I returned to the byway and began the descent back to Hwy. 168. Overwhelmed by the view, I squeezed the truck onto a narrow pullout and steadied the tripod on the ledge of a 10,000 foot clff. This was the heart of the high country, where bristlecones thrived under pillows of white that danced above the snow crested peaks of the Eastern Sierras. Indeed, this was truly a "High Country Treasure."