Distance: 24 miles out and back
Elevation gain: 3110 ft

As with all the rides in Bestrides situated along Hwy 395, I encourage you to read the “Eastern Sierra” section of our By Regions page, to put this ride in context.

This ride goes from Lee Vining on Hwy 395 to Tioga Pass via Hwy 120—from east to west, in other words. You can of course ride to the pass from the west (from Yosemite), and it’s worth doing, but it’s a much longer and less dramatic ride. The west side has Tanaya Lake, and there’s nothing to match it for beauty on our route, but I still prefer this way.

Like a lot of the rides on Hwy 395, this is a steady, long, fairly straight climb up through a dramatic rocky canyon. The climbing is essentially without interruption. It’s never killer steep, but it’s seriously moderate in pitch, and as always in this region the altitude (the pass is at 9940 ft.) makes the climbing one or two quantum leaps harder than you expect. The road is a popular route through the Sierra, so you can expect some traffic unless you’re off-season, but the upside to that is the road surface is nearly pristine—a rarity in this region of frost heaves and expansion cracks..

This is one of my favorite rides in the area, for two reasons: 1) The vista looking west from the top of the big climb (just before Ellery Lake) is jaw-dropping—you can see the 10 miles of road beneath you, snaking its way along the canyon wall (see the photo below, but it doesn’t do it justice); and 2) the road surface is good, so the return ride is a descent you can really rip—40 mph+ is a cinch. It’s not a slalom, it’s a plummet, but I still think it’s the second-best descent in the area, after Hwy 168 (in the Bristlecone Forest ride). Besides those two virtues, the ride is pretty much generic 395 stuff. The two lakes you ride by are pretty but not breath-taking. At the pass there is nothing but a small ranger kiosk taking money from the cars heading for Yosemite—I rode right through it and only knew to turn around when I noticed the road was trending steadily downhill.

As with all riding in the 395 corridor, weather matters. This road closes in winter (typically November till Memorial Day), and any late-fall or early-spring riding can run into road ice. I rode it in mid-November during a period of clear weather, and there were a few patches of ice on the road and the lakes were largely iced over. Dress for cold—when it’s a warm fall day in Lee Vining it can be in the 50’s at the top, and you’re going to be going fast on the descent.

Park in the dirt parking lot across from the legendary Whoa Nellie Deli. Before or after the ride, take the time to check out this local icon. The food at the deli is reputed to be gourmet in quality, but I’ve never found it so. Still, the place has a fun vibe.

Ride up Hwy 120 to Tioga Pass. Turn around and ride home. That’s it. You’ll pass two lakes, Ellery and Tioga. When you get to Ellery, the hard climbing is over.

Shortening the ride: Ride to Ellery Lake and turn around.

Adding miles: Continue past Tioga Pass as far as you want. Remember you have to climb back up. It’s 57 miles from the pass to the outskirts of Yosemite Valley, but there are several meaningful spots to turn around along the way, as Ben below points out: Tuolumne Meadows, Tanaya Lake, Olmstead Point.

I don’t know of any other worthwhile riding within riding distance. Virginia Lakes Rd. (discussed in the Rides by Region discussion of the Hwy 395 area) is a short drive to the north. Our June Lakes Loop ride is a short drive to the south.

Distance: 12.6-mile out and back
Elevation gain: 425 ft

As with all the rides in Bestrides situated along Hwy 395, I encourage you to read the “Eastern Sierra” section of our By Regions page, to put this ride in context.

This is not a great or thrilling ride, but it’s perfectly pleasant, a short, flat stroll through the Owens Valley fields with nice Sierra mountains as a backdrop to the west. I include it because our Eastern Sierra riding is short on recovery-day rides, and this is an ideal one. If you want to add on to it, there are two harder rides at its turn-around point (see Adding Rides below).

Turn off Hwy 395 onto Saw Mill Rd.—yes, to my surprise, if you’re coming from the south you can cross the divided highway. Park in the large dirt parking lot at the intersection of South Round Valley Rd. and Saw Mill. Ride SRVR to its intersection with Pine Creek Rd. Return. Other than the prison you pass, there’s not much to talk about.

Shortening the ride: Not imaginable.

