Road Trip Report: Ancient Bristlecone Pines, Patriarch Grove.

Yesterday morning I headed east on 120 over [Tioga Pass]; destination the [Patriarch Grove] in the Ancient Bristlecone Pines of the White Mountains, east of Big Pine, CA. I arrived at about 3pm, paid my $2.50 entrance fee at the visitor’s center, and headed down the 12 mile dirt road to the Patriarch Grove. It takes roughly an hour to go from Grandview Campground to the grove, because there are lots of blind curves and the road, while recently graded, has lots of loose gravel. It winds along the sides of hills and makes the occasional switchback. Along the road are numerous vistas, well worth pulling off and getting out to take pictures. They look out over the Sierra Nevada to the west, and east to distant ranges. The road is passable in a low clearance vehicle, but take it slow, especially on the tight curves. Keep it to about 20 mph, and 10-15 on the curves.

Near the end of the road to the grove is a narrow signpost; “Elev 11,000 ft”. By this time the sun has slanted all its rays, and the last few turns are in shadow. But the parking area of the grove is still illuminated with the warm light of late afternoon. The trees at first seem unremarkable, stubby, scrubby, in some cases half- or completely dead. But as I walked closer, their character and beauty became apparent. Swirls of color on dead trunks, the tenacity of the needles and cones, denuded branches grasping at the sapphire sky, all were palpably ancient.

Bristlecones grow on white dolomite, a type of limestone, where little else grows to give competition. My roommate remarked that it looked clean, no grass. I was pleased to note that I saw no trash, nor did I see any defacing of the trees, living or dead. I saw the occasional stump, cut undoubtedly to count the rings.

The bristlecones are unbelievably ancient. Some of them are close to 4700 years old. They are the oldest living things on the planet, if you don’t count amoeba.

I spent a good hour taking pictures, and even met one of my Flickr contacts, Tomas Kaspar. On the drive back, the moon was rising in the east as the sun was setting in the west. I managed to get several shots right from the window of my car.

Back to Grandview campground (free, but they request a $3 donation to help with upkeep) and my astro-bivvy. Oh, the White Mountains don’t have enough water to support bears; No need for bear canisters, and not a bear box in sight. However, there are plague warnings everywhere. Don’t feed the small animals! Then up at 3:30 am due to a case of journey-pride, or perhaps the full moon was too bright for me to sleep. Once packed up by the light of the moon, I headed back to the Patriarch Grove. I arrived at about 5 am, and sat in my car reading by the light of the dome light; Dawn seemed far away since the moon was hidden behind the massive white mountain behind me. I watched Venus rise above the ridge to the east as dawn crept closer.

Shortly after 6 am two more photographers arrived, gentlemen I’d met at the visitor’s center the night before. We exchanged names, and shouted encouragement and good locations to one another as the sun rose. At one point I was simply so gobsmacked all I could do was wander, arms outstretched to my sides, mouth opening and closing like a landed fish. “Are you all right?” Gino asked. “I’m just so flabbergasted by how beautiful it all is!” We both laughed and wandered apart.

Eventually the light changed, and after a brief visit to the remarkably clean pit toilet, I headed home. I looked at my dashboard clock: 9 AM. I pulled in to my dorm here in Yosemite at 2:11 PM. I could have shortened the trip to about 4 hours if I hadn’t stopped to take more pictures on the way out of the White Mountains, but I was in no great rush.

Over all, very enjoyable, even though I am road weary. I think the pictures will speak for themselves.

Photos by Edie Howe-Byrne