Another beautiful day in the Sierras:

To get the RV level on this slope last night, we unhitched and lowered the front almost to the ground:

View from the roof of the RV:

We drove back into Independence and visited the Eastern California Museum:

The museum has an extensive collection of artifacts from Manzanar:

There was also a display about the aqueduct that dried up the Owens Valley to slake the thirst of Los Angeles:

Lots of other old stuff, like medicine bottles and vacuum tubes:

The other side of the museum houses an Indian beadwork and basket weaving display:

There was a sizeable outdoor collection as well:

On the way out of town, we briefly visited the historic courthouse.  A county employee showed us the 1890s court room upstairs, which had metal hoops under each seat to store one’s hat:

Continuing North, we visited the Whitney Fish Hatchery.  A forest fire and flood a few years ago destroyed the watershed, so now the hatchery is operated solely as a visitor center:

Someday these little guys will be released into the pond:

Feeding the fish outside:

Continuing North, we dropped off the RV in Big Pine and followed the sinuous ascent to the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest about 25 miles out of town, home to the world’s longest lived individual organisms, the Bristlecone Pines, some of which are over 4,700 years old.  The visitor center, at 10,000 feet, is not yet open for the season:

This tree was over 3,200 years old when it died in the late 1670s:

We climbed the trail:

View of the Sierras from our vantage point on the other side of Owen’s Valley:

I know, you’re thinking “Isn’t that Quartzite in the foreground?  That’s funny, ‘cause you’ve visited Quartzsite”:

A little snow was present:

Here’s a panorama of the Sierras:

We returned to Big Pine, hitched up the RV, and drove to Bishop.  We only intended to stop for groceries, but seeing that there were 20 or so RVs parked in the grocery store lot, we decided to spend the night here ourselves.