Detour

Road Trip ~ eastern Sierras ~ heading south on 395

Tahoe to Mono Lake to Mammoth Mts.  At this point in our trip, we are ready to leave the snow behind and embrace new scenery.  So with ski gear packed securely at the bottom of our luggage pile, we turned our car south and drove toward progressively greener pastures on our way to our next destination, Death Valley.

Along the way, we took an unexpected detour to see 4,000 year-old trees.  Yep, Bristlecone Pines.  Excited to see these ancient lifeforms, we were undeterred when a sign warned us that the road to the top was closed due to snow.  We took a sharp left turn, pointed our 4-wheel drive toward the mountains and headed on up.

 

Oops.  Even if we wanted to attempt the snow pack, the rangers outsmarted us.  So we turned our car around, got out the picnic basket and enjoyed a world-class view.  It was breathtaking.  From a 9,000 foot vantage point, we looked over to the 10,000-11,000 foot snow covered Sierras and down to the green valley far below.  And behind us, we even got a glimpse of a "dead" sand-filled lake on the Nevada side of the range. Despite missing the ancient trees, the detour was magic and did not disappoint.

http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/bristlecone_pine.htm