Bristlecone Forest

Both Chad and I have wanted to go to the bristlecone forest in the White Mountains in eastern California, so we planned to camp in the vicinity -- both to see the trees and to enjoy the high elevation views across the Owens Valley to the High Sierra.

There was a mostly empty campground with good views to enjoy on the way in.  It was pretty late in the day, so we set up camp and walked out to where we could see the valley before dinner.  Weather was rolling in, obscuring the high mountains, but it was still spectacular in the late afternoon light.

 

The next morning, we enjoyed the scenery on the approach road,

and made our way into the monument containing the four thousand year old trees.

I love how gnarled even the dead snags are; it is easy to imagine faces in them.

On our way out, the clouds started to clear and you could see the tips of some of the high peaks of the Sierra above the layer of fluffy white clouds.  The base of the valley here is about 4000 feet elevation; those peaks are around 14000 ft.  The terrain here is just beyond-belief-big.