Adding Miles: Your turn-around point is on Pine Creek Rd., which is one of the better climbs in our By Regions list of area rides if you go left. If you go right on PCR, in a stone’s throw you hit the southern terminus of Rock Creek Rd., also in By Regions. Either will satisfy any climbing jones you may be having. If you want more easy riding, cross Pine Creek Rd. and continue on North Round Valley Rd., which will about double your mileage—see Robert’s comment below for details.

Distance: 38.3-mile out and back
Elevation gain: 6015 ft

As with all the rides in Bestrides situated along Hwy 395, I encourage you to read the “Eastern Sierra” section of our By Regions page, to put this ride in context.

I also recommend you read this write-up in tandem with our Whitney Portal Road ride. They’re right next to each other geographically—in fact Horseshoe Meadows Rd. takes off from Whitney Portal Rd.,—and they’re similar in character, profile, rewards, and difficulty level. WPR is a bit longer, a bit shallower, with more overall elevation gain. I’m told that WPR is slammed with outdoorsy people in season, because as its name implies it’s the access point for hiking Mt. Whitney, so Horseshoe is the (much) less populated option, but I’m always there out of season and I suggest you do the same, so it shouldn’t matter.

Of all the rides that go west from Hwy 395 and climb into the Sierra (they’re listed in the “Eastern Sierra” section of our By Regions page), three are considered the blockbusters, the climbs you brag about doing: in order of difficulty, they’re Whitney Portal (easiest), Horseshoe, and Onion Valley Rd. (hardest). Onion Valley is longer and steeper than the other two, and in my opinion without merit—just endless unvaried climbing through a featureless wasteland. But Whitney Portal and Horseshoe have character. While other area rides head up draws or canyons—essentially breaks in the cliff wall—these two switchback straight up the wall for a while, thus making the ride much more dramatic, with matchless vistas of the valley below.

I haven’t ridden Whitney Portal yet—the one ride in Bestrides I haven’t done—because I only had time to do one of the two and I chose Horseshoe because it has more switchbacks and is longer, less steep, and has less exposure.

Perhaps surprisingly, this ride isn’t in my Best of the Best list, despite it being spectacular, because it has two drawbacks: It’s a ton of climbing (like, maybe 3 hours) at an almost unvaried pitch and mostly in a straight line, and the descent, which on paper should be heavenly, is cursed by the same three ailments that afflict almost all descents in this area: too-steep pitch, rough road surface, and expansion cracks. I did the entire descent on my brakes, getting my teeth rattled, and was glad when it was over. (Confession: several sources praise the smoothness of HMR’s road surface. I can only assume that their standards are much lower than mine. One said that Onion Valley’s expansion cracks were much worse, which I don’t doubt.). But the scenery is world-class and the vistas of the valley beneath you are sublime. If you love long climbs and grand vistas, this is the ride for you.

If you’re freaked out by exposure, you can still do this ride. Although for most of the ride the drop-off is enormous, the road is a wide two-lane and there is almost always a healthy buffer of dirt shoulder between you and the lip. I’m afraid of heights and I wasn’t bothered at all.

Let me sound my usual warnings about riding in this area: 1) It’s high, so the air is thin (this ride tops out at just under 10,000 ft.), so the climbing is much harder than the pitches would suggest; and 2) it’s high, so it’s cold, and you’re going to be descending at speed (maybe), so take lots more clothing with you than you need at the start of the ride.

At the junction of Horseshoe and Whitney Portal Rd., you’re 1/4 miles from the famous Movie Road, a dirt road that takes you into the Alabama Hills area where hundreds of Hollywood movies and TV westerns were filmed. If you grew up with 50’s westerns, it’s a must-do car trip. Even if you didn’t, the rock formations are the best rock I’ve ever seen outside a National Park. Print guides to the area (which movie was shot where) can be had on line or at the Western Movie Museum in town. Don’t try to bike in—the road is either washboard or sand, and unridable.

Horseshoe Meadows Road takes off from Whitney Portal Road. As of 11/24, WPR is closed for repair and you need to detour around the construction via Tuttle Creek Rd., which will drop you onto HMR. Park on the dirt shoulder anywhere along HMR.

