April 7, 2022
Mammoth Lakes, White Mountains and the Bristlecone Forest
“Effectiveness is the measure of Truth”. This was the trip that Jeffrey shared this saying with me.
It was late in October, 2018. Jeffrey was planning a trip to the Mainland and we had been planning a road trip. I knew that I wanted to go up towards Mammoth Lakes and possibly on farther towards Reno. It was Jeffrey that suggested that we stop at the Bristlecone Forest were the oldest living things on Earth lived and thrived!
I had passed by Lone Pine, California many times and had seen the sign that pointed to Bristlecone Forest. The first time was in 1979 after leaving Kauai to work in Mammoth Lakes. Highway 395 was a beautiful but desolate. At the time I wondered what a Bristlecone Forest was all about but there were so many other new experiences that the question got filed away for another day. It was Jeffrey and his curiosity that motivated us to visit this wondrous, beautiful, special place. He explained back then that Bristlecone Pines were the OLDEST living things and in The Grove of the Ancients the oldest living thing had been there for about 4500 years. He was intrigued by this and it was only a slight detour to get there on the way to Mammoth.
We made the 4 ½ hour drive to Lone Pine and spotted the Visitors Center sign right away. By now it was November 1st and the wind had a chill to it as is blew down the Owens Valley from the North. Mount Whitney the highest peak in the USA is in sight from the Visitor’s center.
The Visitors Center was very informative and we were able to check out the entire Owens Valley area and were able to plan some places to stay and hike. It was only our first day and already we were having fun! The bulletin boards outside the entrance posted the current weather and the forecast for the next few days. We decided that we could hide from the wind that was up from the north up in the valley behind Bishop. There was a nice hike that started at Lake Sabrina so that became our plan.
We arrived at Lake Sabrina at 3pm. The 6 mile round trip hike to Blue Lake was our plan for the afternoon. The weather up there in the valley was clear, calm and warm with blue skies. I remember that it was a tough hike for me. Not for Jeffrey. For him it seemed effortless. As usual Jeffrey set a steady pace and I did my best to keep up. There were still a few patches of snow left over from last winter in the shady spots.
Blue Lake was pristine! I walked to the edge and saw my first Golden Trout ever. We were completely alone there that afternoon. We both took many photos and I used my Gopro to take 360 degree video of the lake. By the time we were just about back to the camper my legs were fading. With the camper in sight they started to cramp. I was glad that with a short rest I was able to walk across the dam wall to the Lake’s parking lot.
We spent the night in an all but abandoned campground down the valley above Bishop which would have been full in the Spring and Summer. The sky was full of stars that clear Autumn night. We slept deeply hoping that the bears were doing the same!
The next morning we spotted bear tracks in one of the gravel campsites we had not noticed yesterday.
The question was “ where to now”? We went down the valley and got back on the Highway and turned north. I wanted to show Jeffrey the Mammoth Lakes resort Lodge where I used to work in the early 80’s. The Lodge with its big veranda was open so we took a look around the lobby and headed up the stairs to the bar and restaurant –The Altitude 9000. I pointed out the big windows that looked up at the ski runs. That brought back many memories of Sundays serving countless bloody marys and the hundreds of days skiing each season I worked there. I also said that through those windows I had seen the largest meteor of my life streaking by as I was walking towards the windows from the restaurant.
Next stop was the Minaret Lookout that looked towards the back entrance to Yosemite.
I wanted to find a nice place to spend the night, as least as nice as the one we had the previous night. Jeffrey said he wanted to find the hot springs he had read about on the websites he had found. I remembered soaking in a few of them 35 years ago but had no idea how to find them.
At the Mammoth Lakes visitors Center we looked around and asked the ranger about the hot springs. Her reply was “ we aren’t supposed to talk about them” she said. Her suggestion was to go acrossnto Benton which was over an hour away or back the way we came to Keough Hot Springs which was way before Bishop.
I called a friend to get his friend Nat’s number. Nat was the head of Ski Patrol for the Mammoth Ski resort. He was super nice and told us how to get there. “ Go to Crowley Lake and turn at the Green Church. I knew exactly where he described. “ Turn right before you get to the Dump road” were his directions. He even offered his driveway but we had our minds set on a soak. Sure enough it was easy and there were a few people and only two cars parked in the area by the tub. We had heard it was bad form to park right by the pool but it was the only spot big enough for our camper. We asked one of the campers that looked like he had been there for awhile if it was okay to park there. “Why not?” was his reply. So I guess it was meant to be.
