Actually got started a little early this morning for no particular reason. Just woke up. Breakfast at the Country Kitchen was good again.
First thing on the agenda is Bristlecone Pine National Forest. Route 168 from Big Pine leads you to the entrance, and that road (168) is a hoot! Straight in places, but really hilly and curvy – it even narrows down to a single lane through a short (blind) part of the canyon. It’s a fun ride. ( S-H: Doug and Wendy remember that wonderful roller coaster drive we took soon after moving to Phoenix? This road was really fun, you’d have loved it.)
The elevation gain, from Big Pine at just under 4,000 ft to the forest, at just over 10,000 ft is constant. Once in the forest the drop-offs are severe – you don’t want to miss any turns. We stopped at an overlook and just marveled at the view – glaciers probably 40 miles away that still look pretty big – remnants of the recent ice age, they say. Mountains everywhere.
I built a small Inuksuit at the overlook. That is a lot harder than building a cairn! It’s all about stability, and looks. I thought I had a bountiful supply of stones of all shapes and sizes, but when I started looking for specifics, like legs, body, head – it was tough! It was fun, though, and a good learning experience.
We continued on to the visitor center. One good thing about being so remote, and this is really remote, is that there is not a lot of traffic. The road is good, and the driving is just a bit tedious. (S-H No mistakes allowed! He isn’t kidding about the drop offs.) At the visitor center the park ranger is very helpful, and we watched an 18 minute video explaining about these ancient trees. LIVING Bristlecone Pines have been ring dated to be 4700 years old! Dead Bristlecone Pines have been ring dated to be 12,000 years old! These are, I believe, the oldest living things on the planet known today – but I’m guessing. The Bristlecone Pine ring dating was used to recalibrate carbon dating! It’s a long story, and I won’t include it here. Try http://sonic.net/bristlecone/dendro.html if you are interested, or do a Google search on “bristlecone pine” and “ring dating”. We found it fascinating, and we learned a lot.
Sally-Heath hiked a trail with Woody to an old mining cabin, and I hiked a trail with Jake through a lot of very old growth Bristlecones. You’ll find a ton of our pictures on Flickr, and if you want more, there are a ton of collections/sets on Flickr – just search for Bristlecone. The hikes only took about 30 minutes, and most of that was taking pictures. It is a really interesting feeling, walking through a forest where some of the trees are over 4,000 years old!
Now back down that steep, twisty, turny, one lane road to town, and to the room to rest up. It’s tough being on vacation! After a small dose of MSNBC and a nap, we hit the road again, this time to the west, up Big Pine Canyon. Here is another slightly testy drive, up at a good grade, with quite a sharp drop off. We basically just drove up and back. It was quite scenic, especially the one pine tree – I have never seen a pine tree even close to the size of this one. It was more than twice the size of other pretty large pine trees in the area. Perhaps this is why they call the town “Big Pine”? I really don’t know, but it could be.
Finally, our last dinner in Big Pine, again at Rossi’s. This time we didn’t have an entrée – it’s just way too much food! And we still left there stuffed. The bread and salad were great, I thought, and I had to throw in a side dish of spaghetti with meat sauce, of course.
We’re in the room now, starting to pack and load for an early departure tomorrow. We have a long drive to Phoenix and home! What a trip this has been. Goodnight!
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