Van Life Makes Me Nervous! Enter At Your Own Risk! I'm So Anxious!

Added: 2026-05-10

[00:00:01]Okay, we never even made it to Bishop.

[00:00:03]We got dragged off onto this road up into some mountains. H wonder what could be up here. But we got a full tank of gas. We got food. We got supplies. We got satellite.

[00:00:16]Honey's running good.

[00:00:18]Let's see what we can see.

[00:00:24]California 168 into the mountains.

[00:00:30]I believe these are the white mountains.

[00:00:31]Don't quote me. I have no idea for show.

[00:00:34]We are just right outside of Bishop, California. Heading up slowly. No rush.

[00:00:43]Honey's grinding away. We're in this beautiful valley. Got spring blooms. Oh, look. We just entered the Inyo National Forest. Nice. And just like that, we've already climbed about 2,000 ft in just 10 minutes. This road just goes up and up and up and up. Let's go. It's great for me because at night time, man, I need those cooler temperatures. And this has been great all throughout this trip up in the uh Sierra Neadas or between the Sierra Neadas. The temperatures have just been awesome. Now, if we can just get away from the bugs, Okay, this is where things get interesting. We have a onelane road here and it goes uphill. So, if someone's coming the other way, there's like literally no way to see.

[00:02:14]Okay, it gets a little better.

[00:02:17]It says one lane, but there's there's honestly enough room for two people here. For two cars. Yeah, here's a comes a car right now. Plenty of room.

[00:02:27]Plenty of room.

[00:02:32]And back to two lane. Wasn't that dramatic. It all worked out.

[00:02:38]This is an amazing drive.

[00:02:45]I'm loving the vegetation and the rocks and the colors.

[00:02:50]Just amazing. Perfect day to be out here.

[00:02:55]Few clouds, beautiful blue sky, winter storm on the way in two days.

[00:03:01]Yeah, I won't be up here when the storm comes. That's for sure. But we'll probably get one night up here. We'll see what happens. Can't get enough of these drives. So reinvigorating.

[00:03:12]Some days, you know, like I just went camping and had a great time with the peeps and then when I pull out I'm like I don't know where I'm going. You know, I have all that anxiety about where I'm going to go, where I'm going to sleep, what I'm going to do. And then I find a spot like this and I'm just like comfortable again, get relaxed again.

[00:03:31]Uh those highs and lows probably aren't good for me, but I need to do it. I need to challenge myself. Don't let anxiety win, baby.

[00:03:41]Because I guarantee if I run back to Thailand, I'm just going to be bored to death and wish I was back out here. So, I'd rather deal with these highs and lows and not knowing and the anxiousness and having a good time. Let's go.

[00:03:58]Yeah, I'd rather deal with the unpredictability of this. Look at all these trails over here. Oh, interesting.

[00:04:05]Sorry, I got distracted. Squirrel.

[00:04:07]I'd rather deal with this unpredictability than to sit around and always know what's going on. Like, I'd rather deal with unpredictability than complete and total and absolute predictability. Absolute predictability.

[00:04:22]Cuz that's just going to drive me nuts.

[00:04:24]Knowing how my days are always going to go. I can wake up and always know where I'm going to be at. Always be safe.

[00:04:30]Always be comfortable. That Nah, man. I need this. I need this. I really do.

[00:04:36]As usual, I'm probably speaking too soon, but man, there were so many warning signs coming up here that were just like over the top, you know, beware of this, beware of that.

[00:04:48]>> But it wasn't like it wasn't nearly as bad as it was acting like up here. It was like it was it was so overly dramatic. I was like, it's really not that crazy on this road. It's actually a really nice road. Now, in a winter storm or something like that, I wouldn't want to be up here. But right now it's this kind of conditions. This road is nothing big. That little onelane area was a little, you know, that could be a little bit uh that could be a little sketchy, but this is just been great up here.

[00:05:15]Okay, there's a road close sign, but it's turned sideways. So, I don't know if this is open or not. This is going to be a really cool spot, but that's cool.

[00:05:24]I'm going to go up here a little bit.

[00:05:27]More warning signs.

[00:05:29]Super dangerous. You're going to die.

[00:05:32]Don't go this way. Blah blah blah.

[00:05:36]We're going to try our luck. Okay. I saw one RV going the other direction.

