We got an early start this morning, we have a lot to do. We did a 4 1/2 mile hike in the Methuselah Grove of Bristlecone Pines, the grove containing a three named “Methuselah” that has been tree ring dated to 4,730+ years old and still living!! The exact tree named “Methuselah” is kept secret, for it’s protection.. However, many of the trees in this grove have been dated 4,000 years old and many well over 3,000 years old.
Along this hike, our Cannon Power Shot camera died again. It’s been a good camera, but it’s got a lot of miles on it (just look at the photos on our websites!). We still have the Minolta Dimage camera, but it’s bigger, bulkier and harder to take on hikes and backpacks.
After our hike, we headed north and stopped in Bishop, CA for water and a burrito shop recommended by some of the rangers in the Visitor’s Center. A real California Burrito!! Yumm! We split one (that was plenty) and took it to a nearby city park for a picnic table in the shade. We found a water faucet in the park and washed up a bit, I got to wash my hair, too. For a Saturday, there are not many people in this park. There must be something else going on somewhere else in town.
We stopped at a Forest Service Office and found out where this Energy Fair was going on. Driving thru Mammoth Mountain, CA reminds me of every other ski town I’ve seen. Quaint chalets (all over-priced, I’m sure) and several cute restaurants and shops, and of course, a brew-pub!
We found out where the event was happening and jumped on a gondola to take us to the top of the mountain. We got to where the vendors had set up, but found out that the work shops and lectures were happening at the bottom, where we picked up the gondola. We jumped on the next one we could only to find out that we missed the talk on passive home design. We were able to catch the talk on solar panels and solar hot water. We walked thru and talked with the vendors and got lots of info on all kinds of stuff.
We left the event and stopped at the Mammoth Mountain Brewery and Restaurant for an appetizer and… uhhh…. to research the local beer. We were pleased to find their IPA had a nice rye finish like our favorite Georgia ale, Terrapin’s Rye Pale Ale. We stopped at a local beer store and picked up a couple of six-packs of Mammoth’s IPA to take with us.
we checked out the info from the Forest Service office on free campgrounds and found the some with lots of standing water, too many bugs. We found several dirt roads crisscrossing the area and just camped off one of those for the night.