Pining for Tahoe

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We decided we had one priority stop today as an antidote to that extravagant monument to excess that was Las Vegas. We would take the route into California that would enable us to visit the ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest on the way to Big Pine and Bishop. CA. This forest, which is well off the beaten path, especially coming from the Nevada side, is the home of the oldest trees in the world. Some date back about 4,000 years! The short growing season and tough soil lead to extremely dense resinous wood that resists insects and disease. As parts of the trees die off, energy is funneled into remaining sections. There is also little underbrush so fires are rare, also supporting these tremendously long lifetimes.

We drove through some astounding and really desolate country to reach the forest, which is at about 10,000 feet. It is amazing how many varieties of absolute desolation there are in this country - and how many we have seen on this trip going all the way back to our start on the "loneliest road". Nevada is the desolation state king, though, and second place isn't even close. We hiked the Discovery Trail to see some of the oldest specimens, then moved on. The drive into and out of the forest presented us with our first views of the eastern Sierras, where some snow still remains. It was good to know home was just on the other side.

Over a 3:30PM lunch in Big Pine, we decided that we'd push north on 395, and based on time and energy levels when we arrived in Bridgeport, either stay there (John likes the Silver Leaf Motel) or go all the way to our house in Tahoe City and finish the trip another day ahead of schedule (we had already picked one day up by not spending a night in Dallas). Along the way we passed Mono Lake. The lake has recovered and the water level is now so high that very little tufa formations are visible. The good news on the lake has rendered it much less of an attraction, but that seems a worthwhile tradeoff for the people and the lake who need the water more than the postcards.

John and I used this last stretch of driving time to compile our "top 10" highlight lists and to create and document other categories of memories of the roadtrip West. We'll publish these to officially close down the trip in a day or two.

We pulled into Tahoe City at 7:30, had a slow dinner at Rosie's, and were at our house by 9:15PM. It was good to be "home".

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