[00:05:42]That gives me a little more confidence that maybe it's okay to be in here. I'm not sure. It was so weird cuz that big road close sign was just turned sideways. So, I don't know, man.

[00:05:53]I'll just claim ignorance. Like, I didn't know. My bad. I saw another car go in. I just followed it. That's a lie.

[00:05:59]But, you know, they won't help.

[00:06:01]>> Of course, more dodgy mountain roads.

[00:06:05]Thankfully, no 2,000 ft drop offs next to this one, but a lot of switchbacks, a lot of climbing. We are getting way, way up there. You can kind of see up there on the hill.

[00:06:18]Maybe what we're looking for. We're getting close. Couple miles to go.

[00:06:25]Probably another 2,000 ft in altitude.

[00:06:28]It's crazy how high we have to go to get to this spot.

[00:06:33]We got the beautiful Sierra Neadas out there. Let's go. Oh my god, that's beautiful. Climbing. Climbing. We've been climbing for non-stop for like an hour.

[00:06:45]It's crazy.

[00:06:52]Woo! We are up there and still not to the top.

[00:06:57]had to step out for a second and take in this unbelievable view.

[00:07:04]Yeah, we are up there. I feel like we are almost at the same level as the Sierra Neadas out there. That's how high we've come. Like you can see that little city there. I don't even know what city that is down there or little town. I mean, I'm almost zoom. That's like max zoom.

[00:07:26]Look at that. Look at how high we are.

[00:07:29]Look at how far I gotta back off. That is just wild. And it is chilly up here.

[00:07:33]Woo. I'm loving it, though. Honey's doing good. Good job, honey. You're killing it, girl. You are killing it, baby.

[00:07:43]Oh, there's the 2,000 ft drop off I was looking for. Of course, man. Why do I have to keep doing this to myself?

[00:07:52]I don't like these roads, man. Here's where we're going. The ancient bristle cone pine forest here in the Inyo National Forest. Let's go, baby. We're almost up there.

[00:08:06]Two more miles of this road and I'm not digging it. Not digging it, baby.

[00:08:13]We got to go. We got to do it. We got to make it. Got this. Stay strong, casino.

[00:08:19]Stay strong. Don't look left. Don't look left. Eyes on the road.

[00:08:26]Craziness.

[00:08:28]It's so funny though. Like walking along this doesn't bother me at all, but driving next to it freaks me out. I just don't understand it.

[00:08:38]Yep. I'm glad there's very a very limited amount of traffic up here. I've only seen two cars. The only the entire time I've been up here. But yeah, having to uh deal with tourists and traffic and everything up here would have been fun.

[00:08:52]Hey, it's snow.

[00:08:56]Look at the snow. This is definitely the best time to be here, I'm sure.

[00:09:03]At least the snow isn't on the road. We definitely don't want to deal with it.

[00:09:06]God, it's a long way down.

[00:09:13]craziness.

[00:09:17]Okay, we have reached the visitors center up here. There are cars here, but I don't think any of this stuff is open.

[00:09:24]Probably going to be time for a little hike to go see what we came here to see.

[00:09:29]I don't know why you would park right there, but okay. Uh, let's go. It's time for some hiking, y'all. All right, it's almost noon. We're getting a little bit of a late start.

[00:09:41]These trails are various lengths. So, this one's four and a half miles or this one's about four and a/4 miles long. This one's only a mile long. It's a late start. Which one do you think we should go? Which one do you think I'm going to take?

[00:09:55]It's going to be a lot of climbing. I think we're going to see what we need to see on the Discovery Trail. So, I think we're going to go the easy route today.

[00:10:02]It's a little bit chilly up here, but I'm sure once I get going, I'mma warm right up.

[00:10:08]Let's check this out. Look at all the snow over here. And technically, I guess this place still isn't open, but I don't know. There's other cars up here, so I don't feel bad.

[00:10:18]Here you go. Get a little idea of what we're doing. Pause your screens right here if you want some more information.

[00:10:23]Off we go onto the Discovery Trail. The adventure begins.

[00:10:28]Let's go.

[00:10:30]I'm excited. Just a short hike, but lots of climbing. We're above 10,000 feet.

[00:10:38]So, even though it's only a mile, I think it's going to be a little more challenging than it sounds. When they give you the math and the facts and the figures, it is wild. So, this is a dead bristle cone.

