White mountain road is on the ridge east of Bishop CA. It goes north from Westguard pass to the closed gate at the Berkley high altitude reserch facility. the gate is at 11,700 feet. The road is graded but with embedded sharp rocks making slow driving advisable.
A few miles from the gate is the Patriach grove of Great Basin bristlecones. This one is the Patriarch tree. It is said to be the largest one in the world. However there is a larger one in NV that is documented in the national champion tree database at American forests . org.
A small alpine buckwheat just starting to bloom.
The upper parts of the road are well above timberline and offer great views.
At one point, before the gate, you get a view of the high point on the ridge. White mountain peak, 14,252. From the gate it is a 15 mile RT hike along the jeep to the top. Usually, one day a year the gate is opened for hikers to drive to the research facility and cut off 4 miles of hiking. That would be the day to hike the summit.
A subaru can handle the road just fine. AT tires would be nice however.
The road passed thru areas that are very very barren.
We tried to hike from the gate to the closest peak, Mt Barcroft, at 13,040 but were turned back by very high winds. maybe 50 mph. The only flower we saw there was an unidentified type of Ivesia.
Starting out toward Mt Barcroft. Not far, and not much elevation gain but is is mostly above 12,000 feet and the wind was very strong.
A little knob on the way.
Heading back down to the car.
One other flower we saw on the hike. A buckwheat just starting to bloom.
Mt Barcroft is the hill you see here. We made it to the base of the rocky outcrop just before it. Some in the party made it to the saddle.
The only wildlife we saw.
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