White Mountain Rd - Bristlecone Forest
White Mountain Rd is the second highest paved road in California, climbing from 7,200 feet to over 10,000 ft in just 12 miles. While Yosemite's Tioga Pass gets close, it never quite breaks that 10,000-foot ceiling. Setting out from Highway 168 east of Big Pine, CA, the tarmac quickly wiggles into a steep canyon full of whoops, serving up an addictive sequence of twists. White Mountain Rd sets north from Highway 168 & snakes up the barren mountain, and is utterly enticing spurring you ever onward.
At the eight-mile mark, pull off at the Sierra View Overlook (9,300 feet) for an unobstructed, jaw-dropping panoramic view across the Owens Valley to the jagged, snow-capped peaks of the Sierra Nevada. If your chest feels tight, blame the thin air—you are fast approaching a 10,000-foot summit where oxygen levels drop drastically. Because this range sits completely in the rain shadow of the Sierras, it receives only a fraction of the Sierra snowpack, creating an arid, high-desert environment where the ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest thrives.
The pavement ultimately ends ten miles in at the Schulman Grove Visitor Center. Ride here to visit the oldest living trees on earth. How old? 4-5000 yrs old and thriving atop the White Mountains. (Rock Creek Rd in the Eastern Sierra, west of U.S. 395 near Tom's Place is considered the highest exceeding 10,300 ft.)
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