Bristlecone Pines
This weekend we went north to the White Mountains to see The Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest. This is home to the oldest living tree on earth. Methusela was determined to be approximately 4,700 years old. It was alive when the pyramids were being built, the bible was taking shape and Moses didn't come along for years in the future.
Methusela is still alive, the trees that aren't are also providing clues to the past, together scientists have been able to piece together over 10,000 years of history by reading their rings.
These trees grow at very high elevation, approximately 10,000 to 12,000 feet above sea level. They're very dense and have a lot of resin enabling them to withstand the climate and resist insects and disease.
The air here is thin and cool even in the summer. The roads windy and sometimes rough. It's great!
This photo was taken at the Patriarch Grove, elevation 11,300 feet.
I've added a gallery of images to the main web site, please make sure to take a look.
The trees have incredible texture caused by erosion. As the tree ages it can only support a finite amount of live growth, a portion of the tree dies so the rest can keep on growing. The dead portion is subject to blowing ice and snow that erodes the surface into the condition seen here. The shapes and patterns are different on every tree, an incredible study of natural form.
The environment is harsh and changing through the millennia, some trees don't survive.
The sunset this evening took us along the White Mountain Road above Bishop, CA. The sunset was enhanced by smoke from wildfires. Smoke from the Zaca fire near Santa Barbara is blowing all over the state. This fire has been burning for over a month and isn't expected to be contained until mid September. It's several hundred miles from here and you can see how dense it is over the Sierra Nevada mountains in the distance. A Bristlecone Pine is silhouetted by the smoky sunset.