The first 4 miles of HMR are dead straight dead flat. Ride them if you’re determined to do the entire road, or drive to when the first gradual pitch begins. Those first miles pass some nice rock formations, but if you drive Tuttle Creek Rd. or the movie road you’ll see better. You’ll see where the climbing starts—the first leg of the ride, up to the first switchback, is laid out before you.

That first leg is interminable and not particularly interesting, because the slope of the sidehill is so mild that you’re riding through nothing but dirt and brush—no good rocks yet. But the vistas to your left are grand almost from the get-go and keep getting better, so you’ll have something to think about. The pitch on this beginning leg is pretty much the pitch for the remainder of the ride.

Once past the first switchback, the sidehill gets much steeper so the landscape gets rockier and grander, and the scenery will hold your interest to the end of the ride. There are several places where you can look down and see below you some of the switchbacks you’ve already ridden, and far below them the first miles of Horseshoe Meadow Rd. on the valley floor. You may even see your parked car, 3500 ft. below you—marvelous.

Once off the switchbacks, you have almost 6 more miles to go. The road continues climbing at the same pace along the face of a canyon, so the exposure and vistas continue. The scenery is terrific—grand rocks and twisted junipers—and may actually be better than the switchbacks. The end of the road is nothing more than an undeveloped campground and some trailheads, so there’s no grand sense of “I did it!” If there’s a meadow, I couldn’t find it, but everything was under snow when I was there. (One source described the meadows as “vast.”)

As I said above, the descent is a disappointment. The first miles are marred by ugly expansion cracks, the next miles are marred by unpleasantly chattery road surface, and it’s almost all too steep to be bombed unless you’re a champion descender. I only enjoyed the last few miles. It’s tragic, because the scenery on the descent is world-class but I missed it all because I was staring at the road surface trying to minimize my suffering.

Shortening the ride: For the best stuff, drive to the first switchback, park, and ride to the top of the switchbacks—about 5 mi. one way.

Adding miles: For a few more relatively easy miles, ride our Tuttle Creek Rd. ride, which you probably had to drive to get to this ride if Whitney Portal Rd. is still closed. For a lot more work, ride our Whitney Portal Rd. ride—just ride to the north end of Horseshoe and turn west.

Distance: 23.6 out and back
Elevation gain: 4610 ft

As with all the rides in Bestrides situated along Hwy 395, I encourage you to read the “Eastern Sierra” section of our By Regions page, to put this ride in context.

I also recommend you read this write-up in tandem with our Horseshoe Meadows Road ride. They’re right next to each other geographically—in fact Horseshoe Meadows Rd. takes off from Whitney Portal Rd.,—and they’re much alike in character, profile, rewards, and difficulty level. They’re both steep, long, challenging climbs that switchback up the face of the Sierra, then penetrate westward into the mountains. They both offer amazing views of the Owens Valley below.

I haven’t ridden Whitney Portal—the only ride in Bestrides I haven’t done—because I think Horseshoe Meadows is a better ride (longer, less steep, less traffic, more switchbacks) and I frankly don’t need to do two such rides. But WPR is iconic and popular, so I wanted to alert you to its existence. It’s also more exposed than HMR, so do Horseshoe if you’re bothered by acrophobia or vertigo.

This ride begins climbing at a moderate pace and gets progressively steeper, first 9%, then 10%, finally 11%. At that elevation, such pitches are very tough. Horseshoe Meadows Rd. is not quite that severe.

For a death-defying drive to nowhere, Whitney Portal Rd. has quite a bit of traffic, because it’s the road everyone must take to reach Mt.-Whitney-area hiking and backpacking trailheads. As always, off-season riding is recommended.

As of 11/24, Whitney Portal Rd. is closed by construction just a stone’s throw out of town. Signage will guide you through the detour, which takes you (conveniently) through our Tuttle Creek Rd. ride and a couple of miles of our Horseshoe Meadows Rd. ride, so you can look them over.

WPR takes you by the famous Movie Road, a dirt road that takes you into the Alabama Hills area where hundreds of Hollywood movies and TV westerns were filmed. If you grew up with 50’s westerns, it’s a must-do car trip. Even if you didn’t, the rock formations are the best rock I’ve ever seen outside a National Park. Guides to the area (which movie was shot where) can be had on line or at the Western Movie Museum in town. Don’t try to bike in—the road is either washboard or sand, and unridable.

