I had never heard of the White Mountains of California. Sure, I've heard of and actually been ice-climbing once in the Whites of New Hampshire, but never heard of the Whites of California. But, apparently, that's where the oldest of the old Great Basin Bristlecone Pine trees live. Our national park journey brought us from Zion National Park to the Grand Canyon and then to Bryce Canyon National Park, where we saw our first Bristlecones, though in a very small grove. These trees like to grow at around 10 to 11,000 feet, in poor alkaline soils where almost nothing else lives. I was a little disappointed in the Bryce Canyon Bristlecones, Bryce as a whole was amazing, but the Bristlecones were few and mostly seemed completely long dead.
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| One of the trees that seemed the oldest to me. |
Now, if you want to go to a national park to see the oldest pines in the world, Great Basin is your park. It's a small park with a couple very big mountains, over 13,000 feet. And, Alyssa climbed the tallest in the park. I was excited about the trees, and this time was not disappointed. The oldest known Bristlecone Pine Tree lived in Great Basin National Park until the 1960's when a researcher tried to get a core sample from the tree to find out it's precise age. The tree, known as Prometheus, had lived for just under 5000 years. The researcher,
Donald R. Currey, was a graduate student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill studying the climate dynamics of the
Little Ice Age using
dendrochronology techniques, according to the article on Wikipedia. When he struggled to get a good core sample of Prometheus the story of what happens next is unclear, but either way, the forest service and Currey cut the tree down. Prometheus, after around 5000 years of continual life, was dead. Today it's stump can be found in the grove of bristlecones on Wheeler Peak. The rest of the trees in the area are majestic, beautiful and very old.
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| A beautiful example clinging to edge of the mountain with twisted old roots |
But! After Great Basin we stayed in a hotel near Yosemite National Park, on the east side of the Sierra Nevada mountains, intentionally close to the Bristlecones of the White Mountians, the Methuselah tree and others nearing 5000 years old. The early morning solo hike through the White Mountain Bristlecones was one of the most memorable experiences of our month long journey. No one else was there, few people even know it exists. It's not a park or a publicized area. Just a protected section of the national forest. There is a visitor center and well marked trails to guide and educate. I would hike five miles with Bristlecones surrounding me nearly the whole time. Upon entering the oldest and most gnarled grove of trees the trail sign lets visitors know that Methuselah is near, but never points out exactly which tree it is. Vandals would surely have their way with it if forestry officials let then know which one she is. Just up the road from the hike, actually 12 miles up the mountain on a dirt road at 11,000 feet, a tree was just discovered to be over 5000 years old! Making it the new reining champion, proving to be older than both Prometheus and Methuselah.
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| Morning sun coming up over the horizon through the wood of thousands of years. |
I cherished a few moments of silence in the Methuselah g
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| A mangled clump of wood that lived on for centuries. |
rove, spent few minuted in prayer, pondered the beauty and mystery of the place, and was on my way. I'll always remember those trees.
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