The Getaway...Crom's build and adventures

Eastern Sierra Summer Trip #2; Bishop, Mammoth, Day 3, Part 1, Laws Train Museum

The second morning in Bishop was started at the hotel where we got ready for our day with coffee, OJ, bagels and muffins. Got the kids in the truck and they buckle themselves in. Hit the gas pump before the very short drive over to Laws Railroad Museum. It's located at 395 Silver Canyon Rd, Bishop, CA. Now a railroad museum may not sound that interesting to everyone, and I'll admit I don't care that much about railroads, but there is a considerable historical aspect that was very appealing to me, but it only manifested itself after I set foot on the property.

If you read nothing else beyond this point, just know that if you're in Bishop, CA and have any interest in western history, just carve out 2-3 hours and go. You will be glad you did. The museum is operated by the Bishop Museum & Historical Society; they only ask for a donation to visit the property which they suggest should be $5; I donated $20, and my wife bought a number of things for our kids from their gift shop. I feel good about helping them with their operations since they survive on donations. Every little bit helps.

What I didn't realize was how expansive the property is. It's like a large outdoor compound with 20+ buildings, each offering a different attraction. Each building has historical artifacts from Bishops past and representative of what California was like in late 19th and early 20th century.

We visited about 10 of the buildings on the west side of the property, and saving the buildings in the center and to the east for the next visit. Overall we spent about 1.5 hours there. It was a very enjoyable experience.

Here are some pictures. I asked permission to take them, which was granted, with the understanding that they're for my private collection. I'm displaying them here as low resolution thumbnails so you get an idea of some of the photos that are displayed onsite and may be viewed when you visit.



Inside the visitor center, (same as gift shop) there is the old Inyo County Bank Vault. I was privileged to see inside and hear the most fascinating story about the bank, and the owners of the bank.

Now please don't quote me on this story below, but here is what I remember being told by Mike the person working in the visitor center (22 year resident of Bishop).

The bank and bank vault, was used to house the money war chest for the local regions farmers and cattlemen of the Owens Valley. This war chest was being used in an epic battle against the City of Los Angeles for control of water rights for the region.

There are two different versions of a story about the two owners of the bank which I will not repeat here in detail, but the bottom of the line of what I heard was that something went wrong at the bank and money disappeared, perhaps illegally appropriated by the bank owners. The result is that the ranchers and farmers lost their money and financial backing in the war, and the City of Los Angeles won water rights to the entire Owens Valley, which laid the framework for the Los Angeles Aqueduct, etc., and the rest is history.

The right story may be online somewhere or in a book, what I wrote above is straight outta my brain from what I remember being told. I'm probably all wrong.



Here is a picture walking down the boardwalk on the west side.


Pics of various buildings onsite.


Engine and cars


Here my kids are fighting for control of a kid sized fire engine. lol


I love color and there were some flowers bloomin' so I 'capped these pics


After Laws Train Museum, we went back to the truck for some snacks which we ate on the tailgate in the shade. The sun was out and it was getting HOT. Before hitting the museum, I had aired down to 18 PSI, so we were ready to go. I pointed truck east, and less than two minutes later we hit dirt and began the trail into and up Silver Canyon, which is a 4x4 trail that climbs high into the White Mountains.

 

Excellent! I'll put that on the list for the next time we pass through. You seem to be a bit of a history buff! When your kids get to 4th grade they should offer a trip to Sacramento for 2 days. Do It! The train museum is awesome but it's all about California and is the coolest history thing I've done bar none! You'll pan for gold in the American river at Sutter's mill too hopefully. We did it March this year right before Death Valley so that made the trip to DV much more interesting. Cheers

 

Ken, When visiting at Laws Train Museum, I had an extended discussion with "Mike" who's a volunteer there and 22 year resident in Bishop. He was quite knowledgeable. In discussing the water war, Mike essentially expressed very similar views as yours in your post above, and he commented on what the alternative Owens Valley would have looked like, if things had worked out in the other direction.

Mike had said by DWP taking the water, it has kept the Owens Valley and surrounding areas population centers very small. He said there is about 40K people in the valley region. I know from my old college geography course, that an overwhelming number of the worlds population centers live very close to large bodies of water. So I did a quick comparison using county data, two from Owens Valley and my home county of San Diego.

San Diego County, Population 3,211,000, 4,526 sq mi.
Inyo County, CA, Population 18,467, 10,227 sq mi.
Mono County CA, Population 14,074, 1,209 sq mi

I'm not trying to be scientific, but it is quite interesting. San Diego is less than half the size of Inyo County, and has 17,288% more people! San Diego is 4x larger than Mono, but has 22,715% more people, if my math is right.

Thanks Curt! I'll be very sure to remember that, and will for sure do it.

I'm trying to learn more. My biggest shortcoming today is, I don't read enough books. I kinda feel my historical knowledge is underwhelming in comparison to some of my friends here, and local to me. I try to learn a lot about my surroundings and depending on how much it interests me, I can go deeper with certain subjects.

