White Mountains - Bristlecone Pines & Reed Mountain

On October 13-14, 1962 myself, Bob Brooks, 2 Corpsmen and others in a Sierra Club group went to the White Mountains to see Bristlecone Pines and climb Reed Mountain (local name).

We drove to the Schulman Grove where there is now a Visitor Center to see the Bristlecone Pines. First we climbed 10,453' Reed Mountain (local name) on an easy two mile round trip.

We then hiked to the Methuselah Grove, a two mile round trip, to see the Bristlecone Pines. NOTE: Since our visit the Methuselah Grove trail has been extended and there is now a seasonal Visitor Center that wasn't there when we visited.

The Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest is a protected area high in the White Mountains in Inyo County in eastern California. The Great Basin bristlecone pine (Pinus longaeva) trees grow between 9,800 and 11,000 feet above sea level, in xeric alpine conditions, protected within the Inyo National Forest. Limber pine (Pinus flexilis) also grow in the forest.

The Methuselah Grove in the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest is the location of the "Methuselah", a Great Basin bristlecone pine that is 4,851 years old. It is considered to be the world's oldest known and confirmed living non-clonal organism. It was temporarily superseded by the discovery in 2013 of another bristlecone pine in the same area with an age of 5,069 years (germination in 3051 BC), however in May 2017, Dr. Peter Brown removed this tree from his database of old trees because the core sample cannot be found. "Methuselah" is not marked in the forest, to ensure added protection from vandals.

The forest is east of the Owens Valley, high on the eastern face of the White Mountains in the upper Fish Lake-Soda Spring Watershed, above the northernmost reach of the Mojave Desert into Great Basin ecotone. The forest's mountain habitat is in the Central Basin and Range ecoregion (EPA) and Taiga and Boreal forest ecoregion (WWF). The Patriarch Grove is the source of Cottonwood Creek, a designated Wild and Scenic River.

The Methuselah Grove trail starts from the visitor center at 9,846 feet and makes a 4.5-mile loop that includes the side valley of the Methuselah Grove where the oldest tree lives, a high section looking out eastward over Nevada's basin-and-range region, and side trails to old mining sites. Numbered natural-history markers are explained by a booklet.

The Schulman and Patriarch groves are located about 30 miles from Bishop, California. The Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest is generally open from mid-May through the end of November, weather permitting.
Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest sign - White Mountains - Oct 1962
Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest sign - White Mountains - Oct 1962
Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest sign - White Mountains - Oct 1962
Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest sign - White Mountains - Oct 1962

Sierra from Mexican Mine-Schulman Grove - White Mountains - Oct 1962
Sierra from Mexican Mine-Schulman Grove - White Mountains - Oct 1962
Foxtail needle appearance - White Mountains - Oct 1962
Foxtail needle appearance - White Mountains - Oct 1962

Young Bristlecone Pine cone - White Mountains - Oct 1962
Young Bristlecone Pine cone - White Mountains - Oct 1962
Year old Bristlecone Pine cone - White Mountains - Oct 1962
Year old Bristlecone Pine cone - White Mountains - Oct 1962

Mature Bristlecone Pine cone - White Mountains - Oct 1962
Mature Bristlecone Pine cone - White Mountains - Oct 1962

Wind carved Bristecone Pine - White Mountains - Oct 1962
Wind carved Bristecone Pine - White Mountains - Oct 1962
Sierra and a Bristlecone Pine - White Mountains - Oct 1962
Sierra and a Bristlecone Pine - White Mountains - Oct 1962

Pine Alpha Bristlecone Pine, over 4000 years old - White Mountains - Oct 1962
Pine Alpha Bristlecone Pine, over 4000 years old - White Mountains - Oct 1962
Bristlecone Pine - White Mountains - Oct 1962
Bristlecone Pine - White Mountains - Oct 1962

Bristlecone Pine on Methuselah Trail - White Mountains - Oct 1962
Bristlecone Pine on Methuselah Trail - White Mountains - Oct 1962
Twisted Bristlecone Pine - White Mountains - Oct 1962
Twisted Bristlecone Pine - White Mountains - Oct 1962

Thumb Tack at Birth of Christ on Bristlecone Pine 1000BC to 650AD - White Mountains - Oct 1962
Thumb Tack at Birth of Christ on Bristlecone Pine 1000BC to 650AD
White Mountains - Oct 1962

After touring the Methuselah Grove we drove down to Big Pine to get out of a cold wind. Saw a fire in the Big Pine Creek drainage. From Big Pine we drove to Death Valley and slept in the wind.

In the morning we made a quick tour of part of Death Valley and then drove home.

More Bristlecone Trees in Great Basin National Park that I visited in 1997.


In 1965, as part of a Sierra Club trip to the Sierra that was aborted due to the weather, I visited the Patriarch Grove in the White Mountains. The Patriarch Grove is home to the world's largest Bristlecone Pine, the Patriarch Tree. Its splendid remoteness and moonscape appearance gives the Patriarch Grove a surreal atmosphere

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Patriarch Tree - White Mountains - Jul 1965
Patriarch Tree - White Mountains - Jul 1965
Patriarch Tree - White Mountains - Jul 1965
Patriarch Tree - White Mountains - Jul 1965