended at the Patriarch Grove.
The Patriarch Tree. Not the oldest, but the largest of
these ancient trees. It's only 1500 years old.
The oldest is Methuselah at 4700+ years.
These tiny plants huddled close to the ground.
The late afternoon light made this cone sparkle.
The view referenced in the sign.