 

Slight hijack...

Since you are talking about western history, not too far away in Barstow, there are several interesting museums about the west, railroads, and whatnot. I was last there 5 years ago, when I ran the Mojave Road and explored Death Valley.

These small, out of the way, almost forgotten museums have a lot of information to offer those willing to look.

End of hijack - please continue your story and great pictures!

 

Eastern Sierra Summer Trip #2; Day 3, Part 2, The White Mountains and the Ancient Great Basin Bristlecone Pine tree forest


Here is what the USFS says about Silver Canyon trail:

Silver Canyon road is very steep, High Clearance 4WD recommended, you will climb from 4,200’ to 10,400’ in elevation. This road crosses Silver Creek a few times before coming to White Mountain Road, North of Schulman Grove Visitor Center. Options from White Mtn. Rd. are Patriarch Grove of the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest, Crooked Creek Rd. and Wyman Canyon Rd. Possible sightings of Bighorn Sheep in this area.

Sections of White Mountain Rd. are for Street Legal Vehicles Only, OHV maps available at the White Mountain Ranger Station in Bishop.

No Facilities in this area​

Much thanks to the Eastern Sierra 4x4 Club for their assumed hard work in keeping Silver Canyon trail open.



We were delighted to spot a lone Bighorn Sheep!



She was beautiful and looked healthy.


Our plan was to have lunch up at the ancient forest, but we had spent a lot of time at Laws, which was great. The canyon trail crosses a mountain stream some number of times on the way up, maybe 8-10 times or so. By this time of day (12:20pm), it was roasting in the canyon, I think it was about 100*F in the sun.

I was hungry and spotted a rare bit of shade that the truck would fit under and WATER!!! I told wife we'd eat lunch here. She wanted to press on, but I was like no way! Gotta take what you get get when you see it. Be an opportunist!

Shade + Water = Win!


My oldest, taking what she had learned on the Lake Tioga trip, put her hat in the water and filled it then put it on her head cooling herself off. She enjoyed it very much!

The water was quite refreshing. I put my chair in the water and soaked my feet. Great way to cool off eating my sandwhich.

In this photo, they're cooling off in the water and collecting rocks. I can't tell you all how many rocks have hitched rides in the Tacoma over the years. I usually try to put them all back when they're not looking.


This place was some kind of a mine. After lunch we walked up to the entrance. It was unstable, so we just took some photos and returned.





After eating our lunches and visiting the local mine site, we continued up Silver Canyon crossing the stream a few more times before the trail turned into a serious climb and a dangerous shelf road. There is no room for driver error on the trail, it becomes tight switchbacks with breathtaking drop offs. For those of you that have been there, you know!

I don't know how other people feel, but to me The Ancient Bristlecone Pine forest is a sacred place. These are the oldest living non-clonal organisms on the planet! At least one tree has been core dated to 5,065 years old! The second oldest is Methesulah a Great Basin Bristlecone Pine that has been dated to 4,848 years old.

I did not know this before the trip, but the Ancient Bristles, and the study of them, and their tree rings (a branch of science called Dendrochronology which is the scientific method of dating tree ring to exact calendar years) by Edmund Schulmann (1908-1958) had a major impact on other sciences. Specifically interesting to me was that Shulmann's work and his colleagues after him used their data as a metric to re-calibrate the science of radiocarbon dating, that we now hear so much of. Prior to this scientific work, radiocarbon dating was off by about 1,000 years.



Here is my wife explaining the significance of the trees.

 

Much appreciated! Thanks. Did a quick g-search and came back with these places to check out!

• Route 66 Mother Road Museum
• Mojave River Valley Museum
• Western America Railroad Museum
• Desert Discovery Center

Listed for future reference.

 

Your killing me!

I didn't make it to the Bristlecones this year and we move back to MD the first weekend of September. Only three weekends left in CA for me! And I think they are all spoken for with travel and prep for the move.

Well my daughter will probably be better able to appreciate the Bristlecones in a couple years anyway I guess. Probably going to have a late August week of CA/NV/UT camping every year for the foreseeable future (except this year).

 

My kids love finding water on our hiking (brief walks really) trips. They always seem to love throwing rocks in the water and trying to bring some home in the truck (somehow, those rocks never stay in the truck for more than a few seconds .

 

Eastern Sierra Summer Trip #2; Day 3, Part 3, The White Mountains and the Ancient Great Basin Bristlecone Pine tree forest

I am told that the Great Basin Bristlecone pine trees get their namesake from the spines on their cones.


Here is a shot of the grain of the tree trunk. These trees have uniquely adapted to the nutrient-poor dolomite soil in the White Mountains. As I understand it, the threes can dynamically shut down sap flow to certain parts of itself during times of hardship (drought, etc) and somehow still resist parasitic insects. Apparently where there is tree bark, there is sap flowing under, and where none exists, no sap, or something like that.


