Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest
ehughes
Registered Users Posts: 1,675 Major grins
For the past five days we have been exploring the Eastern Sierras, one of the highlights of the trip was the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest. The forest is located in the White Mountain range fairly close to the Nevada border.
If you ever get the chance, do yourself a favor a make the trip up to these amazing trees. From the base of the mountain it is about a 45 minute trip to the ranger station then another 40 - 50 minutes up to the patriarch grove over one of the roughest roads I have ever been on, it's not a paved road by the way.
Once you reach 11,000 feet you get the payoff for the semi uncomfortable ride. The trees are the oldest living things on the planet, some of them have been dated to 4 - 5 thousand years old. Even the oldest of the Giant Sequoias only dated back 3,200 years old. One of the things I read that really put things in perspective was that when the great pyramids were being built these trees were already quite old.
With the air being as thin as it was, I really had to concentrate to even take pictures.. You don't think quite as clear as your used to. It really was like being on another planet..
A few more can be seen here http://ehughes.smugmug.com/gallery/691042/1/30097497
Ed
If you ever get the chance, do yourself a favor a make the trip up to these amazing trees. From the base of the mountain it is about a 45 minute trip to the ranger station then another 40 - 50 minutes up to the patriarch grove over one of the roughest roads I have ever been on, it's not a paved road by the way.
Once you reach 11,000 feet you get the payoff for the semi uncomfortable ride. The trees are the oldest living things on the planet, some of them have been dated to 4 - 5 thousand years old. Even the oldest of the Giant Sequoias only dated back 3,200 years old. One of the things I read that really put things in perspective was that when the great pyramids were being built these trees were already quite old.
With the air being as thin as it was, I really had to concentrate to even take pictures.. You don't think quite as clear as your used to. It really was like being on another planet..
A few more can be seen here http://ehughes.smugmug.com/gallery/691042/1/30097497
Ed
0
Comments
Sam
I love the Bristlecone Pines!
Paul Strand
http://www.michaelhansen.com
open to the public. Since this is a one day a year sort of thing, it'd be a
real treat to see.
Beautiful pictures of a spectacular place!
Ian
http://philu.smugmug.com
Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life...Picasso
Now I know what all the excitement is about. Your photos are great, thinking clearly or not.
I don't do too well at that altitude, or at least I didn't in Hawaii.
Guess I'd need to rent some kind of 4-wheel drive vehicle however...
I'll keep it in mind.
Anywhere near Bodie?
http://www.twitter.com/deegolden
Thanks folks,
Dee, You don't really need a 4WD vehicle but I would highly recommend a rental, I wouldn't want to put my car throught that torture
Ian, I understand that the research station is up another 1 - 2 thousand feet or so, have you ever been up there?
rahmonster, I think we spent 3 or 4 hours up there shooting and I could have easily stayed longer but we were running out of light.. That's one road I really didn't want to come down in the dark. But I'm sure the sunset would have been great, oh well, next time.
Here are a couple of shots my wife took of me roaming around between the trees, just to give some scale to the place.
www.edhughesphoto.com