Shortening the ride: Ride to the top of the switchback and return.

Adding miles: For a few more easy miles, ride our Tuttle Creek Rd. ride, whose starting point you rode right past at the start of this ride. For a lot more hard miles, ride our Horseshoe Meadows Rd. ride, whose starting point you rode right past near the start of this ride.

Distance: 32.4-mile lollipop
Elevation gain: 1960 ft

As with all the rides in Bestrides situated along Hwy 395, I encourage you to read the “Eastern Sierra” section of our By Regions page, to put this ride in context.

This is the go-to easy, pretty ride on the eastern side of the Sierra—the one you take your partner or casual-cyclist buddy on. It’s also where you go in the Eastern Sierra for lush—If you find most of the riding in the area too open, rocky, and desert-y for you, this is your ride. It goes through very pretty aspen-filled woods, past three lakes and one unforgettable boulder, and through the town of June Lake, a bustling recreational village (think Mammoth Lakes but smaller and less pretentious). The route is pretty built-up, but in an unobtrusive, one-with-nature sort of way. It’s a “loop” in quotation marks because the road is called “June Lake Loop” in all the literature, but it isn’t one—it’s a horseshoe. More on that in the ride directions.

The elevation gain is mild, but if you like to do your climbing first, then your descending, start at the northern terminus and ride south. On the other hand, the ride as mapped begins with the best scenery and steadily gets worse, so if you think you aren’t going to do the entire mileage, start at the south end. The riding is A-level up to about Reverse Creek, then B up to the end of Silver Lake, then C to the terminus on 395.

Start at the intersection of June Lake Loop and Hwy 395. There’s a large store there with parking, and a large, expensive sign reading “Welcome to June Lake Loop” telling you they want your tourist dollars.

Ride June Lake Loop to its end at Hwy 395. The only significant pitch is the initial drop down to June Lake. Linger over the views of June Lake, because it’s the prettiest lake of the three on the route—Silver Lake is just nice and Grant Lake is barren.

Watch for a remarkable double boulder on your R. It’s so striking that both resorts on either side of it take their names from it: Boulder Lodge on one side and Big Rock Resort on the other.

June Lake, the community, is well worth a stroll.

Midway in the ride you cross Reverse Creek, so named because it’s flowing in the opposite direction from most of the watershed in the area. Not a big deal.

By Silver Lake you’re beginning to leave the woods behind, and the terrain becomes flatter, drier, and more barren. The last few miles are dead straight, through nearly flat, typical Eastern Sierra rabbit brush country. You can skip those miles if you want, but the distance is short.

To ride this route as an actual loop, at 395 you would turn R and ride 395 back to your car. If you do this, you will have an long, unpleasant, tedious slog of a climb up the highway shoulder with little to look at among busy traffic. I strongly discourage it. Instead, turn around and ride back the way you came.

When you get close to June Lake, you can see new country by taking Northshore Drive to your L and going around the back side of the lake. The road is a bit rougher than the main road and the landscape more harsh (there are signs reading “bike route” and “rough road”), but it’s also much less built-up and less trafficked. I’ve mapped it that way.

Shortening the ride: Turn around when you want to.

Adding miles: There is no other good riding in the immediate area. You’re a few highway miles from Mammoth Lakes and our Devil’s Postpile ride.

Distance: 16.2 miles out and back
Elevation gain: 1970 ft

Warning: At the moment (9/23) this road is only open on weekends, and may soon be closed entirely for construction. When the road isn’t under construction, cars are often banned and car visitors are required to take a shuttle bus. Check road conditions and restrictions before heading out.

As with all the rides in Bestrides situated along Hwy 395, I encourage you to read the “Eastern Sierra” section of our By Regions page, to put this ride in context.

This is the only ride in Bestrides I don’t really like. But I want to talk about it, because it’s iconic, you’ll want to know what it’s like, and it might get much better soon (as of 9/23).

