We hiked up the dunes in the morning before we got on the road. They were higher and sand hiking was a little harder than I thought, but the view and then the sheer joy of free falling back down the dunes from the top made it all worth it. From the top of the dunes you were really able to get a perspective of the size. The people on adjacent dunes and down below looked like small ants, mostly noticeable because of movement rather than any discernible features.
We definitely need to get gas at this point so we headed towards the town of Big Pine to make that happen. With our hike in the morning and a longer than anticipated drive into Big Pine because of some steep climbs it was the middle of the afternoon by the time gas was acquired and a couple more food provisions. The Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest was less than an hour from Big Pine so we decided to head there. Grandview campground is the closest you can get to the Bristlecones so we headed there and then ended up winding our way back on the 4×4 road to the Grandview Mine where we found the perfect spot surrounded by trees with substantial rock fire ring already set up complete with a fallen tree for seating. The view of the snow covered Eastern Sierra from here was gorgeous and once again the moon was out and full making the setting feel magical.
In the morning we drove and hiked a bit to go see the mine. The 4×4 roads back there seem to so on forever. However at some point, the roads did get a little more hairy than the Grolar Bear seemed to enjoy. I have to say I was more than a little nervous as we struggled to turn the Grolar Bear around at a steep angle. We got through though and headed to to see the oldest trees in the world. There was still scattered snow along the road side here even though it was relatively warm. We learned that they had just opened the road to the visitor center the day before, so we go really lucky on our timing. We let Malachi the Wonder Beast wander around and stretch his old man bones and eat his fill of snow before we headed out on the Methuselah Hike. It was 4.5 mile hike., Methuselah was thought to be the oldest tree in the world for many years, but another tree named Prometheus was found to be older at later date. However, poor old Prometheus was accidentally felled before its age was known. I only learned these details later because, although the road was open, the actual visitor center was closed. We were able to read a few information signs posted, but the ‘interpretative’ hike was very much left open to our own interpretation as we had no brochure that let us know what the numbered markers meant. I spent most of the hike asking various specimens if they were Methuselah. They did not feel inclined to answer. I figured they knew better. The 4.5 mile hike took us quite a ways around the hillsides were these lovely trees live. They are beautiful twisting specimens. They look to me like wizards that have chosen to take on another form after shedding the mantle of humanity and rising above its constraints. The snow was actually quite deep in spots and we wouldn’t even necessarily been able to follow the trail without the footprints of prior hikers leading us. The hike was beautiful and a lovely way for us to get off our butts as we’d been doing so much sitting while driving. It was late afternoon after the hike, so we headed back to our new favorite camp spot to stay for another night.
