The Search for Methuselah - Take Two

Back in June of 2010, I made a solo hike into the Schulman Grove above Bishop, California in search of the oldest living (non-colonial) organism on the planet - Methuselah.

What I ran into was a road closed two miles from the Visitor's Center and trails still covered by the winter snows.

This is what it looked like in June, 2010:

 

 

This year's venture into the Schulman Grove was dual purpose; first to acclimate in preparation for a couple of much longer Sierra hikes and secondly, use an operational GPS unit to locate Methuselah.

There was a huge difference between a June visit and a September visit to the Sierra high country. This time there would be no searching for snow covered trails and no post-holing.

The road was open all the way to the Visitor's Center....

 

...and the trail was snow-free.

 

 

 

 

This year I was armed with a functioning GPS, so I was confident I would find the Methuselah tree. I decided to take the entire 4+ mile Schulman Grove loop as opposed to going directly to the Methuselah Grove section of the trail. At 6:30 AM, I had the trail and the trailhead all to myself, so off I went.

 

The scenery of this loop makes this hike worth it. Being solo among these ancient trees is extremely peaceful and the beauty is hard to match anywhere.

 

 

 



 I made the loop with no real sense of urgency, stopping to take photos of some of the "snarled" ancient ones...

 

 

...until I made it to the Methuselah Grove portion of the loop. This section contains the oldest trees in the grove, most are well over 4,000 years old.

 



 



 

 

 

 

I believe, with the coordinates and descriptions I had, this is Methuselah! I'm fairly certain I had finally accomplished a two year goal to find him.

 



With my first leg of this short trip to California complete, I completed the remaining loop. It was an amazing feeling to (again) spend time with the ancient ones!

I didn't meet another soul on the trail until I got back to the trailhead...

Chris