This ride descends from the Minarets Vista summit to Devil’s Postpile National Monument, then climbs back out. In RidewithGPS it looks pretty good—not much work (you can do 16 miles standing on your head, right?), some great views of the Minarets to the west, some fast, serpentine descending, some pleasant rollers through pretty woods, and a great destination at the turn-around. Devil’s Postpile is a wonder of nature that’s not to be missed. There is even a grand waterfall just past the Postpile, Rainbow Falls.

So what’s not to like? It’s much less pleasant than the ride profile makes it appear, for five reasons: 1. Traffic—like most National Somethings, the place can be mobbed, and all visitors must travel the same very narrow, very rough road. Many of them at 10 miles an hour. The road is so narrow that descending vehicles must pull off the road to let ascending vehicles pass, which means that your descent will frequently be interrupted by you having to stop behind the RV that has stopped to let the oncoming RV pass. 2. Road surface—the surfaces varies from OK to terrible, and it’s at its worst on the steepest part (the first 2.5 miles). I found it impossible to do the descent at any but the slowest speed. 3. Pitch—1970 ft. total gain doesn’t seem bad at all, but the bulk of the climbing is in the last 2.5 miles, and it’s truly tough. Made much harder by 4. elevation—the ride tops out at 9170 feet elevation, which means you’ll be gasping for breath in the thin air unless you’re acclimated to high elevation. 4. The hike—you can’t ride to the Postpile; the closest you can get is 0.4 miles from it, which means you’re in for at least an 0.8-mile walk on dirt to see anything, which is a little more than I want to walk in the middle of a hard ride and which means you have to bring walking shoes. 5. The construction—they’re reworking the entire ride, beginning 9/23, so the riding itself will be more awkward than usual and the road to the waterfall is closed entirely, so to see it you’ll have to walk a whopping 5 miles.

So why talk about it? Because if you’re fit for elevation, if you like hard climbs, if you have disc brakes and so can handle steep descents, and (most important) if you wait until the construction reworks and improves the road and opens up the road to Rainbow Falls, it might be a ride you’ll love.

As with all high-altitude Eastern Sierra rides, snow conditions are unpredictable here and can persist longer than you think. Apparently last year the road was still closed by snow on July 4.

An introduction to the geology of the Postpile and current road conditions can be found here.

Our ride begins at the parking area at the turn-off to Minaret Vista, a lookout at the summit of Minaret Road, which is the one and only road from the town of Mammoth Lakes to the Mammoth Mountain ski area. Drive past the ski area, turn off at the sign to the Vista, drive to the Vista to see the Minarets if you want (you’ll see them on the ride anyway), then return to Minaret Road and park in the copious parking dirt area around the intersection.

If you’re worried that 16 miles won’t float your boat, you can ride from Mammoth Lakes, which will add 12 miles and 1300 ft. to the ride. It’s a not-unpleasant ride with possibly heavy traffic (the ski area is as attractive to mountain-bikers in summer and fall as it is to skiers in the winter) on a very manicured, wide road.

Pass the kiosk on Minaret Road and begin the descent. Views of the Minarets are immediately in front of you—look them over now, because you won’t see them again.

You are instantly into the steepest leg of the ride, 2.5 miles of narrow, twisty, rough, unrelenting down. Watch for cars coming at you and stopping in front of you.

At 2.5 miles the road takes a hard 90-degree L, the pavement improves, and the pitch moderates. About 6 miles in, the ride turns mellow, and you do fun rollers to the end. First you encounter the overflow parking lot for the Postpile; continue on to the second and final (at the moment) parking lot and trailhead for the walk to the Postpile. There are bathrooms, a little shop, docents to answer questions, and probably scads of people.

If you have the energy and the shoes, hike to Devil’s Postpile. If you really want to walk, hike to Rainbow Falls. They’re both grand. Here’s a photo of each.

Now ride out. First rollers, then moderate climbing, then the final 2.5-mile gasper. In those last miles you’ll notice nice views up and down the canyon you’re climbing out of, which you weren’t able to notice on the descent and which you’ll appreciate now because they’re good excuses to stop and catch your breath.

Shortening the route: Drive to the 90-degree L turn and ride to the Postpile from there.

