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Ancient Trees on Snow Covered Mountains

A visit to Bristlepine Cone Forest near Bishop, California

 

Some of the oldest trees in the world are located at Bristlecone Pine Forest in the White Mountain range on the east side of Owens Valley near Bishop, California. These beautiful gnarly looking pines are over 4,000 years old, with the oldest tree dated near 5000 years. That’s old.

My wife and I first visited the area in the summer of 2006. I wanted to capture some cool sunrise photos with the trees, so we stayed overnight in Big Pine, CA, from where the road leads to the forest. We got up super early so we would get there before first light. It was interesting driving the unpaved roads in the dark, but we arrived safely and settled at a particular spot so I could catch the sun rising above the Great Basin of Nevada.

A Bristlecone Pine at sunrise

The sun peeking over the mountains at Bristlecone Pine Forest

 

While the sun rose higher in the sky I also acquired some close-up shots of the beautiful bark. Parts of these trees die while other parts keep growing giving them a very distinct look.

A typical Bristlecone Pine

Bristlecone Pines in a barren landscape at about 11,000 feet elevation

 

We wanted to visit the forest more often, but each time we visited Bishop and Mammoth, it was mostly in winter times. My wife used to snowboard and I skied. And when I was there for the Mammoth 4th of July art show, I had my big van with me.

The sign of Mammoth Mountain and Dave's Run at the peak of the mountain

 

The roads to and within Bristlecone Pine Forest are not cleared of snow and they are closed for safety. In December of 2023 we visited the area again and pessimistically we checked if the forest was accessible. It was! We were excited as we also had our daughter Kate with us this time, my wife’s brother Bob and two little dogs. It was going to be another inspiring trip, with a little more unsuspected adventure, all on Christmas Day.

A winding road (CA-168) leads from the US-395 in Big Pine up into the mountains till you take the turnoff for the forest. This road becomes unpaved but is still very drivable. Now and then beautiful views of the Owens Valley opened up to our left. 

The winding road with increasing amount of snow in Bristlecone Pine Forest

 

We were ascending further and further until the first blobs of snow appeared on the side of the road. The amount of snow on the ground increased steadily until it was covering everything, including the road. It wasn’t too thick though and I was able to stay in previously created tire tracks.

We stopped at the Sierra View Overlook view point which provided magnificent views over Owens Valley and the snow covered slopes of the Eastern Sierra Nevada on the other side of the valley. 

View of Owens Valley with Bishop and Eastern Sierra slopes

 

Back on the road, the amount of snow kept increasing. We were in a Toyota RAV4, which has 4-wheel drive and not all-too-bad clearance, although I wouldn’t say that it has the properties of say a Nissan XTerra. And we did bring snow chains. 

We were getting closer to the Visitor Center at Methuselah Grove but now the snow was getting much higher with some tracks that only provided pretty much one lane. A much more seriously looking all wheel drive was parked on the other side of the road and the driver of that car had a look on his face that said “What are you doing here?”.

From here the road went downhill and in the distance we could see the Visitor Center. There were no other cars and the tracks in the deep snow were telling us that maybe one or two cars had been here before us. The parking lot was unrecognizable and I just parked the car where I thought there was parking. In deep snow that is. My brother-in-law said to keep the wheels straight so if we had to we could put on the snow chains later.

Our RAV4 parked in the snow

 

It was windy and freezing and nobody else was around. We walked around a bit into Methuselah Grove and back to the car. Around us, the Bristlecone Pines were very recognizable.

A Bristlecone Pine in the snow in Methuselah Grove

 

While my family went on another trail, I took out Rolf - my DJI Mavic 3 drone that my wife refuses to refer to as Rolf - and cleared a spot from snow on a picnic table for a takeoff point. I captured some photos and videos of some of the trees and acquired wide angle views of the area, plus I also took a “spherical” photo from above the visitor center, which provides the ultimate wide-angle view of the whole area.

The view towards Death Valley 

 

When my family came back my wife and daughter got in the car and Bob was going to direct me getting out of there. The car hardly moved. We were stuck in the snow. I was able to drive in reverse a little bit and Bob was going to help push the car. That worked. I was able to drive perhaps 200 feet until I got stuck again. The snow was still deep here with hardly any tracks in it. He pushed again and I drove till the tracks in the snow became more substantial. He stepped in the car and we were on our way.

The access road to the bristlecone pine forest visitor center covered in snow

 

It’s quite the experience driving on a snow-covered road with a deep canyon to your right.

The windy road with beautiful views

The view from our car driving back from the bristlecone pine forest

 

When we were approaching a left-leaning curve that I couldn’t see beyond I said “I hope we don’t encounter another car here”. And of course, a Tesla came around the corner. A Tesla! One of those low ones! I know most are all wheel drive but the clearance on this one is virtually non-existent. Anyway, we passed each other no problem while we gave it a look that said “What are you doing here?”.

The Tesla approaching us on a narrow snow covered road

 

Kate was in the front passenger seat and took a selfie of all of us.

The selfie

 

We stopped again at the Sierra View Overlook we visited earlier and walked a little further out over a narrow ridge that had some benches with more awesome views.

Another view of Bishop in owens valley from the Sierra View Overlook

Our group taking in the views from the Sierra View Overlook

 

This day was one of the most adventurous Christmas Days we had experienced. I had a hard time writing a final paragraph for this blog, so I asked Google Bard to write the concluding paragraph in Shakespeare style. This is what it came up with: 

“From Bristlecone's gnarled embrace we bid adieu, where time itself doth slumber 'neath the boughs. Our steeds of iron, champing 'gainst the breeze, did cleave a path through valleys carved by fire. Volcanic monoliths, like titans slumbering, cast monstrous shadows o'er the sun-baked earth. And so, with each turn of wheel, the vista changed, a Shakespearean drama writ in rock and sky. Until, at journey's end, did Bishop rise, a haven nestled 'gainst the mountains bold, where weary travelers, like ourselves, might find solace and stories yet untold.”

 

Read about our visit to Hot Creek here