Honeymoon 0.5.

We took some time to ourselves on the way home from Orick and made a stop in Bishop, east of the Sierras, June 28 - 30. From Bishop it's about an hour drive up into the White Mountains where the oldest thing that's ever lived grows — the Bristlecone Pine. Known for its exceptionally contorted and weather-worn exterior, this tree can live for 5,000 years. The nutrient-poor, harsh environment at 11,000 feet contributes to this longevity.

Anyway, it's somewhere we've always wanted to go. We spent a week amid the tallest species that ever lived, skirted the turf of the largest (the Sequoia in the Sierras), and stopped by the oldest — all native to California.

The grove we visited sat at the end of a 12-mile dirt road that twisted through the hot high desert. The temperature dropped from 91 to 66 with the elevation change, but despite the balmy weather we had to hike the last mile of dirt road to the stand because the road was closed ... due to snow. A large patch of pure white snow made a portion of the road impassable and dribbled run off — the only moisture that cut through the dry terrain. As we arrived at the grove, several heavy rain drops hit us out of what moments ago was a blue sky. A narrow trail of thunderclouds had slipped in above us, for which we were unprepared. Near the end of the Patriarch Grove loop, thunder echoed and we ran as fast as the thin air would let us (not fast). As we neared the car lightening struck a low rise nearby, and we realized on that barren moonscape we were often the tallest thing. Meaty hail fell.

It was the perfect little pre-honeymoon. We spent most of the long drive to Bishop (12 hours, another fire on Hwy. 80) chattering about the wedding (which was awesome!) and planning backpacking tramps for Honeymoon 1.0.

Jason