Looking N headed down the mountain.
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Neon sign on "Margies Merry-Go-Round" restaurant
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Visitor Center, The Ancient Bristlecome Pine Forest, 10,000 feet altitude
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These trees grow at high altitude, which is probably responsible for their strange way of growing.
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They will concentrate their sap on new growth, abandoning some of the tree to help the rest survive.
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They will concentrate their sap on new growth, abandoning some of the tree to help the rest survive.
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They grow very slowly, abojut 120 rings or years per inch. Dating shows many of these trees are over 4,000 years old.
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This is one of the trees scientists have cored to determine their age. The dryness and cold help preserve them.
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The needles are different from other pines. Not only in looks, but in age - they only drop needles ever 40 years or so!
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Some of the strange ways they grow.
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Some of the strange ways they grow.
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Some of the strange ways they grow.
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Some of the strange ways they grow.
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Some of the strange ways they grow.
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Some of the strange ways they grow.
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A rock picked up by a tree.
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This one had holes in the trunk where Karen sticks her hands through.
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Trunks tend to grow in spirals, looking like Narwhal whale tusks.
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Clark's Nutcracker
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A robin
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This is why they are called "Bristlecone Pines"
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At this altitude, it was just becoming spring, so wildflowers were blooming.
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The wildflowers were just watered - it snowed a couple of weeks before we arrived in late June.
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More wildflowers
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We saw a dozen different types of wildflowers
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We hiked up to the summit, from 10,000 to 10,500 feet.
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And then we rested.
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Southernmost glaciers in North America, near Big Pine. Through several miles of smoke from forest fires.
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Raymonds restaurant - a funky place in Bishop
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Next stop - The Devils Postpile, 7,600 feet up in the mountains above Mammoth Lakes, on the San Joaquin River.
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