Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest
*This section of road is closed during winter and offers excellent cross-country skiing and snowshoeing when winter snowfall is deep.
The planet’s oldest living, non-clonal organisms live here. The oldest individual is almost 5,000 years old and still living. The Great Basin Bristlecone Pines grow and thrive high on a cold, windswept mountaintop above Bishop. Many individual trees that live in this forest are over 4,000 years old. The older ones are at least 1,000 years older than any other species on earth.
Did you know they have become known as “the trees that rewrote history”?
A visit to the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest in the White Mountains above Bishop is a wonderful experience for the whole family. The Schulman Grove Visitor Center is wheelchair accessible and many old trees can be seen from the deck and boardwalks. The trails are easy to moderate hiking and dogs are permitted when leashed. No bicycles are allowed on the trails. Visitors say they feel a sense of awe and peace when they walk the trails that weave through the groves of old and young bristlecones. The views out across the Owens Valley to the west and the Great Basin of Nevada to the east offer a perspective that cannot be seen anywhere else.
Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest Visitor Center, White Mountain Rd, Bishop, CA 93514
(760) 873-8405
