Note: If you missed part 1 you can read it here: https://occidentalist.org/wandering-ca-395-2018-part-1/
After a day of checking out Bodie and Mono Lake we thought we’d spend the day hiking somewhere in the Sierras. We headed south a bit and thought maybe a trail in the Mammoth area would get us up in the mountains for some good views. As we pulled though Mammoth Lakes we started to notice that there were quite a few people about, and as we reached the main lodge area the parking lot was starting to look full. Here it was well more than a week before Thanksgiving, and Mammoth Mountain was in full operation spraying ice on the mountain for people to ski on. I was caught off guard with such a crowd flocking to ski on manufactured ice in the fall.
It always baffles me that people are so excited to ski when there isn’t any snow, but in the spring, when the snow is at its deepest and the weather is at its best, the crowds move on to other endeavors.
Due to the resort being open the road was blocked and we were thwarted from our original plan. We quickly broke out the maps and picked out another trail with a few lakes as a destination. Before too long we were on the trail to Emerald Lake.
It was nice to be up in the mountains on such a beautiful crisp fall day. We continued on to Skeleton Lake which turned out to be a beautiful lake in a high mountain setting. A thin layer of ice had formed on the lake giving it a bit of a glassy appearance.
Views were spectacular and left me wanting to get deeper in the Sierra. But that will have to be another day. We returned to the trailhead and ran across a pretty interesting truck camper from Alaska.
Then it was on to Benton Hot Springs which we would be using as a base camp for a couple nights.
Benton is a pretty unique place, with each camp having its own private hot tub. After a couple chilly nights a hot soak felt pretty good. If you are in the area I highly recommend it. Call ahead for a reservation so you aren’t disappointed.
We had a pretty good view of the White Mountains from camp and sat back and watched the last bit of sunlight touch Montgomery Peak.
White Mountains
The next morning it was on to the upper reaches of the White Mountains to find the bristlecone pines. Bristlecone live to be the oldest trees in the world. For a forester, a day spent exploring mountains with 4000 year old trees is a pretty good day.
Since the main access road was pretty far south we decided to take a “shorter” route up Silver Canyon. The road itself ended up being quite an adventure, climbing up from about 4000 feet and topping off at over 10,000 in pretty short order.
After the climb it wasn’t too long before we were in the bristlecones. The older dead wood weathers in a very interesting way. These trees are survivors way up here to be sure. From what I remember from way back in the early days of dendrology many of these trees finally succumb to erosion over thousands of years. The soil layer that their roots establish in eventually erodes or slides away down the mountain and they eventually topple over. The usual agents (fire, insects, disease and competition) aren’t as much as of a factor in the trees life as geological movement and changing climatic patterns over thousands of years.
We eventually made our way up to the Patriarch Grove where we wandered in awe.
After our visit to the Patriarch Grove we headed back down hill towards the Schulman Grove.
The Schulman Grove was where the first living organism over 4000 years was dated and discovered. A short hike leads to the area oldest known bristlecones. We only had time for a short hike, as the sun was racing across the sky. I guess we’ll have to come back for some exploring in the future. The day in the bristlecones was amazing but much too short.
We headed back to Benton for another soak (or two).
Alabama Hills
After a final morning soak we packed up and continued south down 395. Our destination was not far, we headed to the Alabama Hills for our last day of wandering CA 395.
The Hills were another spot I’ve wanted to visit for a while and they provided a convenient stopover for points south. We took a few nice, if short, hikes marveling at both the hills themselves as well as the back drop of the Sierras including Mt. Whitney.
There seemed to be an occupied camp behind every rock, but after a little looking around we found a spot to call home for the night and set back to watch the sunset.
Just like that, another day on the road had passed. Tomorrow it would be time to leave 395 and move on to the next phase of the adventure, Joshua Tree.