The warm mineral water in our private hot pool was completely invigorating. It soothed our bodies and lifted our spirits. I took so many video of our heads and toes bobbing above the steaming water with the Sierra Nevada Mountains in the distance. This was another classic Jeffrey and Derrick good luck story! Taking another dip after dinner, the, warm water kept Jeffrey warm enough for him to comfortably tip toe the few feet from the hot tub to the camper.
The low setting sun shining on the slopes of the Sierra’s was the backdrop to our stay at the Whitmore Hot Tubs. No bears to worry about there! We planned to head back to Lone Pine and turn towards Death Valley to get to the White Mountains and the Bristlecone Forest tomorrow.
The early morning sun lit up the Sierras like a colorized Ansel Adams landscape. It was quiet, crisp, clear and beautiful. No buildings or people as far as the eye could see.
We re-traced our drive to Lone Pine and the scenic Alabama Hills. The drive up the narrow road to the Visitor Center as other worldly. The White Mountains lie opposite the Sierra Nevada mountains as they both parallel each other to make the Owens Valley. We stopped and a look out off of the steep road towards the visitors Center. The beautiful vistas looking towards the Sierras was the view we saw. There was a bronze placard and photo that showed the name and profile of each peak in front of us. It was late afternoon when we arrived at the visitor’s center. The sign posted said it was closed for the season. There were a fair amount of people there to walk and hike and read about the oldest living things.
I took a beautiful time lapse of the blue skies and the clouds streaming from Death Valley towards the West. Slowly every car left the lot. We were left alone as the sun was setting. I thought this was an okay place to park for the night. I knew no one was going to tell us to move. As it got dark it became so quiet and the moonless night was pitch black ink dark! We sensed a deep somber vibe…. We were surrounded by rare trees that were mostly over 3000 and some over 4000 years old. I remember getting out of the camper in the darkness to use the Visitor’s center restroom just a few hundred feet away. I walked less than one quarter of the way there when the deep quiet and darkness stopped me. Short of freaking out I turned and used a bush instead. I’ll never forget that moment!
It was a clear, cloudless blue sky morning that greeted us the next day. We read all of the placards at the Center. We read that the Bristlecone Pines were slow growing and were able to survive in the rocky, alkaline, dolomite soil. Dolomite is a white, chalky mineral. Scientists had been studying the trees that only grew in one other place in California and one place in Colorado, However the oldest tree – The Methuzulah Tree – was somewhere in the Grove of the Ancients which grew along the 4 mile loop trail that started and ended at the visitors Center.
The Methuzelah Tree was determined to be over 4500 years old, The oldest living thing on the earth. It had started growing there just as Neanderthal man walked the earth in Africa, before Homo Sapiens had appeared.
After breakfast we loaded our water and cameras for our hike. I only needed a light coat or vest but Jeffrey had his many layers on including his signature hooded red parka.
This photo of Jeffrey in the foreground of a “young” Bristlecone Pine shows the white, chalky Dolomite earth. Very little else could grow there. They also grow on the steep slopes where their roots secure them well. We read that one of the ways the trees die is because the soil on the slope give way and they fall over. This young one we estimated to be only about 1500 years, young and healthy like us!
Though the hike is only 4 miles it took many hours. We arrived back at the camper way after lunch. I remember only two other vehicles in the parking lot. The beautiful views, the educational signs and the big forests of the ancient Bristlecone Pines made us stop at ever turn. The views into Death Valley and adjoining valleys - Deep Valley were also spectacular. We took photos of so many things on that hike. It had become another memorable day for two lucky guys!
As I write this here and now, composing a way to conclude this story I remember no details of the rest of the road trip. Perhaps it was uneventful or because time has a way of obscuring the clarity of the past. More likely it is a combination of both reasons. What I do remember of those and almost all of the miles driven with Jeffrey was that they flowed. They were cheerful and easy. We could talk about anything or nothing at all. We had a way of communicating that was different and on more levels than I have had with any other person. To say that Jeffrey and I were close friends paints a picture that is incomplete and unfinished. I always thought that the picture of our friendship would be completed many years in the future. However, life has a way of interfering with the plans we make. Wherever you are Jeffrey, I hope you are in peace, in the light and in the LOVE.
Derrick Ho
May 24, 2022
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