Wednesday, May 27th we awoke to another beautiful day. We broke camp and headed up Route 395 North and stopped just 2 miles north of Independence at Mt. Whitney Historic Fish Hatchery. It's building, constructed in 1916 is a beautiful and unique structure with hand-laid stone walls and hand-hewn timbers which houses an interpretive center focusing on wildlife of the Eastern Sierra. (It was closed on this day, unfortunately.) But just being able to walk the lovely grounds and around the serenely shaded pond and observe the large fish looking for a snack.

As we departed and headed the shortway down the dirt road back to Route 395 we came up behind a small herd of steer being driven to another pasture. We stayed back and slowly approached until the riders gave us the go-ahead to pass on. The next stop was at the junction of 395 and 168. An interpretive sign there encouraged us to head up the 27 miles into the Inyo National Forest to the Bristlecone Pines.

To the east of the Owens Valley stand the Inyo and White mountain ranges. The White Mtns are a typical Great Basin range characterized by a great rock mass of uninterrupted material that has been thrust upward to over 14,000 feet. White Mountain Peak is the thrid-highest peak in CA at 14,246 feet, shorter than Mt Whitney (that we slept in the shadows of) by a mere 248 feet. This range differs greatly from the Sierra range both in structure and climate. It's climate is arid desert and is seemingly an unlikely place to find the oldest living trees, the Bristlecone Pines.

The Bristlecones have survived for more than 40 centuries, exceeding the oldest giant seuoia by 1,500 years. Their great age has attracted world-wide interest. Tree ring chronologies, dating back to 6,700 B.C., are used in a variety of research programs, including the reconstruction of climatic history, measurement of past isotope concentrations in the atmosphere, and calibration of the radio-carbon time scale. These trees have been sculpted by wind, ice and extreme exposure to the elements. Their contorted shapes seem to defy nature. We walked a trail slowly and enjoyed this natural sculpture garden. As evening approached we descended a few miles to 8,200 feet elevation and made camp in Grandview CG and watched as the sky was painted by rays from the setting sun. Another peaceful night.

"Going Places With Smiling Faces!"