And...on the day after our walk in the ancient Bristlecone pine forest, Chris (birthday boy), Cindi, and I climbed White Mountain Peak. After a 25 mile dirt road drive with views of the Easter n Sierra to the west and beautiful alpine terrain, we bedded down at the trailhead. We were hiking by 6:30 AM the next morning, having diapered our cars in heavy duty tarps to keep marmots at bay. 2.5 miles in we encounted a reasearch station with a flock of sheep (Loma Linda University is doing hypoxia experiments on them. Sucks to be a sheep). Then past a small observatory with a bronze roof (color coordinated with the rock well) and on up. The steep summit push to 14,250' gave us our "Everest" experience without having to go to Nepal. On the way home we had a close up encounter with a flock of bighorn sheep (rare sight!) and a few marmots. Highly recommended adventure!
