USA/NV: Great Basin NP- Bristlecone Pines

Bristlecone pine is the oldest tree on earth and small grove of them stands at the foothills of the Wheeler Glacier in the Great Basin National Park at an elevation of over 11,000 feet. There are many trees here that are over 4000 years old, and there is one dead that is over 9000 years old! Bristlecone pines survive and flourish in the harshest conditions imaginable – elevation, rocks, poor soils, freezing temps. Interestingly, they don’t survive when cultivated. The trees twist and turn as they stretch to the sun and it’s hard to imagine that you are standing next to a living organism that is 2-4 thousand years old.
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