Arrival to Barcroft Lab at White Mountain

Just arrived to Barcroft Lab at 12,500ft.  7 hour drive, and 12,000ft gain in elevation in 2 hours, brutal.

Quick update because my head is pounding:

Physiology:

• Heart Rate – 144
• O2 Saturation –  69
• Respiratory Rate – 35

My head is pounding…. I can hear my heart beat over my thoughts, and my face is flush… Nothing too bad yet. Just ate some dinner and met Scott, the cook for the lab up here. So far there are 7 of us up here: Scott, David and Zach, the investigators of the project, Johnny, the undergrad helper, Me, Daniel, and Joe – the three subjects for the current study.

The drive up was kind of nice – Johnny drove us through hours and hours of boring nothingness – we stopped for food at mcdonalds (blech) and also for fireworks because we’re spending the 4th of July up here. (Happy Birthday America). Both Johnny and Daniel were in the car, both undergrads who just graduated, and are planning to go on to careers in medicine.

The view from the drive was absolutely breathtaking. Driving through Lone Pine we saw the backside of Mt. Whitney, the tallest peak in California. The towns we drove through were tiny, like Independence, Johannesburg, Lone Pines, etc.

Then we turned off the path to Bishop and headed to White Mountain. The road was very windy, luckily none of us got car sick very easily, but it was pretty scary at times, going from 2 lanes to one, and having to pull over for another car to pass us. Blue skies and rocky terrain made for some amazing views. We drove about 15 miles on a paved road, passing some really exceptional views of both Mt. Whitney and the trail to White Mt. Along the way also were these interesting and weird trees, called Bristlecone Pines. Supposedly they are the oldest trees in the world, and they don’t degrade after they die. We passed several of them, and there is a “Patriarchal Reserve” where the oldest tree ever, Over 4,700 years old…. We will check that out tomorrow, but it is the same tree that is in Salvador Dali’s “The Persistence of Time”.

After we hit the turn off for white mountain, the road was just dirt and rocks. It was a pretty bumpy ride. But we were rewarded with a sweet view. Check out some cool POV shots from the car.

Anyways, head is now pounding… Gonna try and get some rest. Will post the rest of the pictures tomorrow. Happy 4th of July Everyone!

Vince