White Mountain Road (Ancient Bristlecones)
Big Pine / White Mountains · near Big Pine · Eastern Sierra
Road Cycling
At a glance
- Distance
- century
- Best season
- Summer–early fall; upper road snow-affected & seasonal
What is here
- Scenery
- mountain
- Amenities
- Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest · Oldest living trees on earth (~4,800+ yrs) · Surreal high-desert solitude · Enormous Sierra-crest panoramas
- Best for
- A surreal climb among the world's oldest trees
- Features
- Climb among the oldest trees on earth · Otherworldly White Mountains · Enormous views to the Sierra crest · Extraordinary high-desert solitude
Worth knowing
- Hazards
- Extreme altitude & huge cumulative climbing · Stark, exposed, waterless high desert — carry it all · Remote — no services; big temperature swings · Long descent; upper road seasonal/rough in places
- Beginner friendly
- No
Road Cycling detail
- Ride types
- climb
- Road
- quiet
- Climbing
- 5
- Ride notes
- A surreal, extraordinary paved climb into the White Mountains east of the Owens Valley — grinding up to the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest near 10,000 ft, among the oldest living things on earth (the dirt road continues far higher beyond), in stark, otherworldly high-desert solitude
- Stats note
- Huge paved climb to ~10,000 ft (Schulman Grove); road turns to dirt beyond, on toward 14,252-ft White Mtn Peak
- Seasonal
- Yes
- Intl tip
- An extraordinary climb into the stark White Mountains east of the Owens Valley from near Big Pine — up to the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest near 10,000 ft, home to the oldest living trees on earth (some ~5,000 years old), with the paved climb topping out near the Bristlecone forest (~10,000 ft); beyond that it turns to dirt, continuing toward White Mountain Peak (14,252 ft). Enormous, unrelenting gain from valley high-desert into thin alpine air, with staggering views to the entire Sierra crest. Extreme altitude, no services, big temperature swings, waterless and exposed: carry everything, dress for wild swings. Upper road seasonal and rough. Unmatched solitude and wonder.
The guide
White Mountain Road, climbing into the stark, otherworldly White Mountains east of the Owens Valley from near Big Pine, leads t…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to White Mountain Road (Ancient Bristlecones) — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 37.38, -118.17