walking along
True Alpine
Springtime, (end of July), well above timberline on the eastern slope of the White Mountains. This is the higher up Sub-Nival division of the Alpine Zone, where mostly grasses, annual wildflowers and this perennial exist. I think it's named the White Mountain Buckwheat, which is in the Eriogonum family of 250 species.
Looking northeast to White Mountain Peak, two thousand feet above me the Peak sits at about 14,000ft, just a few dozen feet lower than Mt. Whitney, 30 miles to the west across the deep Owens Valley.
There is a still existing road to the top built by the navy in the 50's to study high altitude physiology and g-suit technology, as military jet aircraft were flying higher and higher. There is even a stone hut on the peak where study participants could spend the days required for an experiment. I believe the University of California now manages and maintain the resources along the way.
It was on this road that Schulman travelled, later in the 50's, on a quest for ancient trees to create a tree ring record of year to year climate, over the last few thousand years, since the end of the last Ice Age. Some snag remnants have been dated to more then 11,000 years ago and are part of that chronology.
True Alpine
Springtime, (end of July), well above timberline on the eastern slope of the White Mountains. This is the higher up Sub-Nival division of the Alpine Zone, where mostly grasses, annual wildflowers and this perennial exist. I think it's named the White Mountain Buckwheat, which is in the Eriogonum family of 250 species.
Looking northeast to White Mountain Peak, two thousand feet above me the Peak sits at about 14,000ft, just a few dozen feet lower than Mt. Whitney, 30 miles to the west across the deep Owens Valley.
There is a still existing road to the top built by the navy in the 50's to study high altitude physiology and g-suit technology, as military jet aircraft were flying higher and higher. There is even a stone hut on the peak where study participants could spend the days required for an experiment. I believe the University of California now manages and maintain the resources along the way.
It was on this road that Schulman travelled, later in the 50's, on a quest for ancient trees to create a tree ring record of year to year climate, over the last few thousand years, since the end of the last Ice Age. Some snag remnants have been dated to more then 11,000 years ago and are part of that chronology.