Pinus longaeva. This is the photo that most impresses me among all the others I've taken since coming here. Take a moment to click on the picture or view it in my Flickr photostream to observe the posture of this tree in a larger format. This growth habit for the Bristlecone Pine exists when growing along an exposed ridge line, where it is constantly exposed to the sculpting hands of the environment. The high winds prevented this tree from growing more than five feet tall, effectively dwarfing its stature. The smooth twists twists in it's bark come from the extremely slow growth. All trees grow with a sort of twist in their trunk, the slower it grows, the more defined the twist can be. You can get an idea for the age of a certain tree by contemplating the relationship between height and amount of contortion. This individual is awful short and quite twisted, I happen to know that this tree is likely well over 3,500 years old. How amazing it is that this tree was a seedling well before the birth of christ. Being in its presence for hours of my day was simply a fraction of a moment in the life of this ancient LIVING being.
It is hard to describe the feeling of walking amongst these elders of the natural world, I've never felt more like I was stepping on sacred ground than I did at that moment.
Photo courtesy of Chris Hoffman
