Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest: Solitude & Strength

“I usually find myself hiking in a place that not a lot of people go hiking, just trying to find some solitude. I like being out in the middle of nowhere. Not always, but it’s a good place to go to just reflect and think, and it’s something I really enjoy.”  Rami Malek

The Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest is a glorious spot: rugged, isolated, pristine. 

The drive up into the White Mountains rises to almost 11,000 feet, following many twists and turns.  With each mile, a bit more of my cares and worries always slip away. The stark beauty makes it seem as if I am nearing the top of the world, especially since the vistas let me see for miles.

There are other visitors to this impressive locale—even rangers and a visitor center—but also beautiful natural details.   But I rarely see anyone, and—if I do—it is easy to get away from them to be alone.  That solitude is welcoming, enticing. It is the solitude coupled with the harsh beauty and the strength of the trees that make the forest a place to think, dream, reflect.  It is impossible not to notice the miracles of nature all around and to not recognize how puny and insignificant any personal problems and worries really are.

It is the wondrous trees themselves, however, that offer a great lesson on life.  They are some of the oldest living things on the planet, most at least 3,000 years old.  Some are more than 4,000 years old and others even more than 5,000 years.  Each tree survives in these harsh conditions. They stand twisted and gnarled, but also strong, persistent, steadfast, tenacious, determined.  Such marvelous traits would help us all stay sound and grounded in our crazy modern world.

We can learn a lot from the ancient bristlecone pine.

“Tenacity is essential for accomplishment in anything you do.  Without drive, determination and a strong-willed attitude, one’s level of success at many endeavors will be limited in scope.”  Gabriella Marigold Lindsay

“Strength and growth come only through continuous effort and struggle.”  Napoleon Hill

SOME QUOTES ON SOLITUDE, STRENGTH & TENACITY

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“Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness.”  Desmond Tutu

“Loneliness expresses the pain of being alone and solitude expresses the glory of being alone.”  Paul Tillich

“Identify the barriers in your life, and develop discipline, courage and strength to permanently move beyond them, and keep moving forward.”  Germany Kent

“Solitude is creativity’s best friend, and solitude is refreshment for our souls.”  Naomi Judd

“It is not the opposition a man faces that determines his rise or fall in life but his tenacity to dare to soar and to pursue to higher heights.”  Ernest Agyemang Yeboah

“In solitude the mind gains strength and learns to lean upon itself.”  Laurence Sterne

“I don’t necessarily sit around inviting life to knock me down, but when it does I don’t wait around for an invitation to stand back up either.”  Craig D. Lounsbrough

“Solitude is independence.”  Hermann Hesse

“You need to believe in yourself and what you do.  Be tenacious and genuine.”  Christian Louboutin

“The monotony and solitude of a quiet life stimulates the creative mind.”  Albert Einstein

“When faced with a challenge, your size is not as important as having a strong and tenacious spirit.”  Melchor Lim

“Solitude has its own very strange beauty to it.”  Liv Tyler

“Tenacious people don’t rely on luck, fate, or destiny for their success.  And when conditions become difficult, they keep working.”  John C. Maxwell

“I had three chairs in my house; one for solitude, two for friendship, three for society.”  Henry David Thoreau

“Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence.”  Calvin Coolidge

“We need society, and we need solitude also, as we need summer and winter, day and night, exercise and rest.”  Philip Gilbert Hamerton

“Strength does not come from winning.  Your struggles develop your strengths.  When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength.”  Arnold Schwarzenegger

“It is only in solitude that I ever find my own core.”  Anne Morrow Lindbergh

“The world breaks everyone, and afterward, some are stronger at the broken places.”  Ernest Hemingway

 “All the adversity I’ve had in my life, all my troubles and obstacles, have strengthened me. . . . You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you.”  Walt Disney

“Highest of heights, I climb this mountain and feel one with the rock and grit and solitude echoing back at me.”  Bradley Chicho

“Difficulties are meant to rouse, not discourage.  The human spirit is to grow strong by conflict.”  William Ellery Channing

“Solitude sharpens awareness of small pleasures otherwise lost.”  Kevin Patterson

 “What a lovely surprise to finally discover how unlonely being alone can be.”  Ellen Burstyn

“I love people. I love my family, my children. . . but inside myself is a place where I live all alone and that’s where you renew your springs that never dry up.”  Pearl S. Buck

 

Scenic U.S. Highway 395: A Few Stops (part 2)

The first time I visited Bishop and Mono Lake along U.S. Highway 395 was years ago with my dad.  We went out to find fall colors in California, an easier task than many assume.  At that time, we planned to visit other places along Highway 395 at some point in time.  That, however, never happened.  Dad died in February 2014.  This year was the first Father’s Day without him.  To honor the day, I decided to visit some places along Highway 395 that I knew he would have loved. It was a great weekend full of nature, reflection, memories and visits to two new places along Highway 395.

