5 MUST SEE, DO

• • OLDEST TREES

Bristlecone pines growing high in the White Mountains are the world’s oldest trees, some surviving nearly 5,000 years. To visit them, follow Highway 168 east from the town of Big Pine. An easy, mile-long trail winds through the Schulman Grove.

• bishopvisitor.com/activities/bristlecone-forest

CLIMBING “CALIFORNIA’S EVEREST”

At 14,495-feet, Mount Whitney is the highest summit in the contiguous U.S. It is also, surprisingly, the most frequently climbed peak in California—thanks to a well-graded, 11-mile trail to the top. Very fit hikers make it up and down in one long, arduous day. Sounds tough, but it’s so popular there’s a lottery for the coveted permits.

• nps.gov/seki/planyourvisit/whitney.htm

• MOUNTAIN HAMLET

The picturesque town of Markleeville (pop. 187) is the largest metropolis in Alpine County, California’s least populated county. It makes a great base for fishing excursions and for soaking up the Sierra’s version of fall colors—the turning of the aspens. • alpinecounty.com/markleeville-%26-woodfords

• THE WILD, WILD WEST

Possibly the Old West’s most notorious mining town, Bodie now exists in a state of “arrested decay” on a high, windswept plain northeast of Yosemite. It’s one of America’s most extensive ghost towns.

• www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=509

• LAKE TAHOE SALMON RUN

Salmon in Lake Tahoe? Yes, every autumn the kokanee salmon congregate by the thousands at the mouth of Taylor Creek on the south shore to make their spawning run upstream, drawing bears and mergansers to dine, and people to look on in awe. The site also has interpretive paths and a sunken aquarium that suggests you’ve descended beneath the surface of the creek itself.

• facebook.com/taylorcreekvisitorcenter