[00:10:53]This tree died a hundred years before the Declaration of Independence. It died a 100red years before the Declaration of Independence.

[00:11:05]That is insane. It has been sitting up here for hundreds of years, dead.

[00:11:14]Life is crazy.

[00:11:21]Yep. Just a dead nearly 4,000y old tree.

[00:11:29]Okay, let's keep moving while we try to grasp that concept. Wow, love it. More fun facts about the bristle cone that you didn't ask for.

[00:11:43]It only sheds its needles about every 40 years. It'll grow out new needles. These needles will still be on this tree in 40 years, the same needles.

[00:11:56]Then it'll shed them and grow some new ones. That's crazy. 40 years. A regular tree only does it every couple years or does it A regular tree does it like every few years. These keep their needles for like 40 years. That's wild.

[00:12:12]Also, it can lose its bark and survive.

[00:12:16]A lot of trees can't do that. They'll lose their bark and die. These ones can shed their bark and still survive.

[00:12:25]crazy. They're also not as prone to forest fires, even though these ones have clearly had some lightning strikes or something happen to them. They got caught up in a nasty storm at some point. It's all charred, but they can survive this obviously.

[00:12:42]Wow. Impressive. Ah, I hope you're appreciating this useless knowledge about bristle cones.

[00:12:51]It's just a service I provide here for you. You're welcome. Fascinating to me.

[00:12:57]Incredible trees.

[00:13:00]Let's keep it going, baby. Yeah, that's a pretty gruden climb. For a onemile trail, this thing will work you. That altitude is definitely not your friend.

[00:13:10]You are fighting for every breath.

[00:13:14]But look at these sights up here. Little snowcapped hill over here. But then you get over here and there's the Sierra Nevada as a whole my so majestic.

[00:13:28]All right, stop. Let's keep moving. So glad I did not listen to those signs down there.

[00:13:34]Danger. Don't go this way. Danger. Road closed. Do not enter. Uh well, a few of us chose to ignore and are rewarded with spectacular views.

[00:13:51]And almost nobody else up here. Very nice.

[00:13:56]Should you do that? Probably not. But hey, at least if I'm going to jail, so is everybody else.

[00:14:05]Oh man. Uh, this trail is legit.

[00:14:11]So, the area we're about to go through is pretty special. The, uh, the guy who discovered all this, obviously an absolute nature freak and completely fascinated by old go growth trees. He spent his time out here. He spent many, many years just traveling around California looking at trees, trying to find the oldest trees, thinking he found them when he found the old sequoas. and he was in the Sequoia National Forest.

[00:14:38]He's taking samples. They're like, "Yeah, these trees are pretty old.

[00:14:40]Thousand years, 1500 years. Very old."

[00:14:43]And then he came up here and found these 4,000y old trees. 4,000 years old.

[00:14:51]Craziness. Yeah. He was a little excited. Yep. He was He was a little bit uh Wow. He couldn't believe it. He couldn't believe He's like, "How could these much smaller trees, much more seemingly fragile trees seem to be much older than the sequoas?" But yeah, the data didn't lie. He did core samples and all kinds of testing and everything like that and determined that these trees were well over 4,000 years. That's crazy. That's crazy. It's wild to me.

[00:15:17]It's wild to me just thinking about it.

[00:15:18]The concept of it thousands of years before anybody was even in the United States or at least that we know of. You know, it could have been Native Americans here for all I know. Yeah, just amazing to me. Very cool. Let's go take a nice well manicured look at some very, very old trees.

[00:15:38]Look at these incredible looking things.

[00:15:40]I mean, they are crazy looking. They are beautiful.

[00:15:46]So unique.

[00:15:48]if they could tell stories.

[00:15:51]Man, look at the way the branches have curled up on this thing.

[00:16:01]What is going on? Wow.

[00:16:05]Okay.

[00:16:09]Such a good choice to come up here.

[00:16:12]I get lucky a lot. I think I think I'm just getting lucky a lot. And I'm okay with that. As long as my lucky streak doesn't run out. I keep finding this stuff thinking that I'm not gonna be able to come here or I'll have to wait for a certain time or the right conditions. Sometimes I just say, "F it" and go for it. And then I get this. So cool.

[00:16:38]Every time I read one of these boards, I'm like, "What?"

[00:16:44]I was like, "How could that be true?