As a layman, if I had to guess, I'd say this tree is several thousand years old.


After an hour at this location, it began to rain.


come on rain, wash the truck! Wash the truck!

We all did a silly rain dance to help, but sky would not let loose. We jumped in and headed south to the Schulmann Grove Visitor Center.


This visitor center was built in 2011 in response to the previous one which was lost to arson in 2008. I visited in 2011 when construction was mid-way finished. It was great to see it completed.


Inside the visitor center there are books and clothing and mementos for sale and two very helpful and knowledgeable staff members. There are also many factoid and hands on learning exercises to learn about the trees.

There is also a 19-minute education movie that we watched in this theater.

We were very lucky to have the whole place to ourselves for the duration. The video was very informative and greatly contributed to my understanding of the Bristlecone pines. I walked away with a deeper appreciation for them as a result, and especially how their study contributed to other branches of science.
.


When we emerged from the theater, and $70 less from my pocket for visitor center goods we bought, it was raining.

So play in the rain.


It was cold out now. The Tacoma said it was 63*F and later down to 57*F. I thought this was heaven compared to the boiling temps down in the valley, and Bishop.

We climbed back into the truck and headed back North on White Mountain Road, a well maintained graded dirt road.

And poof out of nowhere it began to hail.


We continued on and rain/hail completely stopped in about 1 mile and everything north of that was very dry it seemed. We continued our 12 mile journey north.

Here is what it's like up there. Absolutely beautiful. My camera doesn't do well when there is no sun, it was cloud cover nearly the whole time for us, but you get the idea.


Along the way we found a deer.


After 12 miles we reached the Patriarch Grove where we intended to cook dinner and relax.

I deployed a tarp and put my youngest kid back there to play. Tarp served as a sunblock for a minute, then helped block wind.

The oldest took a nap on the way here and we left her to sleep in the cab.


Wife cooked shrimp, steak, veggie, cheese pasta

Mmmmmmmmmmm


After dinner I offered a bubble toy to my youngest and for the next 10 minutes or so, she enjoyed that.


And check out this turbulent weather to the East. CA/NV border area getting pounded.


After all that, I cleaned and put away everyghing. Momma went for a walk by herself on the Patriarch Grove trail.

When she returned we all headed back out.

Found this horse grazing by the trail on the way out. I swear, this could be the same horse I saw 5 years ago up here?!?


I shit you not, five years ago (2011) I was here, and took this photo below. Looks like the same horse!!!

 

You're good to put them back quickly!

I'm reminded by this humorous post in @samiam 's build, where his son was collecting rocks for fish tank.

 

Dang Ken. I know I hadn't reached out to you, but it sure would have been nice to try to get together for one adventure before you leave to MD. School is starting for our kids real soon, so summer is coming to a close...

 

Eastern Sierra Summer Trip #2; Day 3, Part 4, The White Mountains and the Ancient Great Basin Bristlecone Pine tree forest

I captured this dramatic view as we started to traverse back down Silver Canyon trail.


In the image above you can kind of see through the haze, the horizon of the Great Eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains. They are nothing short of amazing. I wish I could have got a clear picture, sans haze, but weather would not cooperate. All the more reason for a return trip I suppose.



Going down Silver Canyon -6K feet, I had to put the truck in low gear and just crawl down, or bakes heat up too much.

We carefully and eventually reached the lower part of the canyon. Just before pavement I pulled off and instructed the truck to air itself back up.



Even though it was 8pm, it was still 90*F down at this elevation.

I offered more water play for the kids during air up time. They were glad for it.


And finally we returned to pavement, and 10 minutes later we were at our room in Bishop.


It was a great fun filled adventure day.

 

My condolences for having to come over to this shitbox of a state. No adventures to be had over here.

 

Adventures in trying to get good auto machine shop services for reasonable price maybe?

 

That's about it. Also game sure you've your OME springs modified before you come over since there is not a single spring shop in the whole state

 

There was one in Frederick but I think that shut down, Hagerstown Spring Works is still in business though.

 

...and they're piled up in the backyard.

 

So I Stand corrected, there's one shop for the whole state

 

Nick even though I had my own adventures in the area part of the time you were there, reading your stories is like taking another trip. Great stuff. I've never made time to visit Laws Museum, gotta do it one day. One place I do recommend stopping at when you are in the neighborhood is the Maturango Museum in Ridgecrest. Once I finally stopped there I gained a greater understanding and appreciation of that part of the region. So much history in and around Owens/Death Valleys.

I think your girls may become mining engineers. Plan a trip to the San Juans in Colorado.

p.s.
I'm glad I wasn't still camped up there when the hail happened.

 

Awesome Road Tripping And Delicious Meals = Good Clean Fun!
Again Thanks For Sharing Nick.

Man That's One Healthy Horse!! Beautiful Animal! Any Clue If It's Wild!!