We took the designated "scenic route" from the Salton Sea to get to 395 for our return trip up the eastern side of the Sierras. We have traveled 395 many times and 395 is scenic, but the connecting road was not. The only interesting part was getting lost and finding ourselves on Route 66, but by that point in the drive Calvin was not really in the mood for picture taking. We spent the night in Ridgecrest, which is a decent place to spend the night and then headed home the next morning. In keeping with our road trip theme we made a detour to the White Mountains to visit the Schulman Grove of Bristlecone pines. These pines are some of the oldest living organisms on earth. Some pines in the Schulman Grove have been dated 4,000 to 5,000 years old. They live in a specialized niche at 10,000 feet above sea level. So we went from 200 feet below sea level at the Salton Sea to 10, 000 feet above in the White Mountains. These trees grow very slowly, a pine cone takes two years to mature, and the wood is very dense so that when a tree dies it does not decompose but rather erodes like rock. We arrived at the Schulman Grove about the same time the thunderstorms did, but that translated into snow in the hills across the way.
And hail where we were. (That is hail in my hair)
The tree has both male and female pine cones. The little purple cones are the immature female cones, the large brown cone is a mature female and the small brown fuzz close to the branch is the male pine cone.
Everything about this tree is slow. The pine needles last 30-40 years. It makes you feel young standing in front of these ancient organisms.
The trees grow at high elevations in white dolomitic soil that is hostile to most other organisms.
It seems to be a good survival strategy. Even this tree that looks mostly dead has a small living branch which is probably older than we are.
On the way out we stopped at a view point to gaze at the Sierras across the valley. Just below the cloud layer you can see the glaciers of the southern Sierra.
or you can just see us having an adventure
Our side trip into the White Mountains took a little longer than we had planned so we were getting pretty tired of the road by the time we were stopped for road construction near Mono Lake. But we looked out the window and Calvin took a picture of another great vista. There is beauty everywhere if you take time to look.
Your blog activity has been excellent this fall. Fine work.
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