[00:16:47]We're at 10,000 feet, guys. 10,000 feet up. This was an ocean millions of years ago. Yes, we are standing at the bottom of what was once an ocean millions of years ago at 10,000 ft above water. How? Yeah.

[00:17:09]Crazy, man. Earth sciences are, you know, I didn't I didn't care about it when I was in school. I didn't want to learn about earth sciences and all that blah blah blah. It didn't mean anything to me. And now it's just absolutely captivating.

[00:17:22]That is just inc. I'm standing in the bottom of an ocean at 10,000 ft above sea level. That's crazy to me. This is all compressed sea bottom.

[00:17:32]Turns it into this sandstone. Petrifies over millions of years. Then as erosion exposes it.

[00:17:43]Let's see if I could find an example.

[00:17:46]Uh, you can't see it here. Anyway, it's all sandwiched together, like caked together. Like, you can see it here a little bit. It's all sandwiched together, and then water leaks into the cracks, freezes, expands, and breaks it.

[00:18:01]So, everything you're seeing here is all caused by freezing water expansion.

[00:18:08]That's it. That's the only reason this looks like it does.

[00:18:12]Water got in the cracks thousands and hundreds of thousands of times, froze, expanded, and then cracked and did all this.

[00:18:27]Crazy, man. Yep. Pretty good trail. Got about 280 ft in elevation, but obviously we're on the way down now. Not bad. Quick little onemile loop.

[00:18:44]probably uh be a little more brutal in summertime. I can imagine it gets pretty warm. I'm actually I was pretty cold in the start. Now I'm pretty warm and it's only about 60° up here right now. So summertime, get ready for that. Might not be so fun, but definitely Bristle Comb National Forest. Wow. I have to go.

[00:19:03]Have to go. You have to see the bristle combs in person and look at something.

[00:19:07]Touch something that's 4,000 years. Just touch it. It's still alive. It's 4,000 years old. You can touch it. That's That's crazy to me. It's a 4,000 year old living organism that's still living and breathing today and you can put your hand on it and be one with it. That's crazy.

[00:19:27]>> It's just not a badass name. It's not bristle cone. Bristle cone. It I don't know. There's just nothing masculine or tough about that name. But the bristle cones are badasses. They survive where nothing else can really survive that's anywhere that's similar to them at all.

[00:19:45]They grow in shallow roots. They grow in alkaline soils.

[00:19:51]They can lose their bark at survive.

[00:19:54]They survive forest fire. Like these are these are badass. These are tough mofo trees, man. They are tough as af, man.

[00:20:04]Don't mess with the bristle cones, man.

[00:20:06]Oh, and if you're wondering who this random dude is talking about trees up in a forest at the top of a mountain, uh, I'm James Casino.

[00:20:16]23 years in the Air Force, retired. Then I moved overseas for 10 years, lived in Thailand, the Philippines, all that fun stuff. And now I'm back in America, living in a van, traveling America, and looking at really cool old trees. Thanks for being here. Maybe like and subscribe. Appreciate you. Damn, that was a bit of a somber way to end the trail. So, Dr. Schulman, I'm sorry if I hadn't mentioned his name before. Dr. Schulman, the guy who discovered all this stuff and did all the dating and did all the work. I mean, he he put the work in and it was his dream. It's his legacy, you know, is everything that he wanted.

[00:20:53]And then just 5 years after discovering all of this, he died. Damn.

[00:20:59]Well, I mean, he did live his dream. I guess he did discover something and he'll always be remembered for that. But to die 5 years right after that, that kind of sucks. He was only 49 years old.

[00:21:12]Wow. Guys, get out there.

[00:21:16]Get out there. You may not discover anything. You may not be a renowned scientist and all that, but at least get out there and explore. Do something. Do something with your lives, man. If you're sitting at home watching TV and just watching YouTube, watching me, get up and do something, y'all. Please.

[00:21:32]Life is short, right? We are back at the beginning again. I think we're going to do a little bit of this Methusela walk.

[00:21:38]I don't think we're going to make it all the way. It is a several hour hike, but let's just go out here and see what we can see for a little bit. Why not?

[00:21:48]Feeling like I got plenty of energy after doing that little 300T climb.

[00:21:53]Let's go. Yep. Four mile loop, but lots of verticals.

[00:21:59]All right. Come on. Methusela. I just like saying it. Methusela.