Adding Miles: There is no other good road riding near this ride. If you brought your mountain bike, swap bikes and enjoy the outstanding downhill riding on Mammoth Mountain’s trails. Back in Mammoth Mountain, the ride to Mary’s Lake is pleasant, in a heavily developed way.

Distance: 46-mile out and back
Elevation gain: 6700 ft

(A Best of the Best ride)
(A Best of the Best descent)

As with all the rides in Bestrides situated along Hwy 395, I encourage you to read the “Eastern Sierra” section of our By Regions page, to put this ride in context.

This is a huge ride, bigger than anything I could do in one go. It’s easy to break into two rides, either one of which is a major effort by itself. If you do it all, I’m willing to bet it will be the hardest 46-mile ride you ever do in your life. It has a ton of climbing, made much harder by the elevation, which tops out at 10,000 ft. I think it’s the best ride in the Eastern Sierra, for a number of reasons:

1) It has the most interesting road contour. The other big climbs around Hwy 395 are typically straight roads with monotonously unvaried pitch—this one climbs and drops and serpentines back and forth.

2) It has the most varied landscape—not necessarily prettier than, say South Lake Road, but at least 4 distinct ecosystems, including the world-famous bristlecone pine forest;

3) It has the best vistas. Like the other big climbing rides in the area, it has jaw-dropping vistas of the Owens Valley below, but the other rides climb the east side of the Sierra, so they look east and have as a backdrop the White Mountains to the east, which are unprepossessing heaps of brown, while this one climbs into the White Mountains and looks west, so it has as a backdrop the incomparable Eastern Sierra ridges to the west;

4) The thrill factor is unmatched. The last 3 miles of the ride out plus the first 3 of the return are some of the most electrifying (or terrifying) riding I’ve ever done—fast, serpentining curves with enormous vistas and a drop-off on your right.

5) It has a spectacular descent with good road surface (on the Hwy 168 leg)—a rarity in these parts.

Its only flaws are 1) the road surface on the White Mountain Rd. leg is often so marred with expansion cracks that descending is unpleasantly jarring, and 2) the pitch on the White Mountain Road leg is often so steep that you’re forced to do a lot of braking.

Before doing this ride, make sure that the roads are all passable and the Visitor Center at Shulman Grove is open. (Typically the Visitor Center closes some time in October. The road is “open”—i.e. ungated—all year, because there are things at the top of the road people have to get to, but it’s “unmaintained,” that is, heavily snowed in.) Also, ask yourself about your threshold for acrophobia and fear of falling, because you’re going to be doing some steep descending on narrow, twisting roads with world-class drop-offs and no guardrails.

To see the good bristlecone pines (and you want to), bring walking shoes, because there are no visually striking pines right by the Visitor Center—see below for an explanation.

This is the only ride of any interest in the 395 corridor that is on the east side of the highway. Start at the intersection of Hwy 395 and Hwy 168E (Hwy 168W goes west from downtown). There’s a parking lot there, by the little kiosk with information about the bristlecone pines and other features of interest in the area. I encourage you to read the literature to get your bearings. You’ll be guided by signage to the bristlecone pine forest all along your route.

The ride divides into two parts, Hwy 168E and White Mountain Road, and the two couldn’t be more different. Both rides are of substantial difficulty (10 miles of 7-9% pitch, with the second leg obviously at higher elevation).

Highway 168 (13 miles, 3400 ft. gain) is a major artery running east from 395, so you’d expect it to be a large, busy, straight, characterless shoulder ride. I don’t know how busy it is in high season—I was there in October and November and saw almost no cars. But for a couple of miles it is flat, wide, and straight—then it turns into something really sweet. It begins to climb up through rolling, brush-covered hills, completely unlike the steady vertical rocky terrain on the west side of the valley. The road rolls and curves back and forth without interruption. There’s nothing like it anywhere else in the 395 corridor. The further you go, the better it gets: 4 miles of relatively tame, then the canyon steepens and you start to get some rock formations, then 9 miles in it gets really good. At about 11 miles in you hit a dramatic little slot canyon and the road turns momentarily to one lane. Terrific.

