White Mountains (California)
Arid mountain range east of the Sierra Nevada, home of the ancient bristlecone pines, in California.
At a glance
| Source | Author | Role | In one line |
|---|---|---|---|
| The vanishing groves | Ross Andersen | setting | The author trudges several miles through snow in March to reach the bristlecone groves on the dolomite of the White Mountains, north of Death Valley. |
Sub-places
The vanishing groves — Ross Andersen (2013)
Source: Original · Readwise highlight
In March this year, I paid a visit to these extraordinary beings on an arid strip of dolomite atop California’s White Mountains. Located just north of Death Valley, the White Mountains are some of the driest on the planet.
- Role: setting
- In the article: The author trudges several miles through snow in March to reach the bristlecone groves on the dolomite of the White Mountains, north of Death Valley. The range sits in the rain shadow of the Sierra Nevada and holds the oldest living trees, including Methuselah. Schulman found the 3,000-year-old tree here in 1953.
- Why it matters: It is the essay’s central place: the dry, cold, isolated range that lets bristlecones live nearly 5,000 years, and now the place where warming may trap them against the summits.