Everything about White Mountains California totally explained
The
White Mountains of
California are a triangular
fault block mountain range facing the
Sierra Nevada across the upper
Owens Valley. They extend for approximately 60 miles (100 km) as a greatly elevated plateau about 20 miles (30 km.) wide on the south, narrowing to a point at the north, with elevations generally increasing south to north. The range's broad southern end is near the community of
Big Pine, where
Westgard Pass and
Deep Springs Valley separate it from the
Inyo Mountains. The narrow northern end is at Montgomery Pass, where
U.S. Route 6 crosses.
Fish Lake Valley, Nevada lies east of the range.
Ecology
Ecologically, the White Mountains are like the other ranges in the
Basin and Range Province; they're dry, but the upper slopes from 2,800 to 3,500 meters hold open
subalpine forests of
Great Basin Bristlecone Pine on permeable
dolomite and certain
granite substrates and
Limber pine on less permeable rocky substrates. Middle slopes from 2,000 to 2,500 meters have somewhat denser stands of
Piñon pine and
Utah juniper. These upper and lower conifer zones are often separated by a zone of
Mountain-mahogany brush. Various subspecies of
Sagebrush extend from surrounding valleys to the lower
alpine zone.
A
bristlecone pine in the southern part of the range is the oldest known living tree in the world, about 4,700 years old, nicknamed "
Methuselah" after the Biblical figure who was said to have lived to be 969 years of age, which would have made him the oldest human ever. Pine nuts from Piñon pine stands were harvested as a winter staple food by
Paiute Indians whose descendants still live in adjacent valleys.
The White Mountains also have small remnant groves of
Lodgepole pine,
Jeffrey pine,
Ponderosa pine,
Sierra juniper and
Aspen including an unusual dwarf variety. These species are common in the nearby and wetter Sierra Nevada range west of the Owens Valley and must have been more widespread in the White Mountains until
holocene droughts extirpated them in most of this drier range.
Fauna include two herds of
Bighorn (mountain) sheep,
mule deer,
marmots and
feral horses. Permanent streams have no native fish, but there are naturalized populations of trout including rare
Paiute cutthroat trout which is protected from angling. Birds include
Clark's Nutcracker and other
Nutcracker Corvidae which eat and cache pine nuts.
History
Cattle from
ranches in surrounding valleys are still
grazed under permit as high as the
alpine zone. Historically
sheep were also grazed in large numbers, introducing diseases from which the native Bighorn Sheep populations are still slowly recovering. Before European colonization of surrounding valleys in the mid 19th century
Paiute Indians occupied summer hunting camps up to about 4,000 meters, leaving ruins of archeological interest.
Geography
The highest point in the range is
White Mountain Peak, which at 14,252 feet (4,344 m)
(External Link
) is the third-highest summit in California. This peak is actually an extinct volcano rising about 1,600' (500 meters) above the plateau surface.
The White Mountains are the highest range completely inside the
Great Basin, although the adjacent
Sierra Nevada Range along the basin's western edge has two higher summits.
The entire range is within the
Inyo National Forest.
Hiking
A
four-wheel drive road reaches the summit from the south to service the "Summit Laboratory" of the
White Mountain Research Station. The road is normally gated seven miles from the summit at an elevation of 11,680 feet, making this California's easiest 14,000' (4,268 meter) summit. North of White Mountain Peak, two sharp
arêtes alternate along the crest with broad "whalebacks" and high plateaus with about six more summits over 13,000' (4,000 meters). The crest crosses the California-Nevada state line just south of a final high summit
Boundary Peak (Nevada) 13,147' (4,007 meters), Nevada's high point. Boundary Peak is the "prow" of the triangular fault block. It has views directly down into valleys to the west, north and east that are hidden by the increasing width of the high plateau to the south. North of Boundary Peak the range rapidly loses altitude and ends at Montgomery Pass.
The west face of the White Mountains rises steeply out of Owens Valley. Climbing to any summit from this direction is a
scramble with about 8,000 feet of elevation gain. Eastern slopes are somewhat gentler and have numerous
cirques left by
Pleistocene glaciers and even a few snowfields persisting through most summers. Most of these cirques are entered or approached by jeep roads and offer scenic yet non-technical routes to the crest.
Further Information
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