Beyond the canyon you get a couple of miles of very pretty climbing. Then Just before the White Mountain Road turn-off you pop out onto a kind of mesa and the road goes flat. At mile 13, turn L onto White Mountain Road—there’s a prominent Bristlecone Pine Forest sign there.

The one thing you don’t get on Hwy 168 is expansive vistas. Instead you get glimpses of the Owens Valley between rolling hills on either side of the road. It’s different from the other rides in the area, and very nice in its own way.

There is much confusion among sources about how much of White Mountain Road is paved. The answer is: for 10 miles, to the Shulman Grove Visitor Center. The road continues on past the Center for miles and miles, but becomes dirt a few feet past it.

White Mountain Road is completely different from what you’ve just ridden. It’s a straighter climb, first through pinyon-juniper woodlands (there’s an informative board in a turn-off on your L a stone’s throw from the intersection explaining what that means), then above the timberline on a harrowingly exposed sidehill with matchless views of the Owens Valley to the west. The ride is slightly shorter and slightly steeper than Hwy 168 (10 miles one way, 3250 ft of gain), but it tops out at just over 10,000 ft. so the air is thinner and adds considerably to the effort.

The climbing begins moderately, then steepens, until the last few miles before the Vista Point (at about 7 miles in) are tough. The vista point, called Sierra View Vista Point (clever name), has one of those boards identifying the individual peaks on the horizon (Mt. Whitney can’t be seen from this ride). Beyond the vista point the climbing is continuous but noticeably less fierce.

These last 3 miles, from here to the end of the road, are truly extraordinary. The road clings to the open sidehill, serpentining back and forth, with a 5,000-ft drop on your L side and no thought of a guard rail. This is a good time to ask yourself, Do I really want to come down this thing? If not, turn around. I wouldn’t do it without disc brakes, at a minimum. Remember, on the ride up you’re on the inside lane, on the descent you’re on the outside—much scarier.

Ride to the Shulman Visitor Center. It’s a classic Visitor Center, full of all the information you could possibly want about bristlecone pines, the oldest living things on earth. It’s spanking clean, because the old Visitor Center burned to the ground not long ago and was rebuilt. There are three loop hiking trails, and you will need to walk at least 1/4 mile on one of them to see any good pines—(ironically) the bristlecone pines around the Visitor Center are too healthy to take on the famous gnarly look we all think of when we think “Bristlecone pine,” because they’re in too protected a spot. Bristlecone pines need abuse to get gnarly. So come prepared to do a bit of walking.

The Forest’s mascot is Meth- uselah, the oldest known bristlecone pine, checking in at 4700 years old and constantly referred to by the Center staff as the “oldest living thing on earth.” If you google “oldest living thing” you’ll see there’s some controversy about that, but anyway, if you want to see it you’ll have to walk 4.5 miles from the Visitor Center (with significant elevation gain, at 10,000 ft elevation). I contented myself with looking at photographs.

The return ride is 46 miles of almost uninterrupted descending, some lousy, some great. Most of the White Mountain Rd. descent has the two curses of Hwy 395 riding: expansion cracks and a pitch so steep it forces you (at least, me) to brake, a lot. The expansion cracks are worse the higher you go (because it’s colder up there), so the first few miles coming down from the Visitor Center are especially rough, even on my 40mm tires. I actually hated it, though the views are unparalleled. Then the expansion cracks get smaller and it gets better.

The Hwy 168 descent is another matter. I guess the elevation is low enough to keep the expansion cracks to ignorable little pings—for whatever reason, the road surface is consistently fine. The pitch is milder and the road contour is mostly sweeping curves, so you brake much less. This is a high-speed descent you can really rip. Combine this with the rock formations around you, the occasional high-speed whoop-de-dos, and the glimpses of the Owens Valley ahead of and impossibly far beneath you, and it’s 10 miles of unique, bucket-list ride. When you finally bail out onto the valley flats, if you’ve timed it right and it’s later in the afternoon, the sun will be getting low behind the Sierra and the views around you will make your heart swell.

Shortening the ride: Do one road or the other. If you want serpentining contour and grand descending through rolling hills, do Hwy 168; if you want enormous vistas and can put up with expansion cracks, do White Mountain Road.

Adding miles: I can’t even discuss it.