MOUNT WHITNEY

Earlier this year I visited Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks.  These glorious parks are nestled against the western side of the Sierra Nevada.  The lofty peaks of that mountain range can be seen in the distance as one drives through the parks. However, Mount Whitney is the highest peak of the Sierra Nevada; actually, at 14,505 feet, Mount Whitney is the highest peak in the contiguous United States.*  Still, it is not visible from western views of the mountain range.  Although I knew I would not hike to the top, I wanted to see this mountain!

First Glimpse

Fortunately, Highway 395 runs along the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada as the road travels through the Owens Valley, offering great views of the entire range.  Then, in Lone Pine, California, an access road runs 13 miles west into the mountains, heading to the trail head that leads to the summit, which rises about 2 miles in elevation high above Lone Pine.  En route, the partially paved road runs through the Alabama Hills, passes several camp grounds, and then ascends to the Mount Whitney Portal at an elevation of 8,360 feet.  The 22-mile-round-trip hike to the top of Mount Whitney starts at the Portal.

Some Views in Lone Pine, California

Turn Left on the Yellow Road

The Alabama Hills, where many westerns and other movies have been filmed, including classics such as Hopalong Cassidy and the Lone Ranger as well as scenes in films including Gladiator, Star Trek Generations, and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.

Various Views of Mount Whitney

*Mount Whitney’s Height:  The elevation of any mountain is really an estimate, an educated guess based on the measurements that can be taken at the time.  One plague on the summit reads 14,494 feet while another reads 14,496.811 feet.  By 1988, improved technologies gave the newest estimate to be 14,505 feet.

 ANCIENT BRISTLECONE PINE FOREST

Forty-two miles north of Lone Pine and fifteen miles south of Bishop along Highway 395 is Big Pine, California.  It sits in the Owens Valley between the Sierra Nevada and the White Mountains at an elevation of 3.989 feet.  The town is not big; the 2010 census recorded its population as 1,756.  The tribal headquarters for the Big Pine Band of Owens Valley Paiute Shoshone Indians operates out of Big Pine.  But I traveled to this locale for its access to the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest in the Inyo National Forest, just 13 miles east via Highway 168.

A few years ago, I did not even know that the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest existed. But now I am impressed with the strength, tenacity, and rugged gnarled and twisted beauty of these trees.

 

The Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest sits on the eastern face of the White Mountains at an elevation between approximately 9,800 to 11,200 feet.  The Forest’s Patriarch, Schulman and Methuselah Groves are home to the world’s oldest living non-clonal organisms.**  The Methuselah is 4,750 years old, and the Patriarch—discovered and dated in 2103—is 5.064 years old.  Imagine that: The Patriarch germinated in 3051 B.C.  Incredible!  Visitors can hike various trails through the groves to get close to the Bristlecone Pines. However, the oldest trees are not marked with signs to protect them from vandals.  In 2008, an arsonist set fire to the Visitor Center, destroying the building, all the exhibits and several trees.  Very sad.

Highway 168 runs east from Highway 395 up into the White Mountains.  It is a great twisty curvy road that has lots of big dips, like you are on a roller coaster.  I loved it.  The canyon walls and wildflowers were gorgeous too.  But the “dip in the road” was the most fun, making me think of an old B.C. cartoon from John Hart.

Some Views Along Route 168 Heading Up & Down White Mountain

Once in the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest, the road eventually shifts from paved to gravel and offers some impressive sweeping vistas as well as closer views of the trees themselves.

At the Visitor Center

 

**Oldest Living Organisms:  A list of the oldest living things includes items such as a half-million-year-old actinobacteria, 5500-year-old moss, and 100,000-year-old sea grass.  In 2014, Rachel Sussman published an intriguing book that captures her research on this topic:  The World’s Oldest Living Things.

I DON’T KNOW ABOUT YOU, BUT MY TURNING 60 NEXT YEAR DOES NOT SEEM SO BAD, GIVEN HOW OLD SOME THINGS ARE. 

WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD!