Recently took a trip up the eastern side of the Sierras along Highway 395. After our first night in Bishop our intent was hike into the Sierras near South Lake. In the morning we gathered some supplies and headed up to the trailhead.
It’s not uncommon to suffer a bit of altitude sickness, especially the first day, typically a headache. And sure enough, about 20 minutes in my little one was suffering the effects of the high elevation (10,000’). Checking our packs showed pain meds was an item we neglected to bring. We decide to sit for a while, have a snack and some water. Relief did not come.
Disappointed, we drove back to town. Dropped my little one off at the motel and walked over to the pharmacy.
When planning this trip, one destination on our to-do-list was to visit the Ancient Bristlecone forest. With the pain meds kicking in and a good chunk of the day left, we drove off across Owens Valley to the White Mountains - home of the old trees. On the way up, we drove off onto some dirt roads to enjoy the terrain and epic views looking back at the Sierras.
Eventually we meandered our way up to the visitor center. Only saw a few cars on the way, but the parking lot was mostly full. We explored the displays at the visitor center and roamed with others among the ancient forest.
Noticing a park ranger sitting at a picnic table, a few boxes in front of him, I asked if he was getting ready to give a presentation. As he starts opening boxes, he replies, “I was just waiting for somebody to ask.” Glad I did. My little one and I spent the next 20 minutes or so learning all about these crazy old trees. The conversation at times meandered like the road up the hill. At one point even discussing the old cemetery next to the Clown motel where we would be staying in a few days. A place he was eager to visit because he heard the grave markers included “cause of death” (they do!), not something still practiced.
We also discussed Big Basin State park near me. Before the fire, there was a section of a redwood tree, on it they marked significant dates along the tree rings. One near the center, the trees early years, the birth of Christ. But the Bristlecones double that at nearly 5000 years.
He handed us a chunk of wood, telling us this would be the oldest piece of organic material we would likely ever hold, 7000 years old. I sorta wanted to lick it, just to see what 7000 years tasted like, decided against it. You can’t tell me you’re not a little bit curious yourself.
This section of tree was cut from a dead tree found in the area. They knew the tree had lived a few thousand years but how they decoded when exactly it died is interesting. Pretty sure we all understand tree ring basics; a ring a year, wet years create thicker rings, dry years thinner. Taking cores from living trees can show its age and precipitation patterns. It is those patterns you can overlay with the dead tree’s rings. They determined the dead tree died about 400 years after the other tree sprouted. Because the trees are so old and this method so accurate, these old trees played a part in the recalibration of radiocarbon dating.
A couple of interesting factoids we learned:
The big healthy-looking trees do not live as long as the knurled trees that look ready to fall over. They live at about 11,000’ on the White Mountains. The soil is dolomite, very alkaline, with little top soil, likely blown away in the harsh winds. It’s not that the bristlecones necessarily wanted to live here, but the other plants looked at this, along with the long harsh winters, and said, “no thanks.” With nobody home, they just moved in.
Water for them is so scarce, the slope of the ground plays a role in how long they live. Flatter areas you will find taller, shorter-lived trees. On the steeper slopes you will find the twisted older trees.
Another item he mentioned; The big rush to California happened during the state’s 3 wettest decades in hundreds, if not thousands of years, I can’t remember which. I asked if that coincided with the Great Flood that flooded much of the central valley for months. He wasn’t sure. Checking later that night, it did coincide with the 1862 flood.
Made me wonder; maybe we always had unrealistic expectations for steady precipitation in the state. All our methods, treaties, compacts, were never based on long range forecasts or any real historical data. Add in climate change …we got a mess coming.